Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid) 03 March 2021
Like many newly elected MSPs, five years ago, I was faced with a huge variety of case work, much of which I had no prior knowledge or experience of. A lot of it involved the lack of access to services and support for those in the autism and additional support needs community, and, speaking to fellow MSPs in the Parliament, I found that that was not just a north-east issue. Therefore, I thank members from across the chamber for their support in securing this debate.
I also thank them—in particular, my co-convener, Annie Wells—for their on-going support for the cross-party group on autism, which we founded in 2017. I offer special thanks to the National Autistic Society Scotland and Scottish Autism, which have successfully been the secretariat since then—so successfully that it is undoubtedly the best attended CPG that I am involved with, and the current Zoom format has allowed more people from across Scotland to join. I believe that we were one of the first to take our CPG on the road, up to the north-east, which allowed participation by many who otherwise would have continued to be excluded.
Before I talk about the issues, I thank those in the community for two particularly important lessons. The first is how personal autism is to each individual: no two people are alike.? Learning to listen to them and understand individual needs leads to understanding their individual potential. The second lesson is that autism is not a learning disability. Thirty per cent of people with autism might have learning disabilities, but to conflate the two stigmatises and hinders understanding and resolution.
Those points turn into three stumbling blocks. The first is diagnosis: people are crying out for diagnosis and for care and support after they receive it. However, there is a huge gap in the provision of those services. People wait months for diagnosis and then the battle to get support for them begins, which is an on-going struggle for many.
The second stumbling block is education. Right now, with home schooling, we have varying feedback. Some pupils have flourished, whereas others have had huge setbacks to their education. That has not been helped by the fact that there is a severe lack of understanding of their needs. That is not the fault of our wonderful teaching staff, but they need the resources and training to provide the support. What has been startling to me is that so many children from the community are not supported in their transition from education into the working world, which is a scary process for any teenager.
That leads to the third stumbling block: employment. Those with autism and ASN have found that they fear furlough and redundancy more than others, as they are scared of asking for reasonable adjustments. If they lose their job, the struggle of having no job and no income can be exponentially more stressful to that community, and the fear of finding a new job that supports them can be crippling.
Fortunately, many organisations are doing their utmost to work on those issues and more. I thank not only the national bodies but those closer to home. I have had the good fortune to visit and work with ASK North East, the Grampian Autistic Society, Grampian Opportunities and SensationALL, to name but a few. They have worked for many years to assist the autism community, and I thank them for giving me a broader understanding of the further support that is required in the north-east.
The most serious issue for me came through my awareness of those with autism who, instead of receiving understanding and care, were ignored and locked up in mental institutions, which caused further deterioration, with no prospect of improvement or release. One of those cases involves Kyle Gibbon. Members across the chamber know that I have brought much attention to that individual case and have raised it directly with the Minister for Mental Health—with, it pains me to say it, disappointing results. Kyle has been locked up in the state hospital at Carstairs for most of his adult life and remains there to this day. While staff justify keeping him there on behavioural grounds, his mother, Tracey, strongly believes that his detention is causing problems, not solving them. Allegations of bullying and inappropriate treatment fail to see the light of day.
It is not only Kyle. Ruth Hughes came forward with her story of her son, Gordon. He has been locked up in Carstairs for the past three years. His doctor recommended that he be moved to a medium-secure hospital. However, he was sent to Carstairs instead, because no medium-secure beds were available, and he remains there to this day.
What is so shocking is not just the further allegations of mistreatment on which families fail to get answers, but the fact that the future for those young men, who are in good physical health, is a lifetime of incarceration, locked up alongside those who are guilty of heinous crimes, simply because the Government will not resource their treatment.
All of that, however, leads to potential solutions. A recent report from the cross-party group proposed a commissioner to allow accountability and safeguard rights for autistic people and those with additional support needs. I support the next steps of investigation, which should come in the next Parliament.
That might be the required outcome, but it should not prevent other solutions being arrived at or absolve others of existing responsibilities. Improvements in policy development and professional practice, consistency across local authorities and increased budgetary consideration can be delivered today and are all within the power of the Scottish Government.
That failing of Government is not confined to autism but, sadly, demonstrates a far greater problem with Holyrood. However, one thing is clear: the autistic community needs a voice and needs to be part of the solution. The cross-party group was long overdue and has given them a voice here, in Holyrood, which tonight’s debate amplifies. Nevertheless, we must not stop now. The autistic community must not be left behind, and I will continue to do all that I can to ensure that we achieve true equality for that community.
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