Many people are wrongly put in hospital due to autism. Recently the Government published a draft bill which will make this less likely to happen and to give autistic people more support.
The bill wants to do the following:
- No longer include autism in the Mental Health Act to no longer wrongly detain autistic people even though they do not have a mental condition.
- Provide right community services to prevent autistic people reaching crisis point.
- Help autistic people get discharged from hospital sooner using Care and Treatment Review.
Autism is not a mental health condition therefore it is not the right place for a lot of autistic people. In many cases people have been over medication or restrained even when they shouldn’t.
Facts about autistic people in mental health hospitals
- 2,010 people with autism or learning disabilities are in mental health hospitals in England.
- 1,210(61%) of these are autistic
- Around 185 of the autistic people are under 18.
- In 2015 autistic people only made up 38% of people in mental health hospitals.
The Spectrum 