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Autistic Minds Matter

Mental health services in Northern Ireland are failing autistic people.

With 35,000 autistic people living in Northern Ireland, Autism NI believes that there must be immediate action taken to introduce a specialist autism mental health service.

Autistic people have higher levels of poor mental health compared to the general population. People on the spectrum are more vulnerable to mental health issues, particularly in adolescence and early adulthood.

Autism NI held an event on Monday 25th September 2023 in Stormont to highlight the issues in the current system and ask for action to be taken.

We are asking for:

The creation of a specialist autism mental health service.
Mental health supports available for autistic people within a timely manner.
Support strategies that work for autistic people.
Mental health professionals trained in autism.

We are continuing to lobby for a specialist autism mental health service in Northern Ireland.

Sign our petition!

Autism NI is calling for a specialist Autism Mental Health Service in Northern Ireland and we need your support. Please sign and share our petition.

Sign petition

Autism NI CEO addresses Stormont

Our CEO Kerry Boyd spoke recently at our Mental Health and Autism event. Listen to her full speech and the importance of introducing a specialist autism mental health service in Northern Ireland.

Read stories from our autism community and why we are campaigning for a specialist autism mental health service in Northern Ireland

The Implementation of the Autism (Amendment) Act 2022

The Autism (Amendment) Act was passed on Monday 7th March 2022 at the NI Assembly with unanimous cross-party support. The new Private Member’s Bill sponsored by Pam Cameron MLA, is the most comprehensive piece of single disability legislation within the United Kingdom.

Autism NI is currently lobbying for the implementation of the Act, which will introduce the creation of an autism information service and a cross departmental autism training strategy. There will also be a requirement for the Department of Health to make provision for a regionally consistent adult autism service and early intervention service throughout Northern Ireland.

Read Autism (Amendment) Act

What does the new autism (Amendment) Act Mean?

Here is a reminder of the main points of the new Autism (Amendment) Act:

Regional autism training strategy
Regional autism information service
Regional intervention service
Regional adult support services
Measurable targets and outcomes
An independent scrutiny body to oversee implementation

Lobbying to Health Committee AND EDUCATION committee

Autism NI has been consistently lobbying on behalf of our autism community to our MLA’s on key issues. In 2021, Autism NI presented to the Health Committee and the Education Committee on mandatory teacher training and the Autism (Amendment) Bill. You can download these reports below.

Presenting to Health Committee - November 2021

Presenting to the Education Committee - September 2021

Presenting to Health Committee - June 2021

As 1 in 20 children are being diagnosed with autism in Northern Ireland, it is critical that our children are given the support they are entitled to at school. That’s why we are lobbying for mandatory teacher training for all teaching staff in Northern Ireland. We want them to have the best possible start in life and the best educational outcomes. No child with autism should miss out on a full and supportive education.

Many of our teachers in Northern Ireland feel overwhelmed with the lack of training and resources they are given to teach autistic children. We are therefore calling for the Department of Education to introduce mandatory autism training for all teaching staff within mainstream schools.

Autism NI has been consistently lobbying for this over the past year and change is URGENTLY NEEDED.

During this campaign in September 2019, we also held a rally for our parents and supporters at Parliament Buildings, Stormont and handed over our petition which had over 10,000 signatures in support of this campaign. The campaign is still ongoing and in February 2020 the Education Minster agreed that teachers should be given sufficient training and has implemented online training options for teaching staff.