Since the General Election was called in May 2024, the Policy, Campaigns and Movement Building team has been working to produce a report on the current ‘state of the nation’ for autistic people.

This report highlights research and lived experience of autistic people’s struggles to access support across the UK.

On 23 January 2025, the National Autistic Society published the report, A Constant Fight: The reality of autistic people’s struggle for support across health and social care, education, employment and mental health.  

This report was researched and written entirely by autistic staff, who spoke with people whose lived experience highlighted the systemic issues that often seem abstract and impersonal when presented through statistics. These case studies helped bring our report to life, and we are incredibly grateful to everyone who shared their stories with us.
 

A chance for the Government to listen to autistic people

With the help of over 3,000 supporters who contacted their MP, we hosted a launch event in Parliament to share our report and show the leaders of our country why urgent change is needed.  

The parliamentary reception was hosted by the Chair of the Autism All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPGA), Dr Marie Tidball MP. Like the report, the reception was also organised by autistic team members, who liaised with House of Commons staff and arranged the speeches. The main speakers were Dr Marie Tidball MP, the Minister for Social Security and Disability, Sir Stephen Timms MP, our charity’s CEO, Caroline Stevens, and autistic members of our Policy and Campaigns team.

The event was attended by stakeholders from other charities, some of the autistic people who shared their experiences in the report and over 50 MPs and peers.

Many MPs in attendance told us they were urged to attend by constituents who participated in our email campaign, so thank you to everyone who supported our efforts and encouraged their MP to attend. Our campaigners invited over 580 MPs in total.

The event was lively and energetic, with a steady stream of parliamentarians and their staffers dropping in to pick up a copy of the report and discuss its findings. They were keen to ask how they can help address the issues autistic people face when trying to access support. We had lots of promising conversations. 
 

My thoughts on the day

Busy environments like parliamentary receptions can be overwhelming, but as the event progressed, I got into my element. I could hold conversations with MPs, peers, staffers and stakeholders without getting overwhelmed or overstimulated. 

Speaking at the event was exciting – this was my first time speaking at a parliamentary reception since joining the National Autistic Society in April 2024. My fantastic colleague, Jessa, wrote a terrific speech, and I spent the better part of the train journey down to London from Edinburgh rehearsing it. While I’ve spoken to larger audiences before, they’d never included current and former Government ministers, which made for a daunting experience.  

All in all, I was truly honoured to have this opportunity to represent my community in Parliament this way – something I had never imagined would happen when I was first diagnosed as autistic two years ago! 

I want to say thank you to everyone who contributed to our report, supported our efforts to encourage MPs to attend and helped make the launch event a success. 

We need the Government and key decision-makers across different sectors to understand that a society that works for autistic people has a better chance of working for everybody.

No one should have to face #AConstantFight.

You can check if your MP attended the event and read our report.