The Government announced last year that there will be an inquiry into the coronavirus pandemic. This is called the Covid Inquiry. It’s important because it means there will be discussion about the rules and restrictions that came in during the pandemic and how they affected people.

The National Autistic Society thinks it is really important that this inquiry looks carefully at all the issues that autsitic people and their families faced. This includes things like the rules to stay at home, to wear masks and around visits for autistic people who are in care homes.

To make sure this happens, the “Terms of Reference” for the Covid Inquiry need to be decided. These say what issues the Inquiry will look at. There was recently a public consultation about the Terms of Reference. Alongside other disability charities that are part of the Disability Charities Consortium, we submitted a response to this consultation. While we are glad that the Terms of Reference are quite broad, we think that disabled people, including autistic people, need to be better represented in the Inquiry.

We also attended an important meeting with the Covid Inquiry officials to make all these points. The findings of our Left Stranded report made clear what the impact on autistic people and their families was. It’s absolutely vital that the Government learns from what happens, so that autistic people and their families never face these issues again.