After five years of hard work and dedicated campaigning, autistic people and their family members have been left feeling upset and angry that the Scottish Government has chosen to abandon the Learning Disabilities, Autism and Neurodivergence (LDAN) Bill.

This is despite the fact that individuals and families continue to be driven into crisis. In Scotland, autistic people are still more likely to face unemployment, be socially isolated, not receive an education, experience physical and mental health problems, and die younger than non-autistic people.

The LDAN Bill sought to address many of these issues by taking a whole-life approach, and improving experiences across social security, education, health and social care, transport, justice and many more.

In the absence of the Bill, there is no national plan to remedy the systemic injustices autistic people continue to face. We are particularly dismayed that two pillars of the Bill – mandatory training in the public sector and requirements for national and local government to publish strategies – are completely absent from the Scottish Government’s plans.

We understand that many people will be confused and dismayed at this decision from the Scottish Government, and we would like to say a huge thank you to everyone who has campaigned with us. Your hard work has led to important commitments, including action on Additional Support Needs and diagnosis pathways, both of which were key asks from our Act Now for Autistic Rights campaign.

The National Autistic Society Scotland will now work to ensure the Scottish Government takes immediate and effective action on these commitments. We intend to be proactive and constructive in holding the Government to account and, as ever, we will continue to centre the voices and experiences of autistic people and families.