Chair of the Cross Party Autism Group, Mark Isherwood AM, has called on the Education Secretary to take action to address the fact that many girls with autism are being denied diagnosis because they cope so well in school, despite them struggling at home.
Raising the matter in the Assembly Chamber yesterday, Mr Isherwood said:
“At our previous Cross Party Autism Group meeting, we took a presentation from the Autistic Women’s Empowerment Project, discussing the different presentations of autism in women and girls and suggesting that the ratio - the accepted ratio of five boys to one girl - should actually be a lot closer.
“We were told that many females are left undiagnosed, misdiagnosed or without support, and while autistic girls face many of the same challenges as autistic boys, ‘boys explode and girls implode’. How, therefore, will you and your colleagues address the very real problem, evidenced by a large body of casework that I have, of girls being denied diagnosis because of schools reporting that they cope so well in school, despite the fact that they’re then going home, melting down and, in many cases, self-harming and, in one of my own cases, even attempting suicide?”
The Education Secretary said he accepted the point made and agreed that diagnosing girls with autism, particularly younger girls, is far more difficult than that with boys.
He said: “The Member will be aware that the Autism Action Plan - the refresh of that - which was published by my colleague Minister at the end of last year, does include a timetable for diagnosis and does include demands on the health service to ensure that diagnosis is pursued with an urgency, which, I agree, has sometimes been lacking.”
Mr Isherwood added: “Too often schools, Local Authorities and Health Boards are just not getting this, betraying autistic pupils and putting them and their families through hell as they battle for the diagnosis and support being denied them.”