Untold numbers who live with autism

Jan 5 2009 by Joanne Douglas, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

NEW research has revealed that no-one knows how many people living in Kirklees have autism.

Experts say more could be done to support and improve the lives of children and adults who have the condition.

Many autistic adults say a job would greatly improve their lives, but many fully-abled autistic people struggle to find work.

And one Honley speech and language therapist who has worked with autistic people for two decades says more awareness is needed.

It comes as the National Autistic Society revealed that Kirklees Council does not know how many people in the area have autism.

However, the council is making progress as they are one of few local authorities who now have a named person or team responsible for autism.

The study comes from the NAS who described support for autistic people as “a postcode lottery”.

Kate Falkingham has been a speech and language therapist since 1969 and specialised in autism for the past two decades. She formed the Huddersfield Support Group for Autism in 1992 with three families and it has grown to have 300 parents and professionals on its mailing list.

Mrs Falkingham, of Honley, said of forming the group: “It struck me how little support there was for parents or families of people with autism.

“There are an awful lot of parents who feel like there is a big, black hole where guidance and information is concerned.”