About the East Lothian Autism Strategy
The Scottish Government launched the Scottish Strategy for Autism in 2011. It states that strategic action needs to be taken nationally and locally. It looks at the impact of autism on the whole life experience of people and their families.
It says that people need tobe supported by a wide range of services such as social care, education, housing, employment and other community-based services and that a holistic, joined-up approach is necessary. They asked every community planning area in Scotland to come up with a local strategy.
The East Lothian Autism Strategy involved consultation with families, carers and professionals from health, the third sector and East Lothian Council. East Lothian Health and Social Care Partnership is committed to supporting people with Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD), their families and carers. This strategy sets out how we are going to do this.
What does the strategy want to achieve?
We want to make sure that people with ASD:
- can make choices about what happens in their lives
- can choose how they want other people to be involved in their lives
- have a say in the services they get
- get the services that are right for them
- get help to live safely and be as independent as they want to be.
We want them to know that we are working together with East Lothian Communities to make things fairer for people with ASD. We want to help more people to understand about ASD and break down barriers for people with ASD.
How will we do this?
We are going to:
- make sure that the needs of people with ASD across the spectrum and their carers help to shape our local ASD strategy, policies and plans and that they are involved in making them
- make sure that staff training raises awareness and understanding of autistic spectrum disorder (ASD)
- develop an ASD training plan to help this to happen
- ensure that people can get useful and practical information about ASD and services easily
- improve the way we collect statistical information about how many people with ASD are receiving services and use that information to help us plan services in future
- develop a multi-agency pathway for pre- and post-diagnosis assessment and improve support by acting earlier and also remove barriers for people with ASD
- get more feedback from stakeholders and encourage them to be more involved in planning how services develop
- make sure that services work together effectively to meet the needs of people with ASD within Partnership resources
- make sure that there are clear multi-agency plans and procedures in place to support people with ASD through major changes in their lives (for example, moving from adolescence to adulthood)
- monitor and evaluate how we are doing and show that we are making progress.