Policy Brief: Autism and Suicide Prevention

Cassidy, Sarah; Newell, Victoria; Adams, Jon

Abstract

More than one in 100 people in the UK are autistic. Yet, autistic people are not always supported, or accepted, by society.

There is a considerably increased risk of suicide in autistic people compared to non-autistic people. Suicide rates in the autistic community are unacceptably high and lack of support is costing lives. Our research found that suicidality in autistic people is under-researched. It also showed a lack of appropriate support
available for autistic people.

Our recommendations have been recognised in the Government Suicide Prevention strategy, and autistic people are now recognised as a high risk group. However, more work needs to be done. We need to work with autistic people to improve the support that is available. We need to listen to autistic people when they tell us what they need. We need to turn the high level aims of the government strategy into actual practice. This can only be achieved by working with autistic
people.

Citation

Cassidy, S., Newell, V., & Adams, J. (2024). Policy Brief: Autism and Suicide Prevention. University of Nottingham

• Report Type: Policy Document
• Online Publication Date: Jul 4, 2024
• Publication Date: Jul 4, 2024
• Deposit Date: Jul 4, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: Jul 5, 2024
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/36871471