Housing and the Autism Strategy Helen Charnock

Section 1 Training of staff who provide services to adults with autism: 1.4. In line with the 2010 statutory guidance, local authorities should be providing general autism awareness to all frontline staff in contact with adults with autism, so that staff are able to identify potential signs of autism and understand how to make reasonable adjustments in their behaviour and communication. In addition to this, local authorities are expected to have made good progress on developing and providing specialist training for those in roles that have a direct impact on and make decisions about the lives of adults with autism, including those conducting needs assessments. This expectation remains central to this updated statutory guidance.

Question 1 What autism training is provided for housing teams?

Section 4: Local planning and leadership in relation to the provision of services for adults with autism To achieve the most accurate local information about the numbers of adults with autism and their needs, good practice suggests including the number of people with autism: placed in the area (and funded) by other local authorities; placed out of area by local authorities and/or NHS bodies; in hospital or living in other NHS-funded accommodation; resettled from long-stay beds or NHS residential campuses to community provision; living at home on their own, or with family members, or with older family carers and not receiving health or social care services.

Question 2 Do you have these numbers? If not, how do you measure adults with autism and their needs in the local area?

6. Reasonable Adjustments and Equality 6.6. Each adult with autism is different and will have different needs that require reasonable adjustments to be made. Local authorities, NHS bodies and Foundation Trusts should work with each individual with autism to identify what reasonable adjustments should be made, which can include changes to: • premises – taking account of hypersensitivities and providing quiet or lower-light areas; • processes – scheduling appointments at less busy times, ensuring that the appointment is on time, allocating extra time to adults with autism and being flexible about communication methods, for example, less reliance on telephone- based services, appointments should run on time, with the flexibility to swap appointments around to ensure timekeeping; • face-to-face communications – some people with autism would rather communicate non-verbally even in faceto-face consultations; avoiding ambiguous questions, asking follow-up questions where further information is needed, being aware of sensitivity to touch, providing written information in advance of meetings are all helpful; • written communications – ensuring essential documents and forms are available in accessible formats, in particular, easy read versions and formats that take account of sensory issues in their choice of colours, as set out in the statutory information standard at:– http;// www.england.nhs.uk/ourwork/patients/ accessibleinfo-2 written information could also be used to reinforce what was said in a face-to-face consultation, to enable adults with autism to process it.  

Questions 3 and 4 What does this process look like and are staff able to meet these obligations?   Does each of the local authority have a list of supported living providers who specialise in autism?

My personal experience within local housing Helen Charnock