National Autistic Society: Cambridge Branch

Cambridgeshire’s Adult Autism Development Project was formally launched on 19th May 2010 with those attending from a good cross section of parent/carers, those with ASD, professionals and service providers.

Claire Bruin, Service Director, Adult Services, Cambridgeshire County Council chaired the event and set out Cambridgeshire County Council’s involvement and the partnership working of the project.

Maria Cooper, Development Officer for Adults with Autistic Spectrum Disorders provided an overview of the role and aims of the project.

This was followed by Carol Povey, Director of Centre of Autism, National Autistic Society, who welcomed the National Strategy.

Joanna Hastwell, Aspergers Syndrome Project Officer, Disability Resource Centre, University of Cambridge, then talked about how the university supported those with ASD and Aspergers Syndrome.

After the talks everyone joined table-top discussions focussing on where services are now and where they would like to see them in the future. Subject areas were: diagnosis; services and support, and information received / needed.

The points raised through the table-top discussions were subsequently reported back to the Mutli-agency Adult Autism Consortium, who were able to address some of the issues and add to their action plan.

The event was well received and general feedback very positive. A follow-on event will be arranged for November 2010.

A copy of the full report is available on request from Maria Cooper, maria.cooper@red2green.org or 07826 541946.