Cynulliad Cenedlaethol Cymru	National Assembly for Wales
Bil Awtistiaeth (Cymru) drafft	Draft Autism (Wales) Bill
Arolwg Ar-lein DAB149	Online Survey DAB149
Ymateb gan Cyfrannog ar-lein 149	Evidence from Online Participant 149

Please refer to questions in the Online Survey.

Question	Answer
01	No
02	Not sure
03	No The Society believes that these are the key organisations in the assessment of ASD. However, we would also include Education, the Criminal Justice System, Employment, Private hospitals and other social care providers this as they all have an essential role.
04	Yes
05	The Society believes that this is a timely response to write the autism strategy and welcomes this.  However, we believe that it is essential that all key stakeholders, most importantly service users with ASD, are consulted with including health boards, t
06	The Society belives that this is a timely response to write the guidance is supported.  However, we believe that it will be important that stakeholders are involved in discussions to prepare guidance in line with existing policies and strategies. This is
07	The Society believes that the time frame is appropriate but that there will need to be a specified time frame for services to implement and develop services in line with the strategy.
09	Yes
10	Yes
11	The Society believes the guidance should provide more examples of the professionals needed to undertake a comprehensive assessment.  However, additional professionals that could form part of the assessment team, when appropriate, include: – Paediatricians
12	The Society would point to the following factors: – A potetntial lack of appropriate advocacy support. – Lack of appropriately trained staff to carry out comprehensive assessments which has the potential to lead to delays and/or impact on the quality of assessments. – A perceived lack of understanding and awareness of the needs of people with ASD, for example in schools, the criminal justice system, employment services, health and LA services, needs to be addressed. – Financial constraints/pressures that impact on the provision of services. – A perceived lack of positive, person centred approaches based on understanding the individual’s strengths and what is important ‘to’ and ‘for’ the individual. – Those in custody or supervised by probation in Wales are likely to struggle to access appropriate services due to their complex needs and risk management concerns. – The lack of reliable and validated screening within forensic/education settings is likely to be a barrier to accessing appropriate diagnostic services. – The lack of a clear referral process for those individuals in custody. – Current service provision for those with an ASD diagnosis is managed through Learning Disability services OR Mental Health services. Therefore, some individuals are denied access to services based on IQ (too high or too low) or lack of co-morbid mental health conditions.  All community and inpatient services should have the skills in supporting people with ASD.  Access should be based on the individual’s needs, wishes and presenting risks.
13	Yes
14	The Society believes that this is dependent on the purpose of gathering this information. If it is about patterns of prevalence, then information on: – Person’s age – Gender – Ethnicity – Age they were when they got diagnosed – Birth history – o          Any oth
15	It should be written in the guidance.
16	Not sure
17	It should happen all the time.
18	The Society would point to the following factors: – There is no mention of Welsh language – this needs to be considered in all aspects – It will be beneficial for all organisations to have clarity on their duties around the implementation of the strategy – It will be beneficial to those involved with the criminal justice system if arrangements for services are clearly defined and referral processes clearly identified, this is particularly important for those detained within the prison system. – Consideration needs to be given to increasing training opportunities for all services who will support people with ASD including those working within community and inpatient learning disability and generic mental health services, primary health and primary mental health services, those working within the criminal justice system and those working within education and employment services. – Clarification on whether the implementation of this strategy will incur cost (i.e. training, awareness) and if so, whether or not the cost implications have been balanced against potential long term benefits. (Knapp et al., 2009).
19	The Society has the following comments: – The assessment process needs to take place in a range of different contexts and at a range of different times – •           To ensure appropriate advocacy services are involved in supporting individuals throughout the proce