“I don’t want to see more people suffering when they don't need to.”

- Hayden, autistic adult and National Autistic Society supporter

Autistic people suffer disproportionally from poor mental health.

80% of autistic people will experience mental health problems during their lifetime,

compared to only 16.67% for the rest of the population.

Proper professional support can be a postcode lottery, with many unable to gain access to appropriate help and services in their area. 

Thanks to the kindness of donors like you, we were able to lobby government to change the Mental Health Act so that autistic people cannot be sectioned just because they’re autistic - and on 6 November 2024, it had its first reading in the House of Lords.

This is a big step in the right direction, but so much more is needed to ensure that proper support for autistic people is readily available.

With your help, we can campaign for more autism training for all medical professionals. We will be able to continue to distribute our good practice guide for healthcare professionals, which provides essential guidance on supporting autistic patients, and keep our online advice and guidance on mental health, depression and OCD up to date. In the last 12 months, over 100,000 people have visited these pages.

Your donation could support our crucial campaigning and advice programmes. Together, we can fight for accessible mental health care for all autistic people, wherever they live.