Autistic people face stark inequalities around diagnosis and support. This briefing explores what we know about the diagnosis crisis, the lack of post-diagnosis support, and how we can provide better support across an autistic person's lifespan.

Sometimes autistic people face sensory and communication barriers in physical venues and public spaces, so digital platforms and services offer unique opportunities and advantages. However, digital platforms don't always meet the needs of autistic people, shutting them out of services and digital communities. Here's what needs to change.

Autistic people are bearing the brunt of the mental health crisis caused by the pandemic, but some are reporting positive experiences of lockdown. Instead of leaving autistic people behind, this is an opportunity to create a world where they can thrive.

Social care for autistic people has been in crisis for decades because we don’t know what works. By investing a tiny fraction of current social care spending on research, the Government could greatly improve outcomes for autistic people.

When we talk about autism we often focus on the challenges that autistic people face. Researchers across the world are now looking how we can assess and build on autistic people’s strengths. This Autistica Briefing was produced with Curtin University in Australia and the Karolinska Institute in Sweden.

Many autistic people want to work but are shut out by inaccessible recruitment processes and barriers in the workplace. We’re working with researchers to help employers to reach this untapped talent pool and enable autistic people to maximise their potential.

Autistic people have a right to access public spaces. Our citizen science initiative will build our understanding of which environments work for autistic people and how to account for their diverse and sometimes conflicting sensory experiences.

Most autistic people are adults, but most adults are undiagnosed. We must ensure adults can access recognition and support when they need it.

There is growing evidence and consensus about how to effectively diagnose autistic adults, but the process people go through still varies widely across the country. We need to work together and tackle the unwarranted variation.

Currently, it’s the norm for autistic adults to receive no support after diagnosis. Services and policymakers need to see post-diagnostic support as their opportunity to tackle serious health inequalities.

Autistic women and girls were almost entirely overlooked in the past and continue to face barriers to diagnosis today. It’s past time we combat stereotypes and deliver parity.

Epilepsy is the leading cause of early death for autistic people with learning disabilities. Developing personalised treatments to prevent seizures should be one of the highest priorities of autism science but almost no research is working towards it.

Autistic people are more likely to develop a wide range of health conditions. The health inequalities facing autistic people are relevant to most NHS workstreams.

The importance of reasonable adjustments in healthcare is widely accepted. We need to support services to personalise adjustments and provide more choices about how to access care.

The NHS Long Term Plan and the Government's Autism Strategy commits to piloting regular health checks for autistic adults. That project must work collaboratively with the research underway to design an effective health check.

We need to get better at preventing, identifying and treating the mental health problems faced by almost 8 in 10 autistic people. This is the community’s top priority for research.

Mental health problems are currently the norm, not the exception, for autistic children. Services need to be prepared to support young autistic people effectively.

A disproportionate number of people who die by suicide are autistic. Evidence about suicide in the autistic community is evolving rapidly; prevention efforts need to follow suit.

Approximately 1 in 5 women with anorexia in eating disorder services are autistic. The evidence about how to support them is moving on; services and policies to tackle eating disorders must do so as well.