Learning Act: An Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Skills Training Manual: An Acceptance & Commitment Therapy Skills-Training Manual for Therapists

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In addition, we resumed our ‘it’s everyone’s journey’ campaign on the 25 May 2021, which is aimed at helping the public to be more mindful of passengers, including those who are autistic, and the challenges they may face when using transport. As we move out of restrictions, we will support disabled people returning to the transport system by ensuring that rules around face covering exemptions are well understood, that the decision to carry an exemptions card is entirely a matter for individuals, and that people should be supported not to feel uncomfortable or intimidated where they do not wear a face covering, or are unable to socially distance. In September 2020, we published our Plan for Jobs to protect, support and create jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic. In this plan, we outlined a number of actions that will also benefit autistic people, including increasing the number of Work Coaches, who provide help to people who are newly unemployed and making sure that Jobcentres continue to be open to help customers who really need face-to-face support. We will continue to review how our provision meets the needs of autistic people as we move out of the COVID-19 pandemic, and tailor our response based on this. In addition, we will continue to ensure that job programmes are accessible to autistic candidates. Our commitments in the first year In 2021, too many autistic people still face long waits for their diagnosis – and do not always receive support that is tailored to their needs at an early enough stage. Far too many autistic people still struggle in childhood, both with getting a diagnosis and with support following a diagnosis, including at school, and find it hard to get a job when they reach adulthood. Over the last few years, we have seen many public sector services and organisations taking steps to become autism-inclusive, with many becoming autism-accredited or taking other steps to improve how they support autistic people. However, we know that many autistic people still feel excluded from public spaces and civil society because these can be overwhelming, busy or noisy and because staff or the public may react negatively to autistic people’s behaviour or support needs. Even before the COVID-19 pandemic autistic adults reported higher levels of loneliness than the general public. Evidence from the LSE research we commissioned into the impact of the pandemic has shown that autistic people may be at risk of further exclusion, due to the challenges many have faced with social distancing restrictions and changes to support networks. This has affected their confidence with getting out into their communities. The National Autistic Society Left Stranded report found that compared to the general public, autistic people were seven times more likely to be chronically lonely during June and July 2020. By 2026, we will have made headway on reducing the health and care inequalities autistic people face, and show that autistic people are living healthier lives. This includes evidencing that we are making progress on improving autistic people’s health outcomes and reducing the gap in life expectancy.

In chapter 9, we set out the enablers we will need to work on in the first year to drive forward progress on the actions in this strategy. This includes improving autism data collection and reporting across government, which will be important in determining our progress towards our vision for 2026. In addition, we are committing to improve research on the barriers people face and the interventions that work for autistic people. The implementation plan (Annex A) sets out the actions we will take within the first year of the strategy. The actions we commit to will lay the foundations for what we aim to achieve over the course of the next 5 years. We will refresh this plan for subsequent years, in line with future Spending Review rounds. Department of Education Northern Ireland (2020) Safeguarding and child protection in schools: a guide for schools (PDF). Belfast: Department of Education. We want the SEND system to enable autistic children and young people to access the right support, within and outside of school. We want schools to provide better support to autistic children and young people, so they are able to reach their potential, and to show that fewer autistic children are permanently excluded or suspended from school due to their behaviour. We will make improvements to the support autistic people get in their transitions into adulthood, so that more autistic people can live well in their own communities, find work or higher education or other opportunities. This is important in preventing more young people from avoidably reaching crisis point or being admitted into inpatient mental health services. Supporting more autistic people into employment Child protection in schools: for anyone working in an educational institution who wants to develop or refresh their awareness and understanding of child protection. However, children with SEND can be particularly vulnerable to online grooming, especially being manipulated by somebody they know (Katz, El Asam and Internet Matters, 2019).

ACT Awareness e-learning is a new counter-terrorism (CT) CT awareness product designed for all UK based organisations and individuals. It provides nationally accredited, corporate CT guidance to help industry better understand and mitigate against current terrorist methodology. We also want to build on our success in increasing the representation of disabled people, including autistic people, in apprenticeships – ensuring that disabled people not only access apprenticeships, but go on to succeed in their apprenticeship. We will do this by engaging with employers, providers, apprentices and the disability sector to determine what works and how best to disseminate this. Continuing to support autistic children and young people during the COVID-19 pandemic

improve understanding of autism among educational professionals by continuing to provide funding for autism training and professional development in schools and colleges in 2021 to 2022 Evidence shows that there is currently a significant employment gap for autistic people. Data published by the Office for National Statistics for the first time in February 2021 shows that as of December 2020, 22% of autistic people aged 16 to 64 are in employment, in contrast to 52% of disabled people, and 81% of non-disabled people. The APPGA’s The Autism Act, Ten Years On report found that there are many factors contributing to the scale of this gap, including struggling to get a job because of recruitment processes not being autism-friendly or difficulty accessing the support people might need to get into work or while in work. continue to promote employment support programmes, including Access to Work and IPES to autistic people who are at least a year away from work Online safety training: understand how children and young people use online platforms and technology, the potential risks that can be encountered and how you can take steps to reduce these. Further reading Welsh Government (2013) Special educational needs code of practice for Wales. [Accessed 21/01/2021]. ChildlineThe SENCO, along with other teachers, should also ensure that children have an individual education plan (IEP). This should set out the nature of the child’s learning difficulties and the provision to be put in place to support them. Scotland

We want to reduce the health and care inequalities that autistic people face throughout their lives, and to show that autistic people are living healthier and longer lives. In addition, we want to have made significant progress on improving early identification, reducing diagnosis waiting times and improving diagnostic pathways for children and adults, so autistic people can access a timely diagnosis and the support they may need across their lives. Building the right support in the community and supporting people in inpatient care This strategy takes into account the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on autistic people and their families’ lives, as we know this has been very challenging for many. In summer 2020, we commissioned the Policy Innovation and Evaluation Research Unit (London School of Economics) to undertake rapid research to improve our understanding of autistic people’s experiences during this time, and our ability to respond appropriately. The final report from this rapid research is published alongside this strategy. By 2026, we want to demonstrate that we have significantly improved public understanding and acceptance of autism, and that autistic people feel more included in their communities and less lonely and/or isolated. We want the public to have a better understanding of autism and to have changed their behaviour towards autistic people and their families.

Legislation and guidance

Katz, Adrienne, El Asam, Aiman and Internet Matters (2019) Vulnerable children in a digital world (PDF). London: Internet Matters. Scottish Government (2017) Supporting children’s learning: statutory guidance on the Education (Additional Support for Learning) Scotland Act 2004 (as amended): code of practice (PDF). 3rd ed. Edinburgh: Scottish Government. We want to improve how the SEND system works for children with special educational needs, including autistic children and young people, and their families. This will include putting forward proposals to improve early identification of children and young people’s needs, and making sure that the health, social care and education systems work together to support children holistically before their needs escalate. We will be putting forward proposals to improve the system in the SEND review, which we will publish as soon as possible. Below, we set out our vision for what we want autistic people and their families’ lives to be like in 2026 across 6 priority areas, and the steps we as national and local government, the NHS and others will take towards this within the first year of our implementation plan (2021 to 2022). We will refresh this implementation plan for subsequent years of the strategy, setting out further actions we will take across government, working in partnership with local authorities, the NHS and the voluntary sector, as well as autistic people, to enable us to move closer towards our vision. Children and young people with ASN may have an individualised educational programme (IEP) which describes their additional support needs, how they will be met and what learning outcomes are expected.

Schools need to be aware of the additional vulnerabilities of some children, including children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), and your policies and procedures should ensure that all children get the support they need. Listen to our podcast episode on intersectionality in social work practice Learning for practitioners: understanding the child The statutory requirements for safeguarding all children are set out in legislation and guidance for the education sector.Find out more about how you can protect d/Deaf and disabled children from abuse Available resources Safeguarding self-assessment tool ACT Awareness e-learning is a counter-terrorism (CT) awareness e-learning programme designed for all UK based companies and organisations and available freely to the public.