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National Autistic Society - Leading UK charity for Autistic people

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Autism insight panel results - March 2022

Thank you to all of you who signed up to the Autism insight panel. Over 900 people signed up by the time we put out the first survey in February. Over 36% of those who signed up completed the first survey which focused on:

  • Our advice and guidance and what our audiences would like from it​
  • Our charity and what it stands for​
  • Isolation and loneliness

Who signed up to the panel?

The panel as it was in March, was made up of 62% autistic people.

Key demographics.

 

Our autism advice and guidance​

​We asked our panel a number of questions about the advice and guidance we offer. We plan to use the results to continue to develop the advice and guidance we provide.  It is clear from the results that web pages and downloadable factsheets are the clear front runners on useful formats for delivering our advice and guidance.

How useful would you find autism advice and guidance in the following formats? Mean score (5 point scale, 1 = not at all useful, 5 = very useful​.

 

When asked what information and guidance they had struggled to find, one in six mention access to support/counselling/therapy​.

When looking for advice and guidance on autism, what information have you struggled to find? Coded mentions 2%+ based on c.40% of responses coded​.

 

Our work as a charity​

We asked the panel to rate for how good we are at transforming lives. We had asked this previously in 2018 and the results show a small decline in how you rate us.

When looking for advice and guidance on autism, what information have you struggled to find? Coded mentions 2%+ based on c.40% of responses coded​.

 

We also asked the panel to rate for how good we are at changing attitudes. We had asked this previously in 2018 and we are rated a bit higher on changing attitudes, although again lower than in 2018.

On a scale of 0-10 where 0= worst and 10=best, how good is the National Autistic Society at changing attitudes (mean score)​.

 

In order to inform our future strategy, we asked the panel How well the society we live in works for autistic people. The results were towards the bottom of the scale and lower than ​in 2018 - showing much still needs to be done.

On a scale of 0-10 where 0= worst and 10=best, how well does the society we live in work for autistic people (Mean score).​

 

Isolation and loneliness

We asked: How much do you agree or disagree with this statement. I am happy with the amount of social contact I have with other people?​

There was greater disagreement than agreement that our audience panel members are happy with the amount of social contact they have with other people.

How much do you agree or disagree with this statement. I am happy with the amount of social contact I have with other people?​

 

More than one in two autistic people and parent carers feel lonely often/always or some of the time which is much higher than among the general UK population.

How often do you feel lonely? N.B: This is not directly comparable to Office for National Statistics data as we included a 'Don't know' option to assist autistic people who may struggle to answer this question​.

 

What next?

We are using the results to plan our future work including our new organisational strategy​.

We will continue to build the participant pool with the aim of having 1,000 in each group (autistic people, families and autism professionals)​.

Our next survey will go out in early May and will build our understanding of the issues autistic people and families face in society, as well as where the focus of our work should be.

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