There was a point, as we were going through the process of developing our Moonshot vision and strategy, where I started to think about my own family and our experiences of the last 20 years. My son was diagnosed as autistic in 2004 at only the age of 2, fairly rare at that time.  I still remember sitting in the waiting room of the Child Development Centre, holding a plastic wallet of photocopied magazine articles and leaflets that offered the barest of help or reassurance of direction to me and my family (here’s one notable one I remember).  

The next few years was a process of trial-and-error, of reading what we could and rejecting much of it, of growing our own confidence in understanding our child and listening to his behaviour and his reactions when they loudly spoke to us. We were helped enormously by doing the National Autistic Society’s EarlyBird course, so much so that we still regularly meet up with the other parents we met during those 10 weeks.

So much has happened since then but I’m still struck by the sometimes-overwhelming notion that we are without a roadmap, that the future for my son is so frequently unclear.  And if that is the case for me, what must that mean for people without the privilege of my education, or with the barriers of not speaking English as a first language, or living in a rural part of the country without health services in your doorstep?

The notion of a universal service is one at the absolute heart of our new strategy.  It says that despite the diversity of autistic people, the varying needs and challenges, and the postcode lottery of local support, that we must be able to offer something for everyone.  We know what the biggest challenges people face are – getting a diagnosis, accessing education, finding a job, connecting with other people – and for these and many more we must, as the National Autistic Society, be able to give people the help they need, in the way they need it.

It’s no longer good enough that people’s ability to access our support is contingent on where they live, or whether they are an autistic adult or a parent, or the particular focus of their need.  Our Belief is that we are here to support autistic people and families to live fulfilled lives on their terms.  I think if the young me, sat clutching the scant pile of leaflets he’d just been given, had known that this sort of help was out there, then the world might not have been such a scary place.

Tom Purser is Head of Guidance, Volunteering & Campaigns at the National Autistic Society