Debate contribution: Autism Mental Health Services
Debate contribution by Mr Mark Durkan on .
- MLA
- Mr Mark Durkan
- Party at the time
- Social Democratic and Labour Party
- Date
- 20 January 2025
- Type
- Debate contribution
- Business
- Private Members' Business
- Heading
- Autism Mental Health Services
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 4744944
Read the official Assembly record
Text
I have always been passionate about driving forward the needs of autistic people, and I have been eager to ensure that they receive the right supports at the right time throughout their lifetime. As many of you are aware, my SDLP colleague Dominic Bradley successfully introduced the first piece of single disability legislation in the Assembly, the Autism Act, in 2011. That was a landmark piece of legislation and the first of its kind aimed at addressing the huge gaps in the provision of autism services regionally. It was and remains the most comprehensive piece of single disability legislation globally. However, since that legislation was passed, there have been many failings in relation to the efficacy of autism services and the delivery of regional autism strategies over the past 10 years, resulting in the need for and, fortunately, the passing of a second piece of legislation, the Autism (Amendment) Act, which was sponsored by Pam Cameron, in 2022. We cannot rest on the laurels of that legislation. We want and need to be world-leading in services and in support, not just in statute, otherwise the Executive are at risk of making and breaking yet more promises to the autism community. Sorry, folks, but, as Nuala McAllister said, five years with no Executive, no Assembly and no accountability did not help. With the appointment of an autism reviewer in September of last year to oversee the current autism strategy, I hoped to see much better outcomes being achieved by our Department of Health and other statutory autism services. Autistic people and their families deserve a consistent level of service — a consistently good level of service. We need to stop autistic children and adults being pushed from service to service, as that causes avoidable stress, mistrust and anxiety, not just for them but for the entire family circle. Autistic people need to feel seen and understood, not that they are too complex to receive individualised appropriate care, and that is very much what the debate is about today. In recent years, as we have heard again today, there has been a huge increase in the diagnosis levels of children and adults as the identification and understanding of autism have improved. However, it is unacceptable — we should not and will not accept this — that, with that increase in diagnosis levels, there has not been a similar increase in investment in our autism services. One of those vital services is our mental health service. We have heard today from every contributor about the high incidence and huge impact of mental health problems across our autism community. It is my understanding that our current mental health service and mental health screening tools have been developed for neurotypicals. That is a barrier to autistic people and their families accessing the appropriate level of support and therapy in the first place. Many of the therapies that are used may also be inappropriate for autistic people, including, for example, cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). Therefore, we need therapies that will be tailored to autistic people's needs and delivered by professionals with expertise in autism. Those concerns and failings have been outlined in Autism NI's petition, which has amassed over 25,000 signatures. It is also shocking that, when we read through the current autism strategy 2023-28, we find that there are no measurable targets and outcomes on how we will address the mental health of our autistic population. The autism strategy mentions an i-THRIVE programme for children, but that is a general programme. It is not designed for autistic children, and no research has been completed on how effective it is at supporting autistic children's emotional and mental health. There is no mention in the strategy of plans to support autistic adults with their mental health. The Autism (Amendment) Act states:
"The autism strategy must set out how the needs of adults with autism will be addressed, including in particular their needs in respect of— (e)emotional and mental well-being,"
When the Minister is responding to the debate, I would like him to say how he proposes to do that.
682 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
Assessment
Jev’s structured answers met the documented threshold for “not flagged”.
- Overall probability that the activity is being used to promote, exploit or escalate an identity-based controversy: 0.04 (flagging needs at least 0.70; at or below 0.30 is not flagged).
- None of the five culture-war criteria was met (each was below 0.60).
- Assessed as legitimate policy scrutiny (0.97).
- No identity-based framing was identified (1.00).
- Subject area: Disability (including neurodivergence and mental health), disabled people and disability or sickness benefits.
- The overall probability was at or below the not-flagging threshold.
This is an AI-generated assessment of the text, made against published criteria. It is not a finding of fact about the MLA or their intentions. The Assembly record itself is the fact.
Jev’s structured answers
| Question | Probability | Met? |
|---|---|---|
| Identity framing | 0.04 | No |
| Sectarian or communal antagonism | 0.02 | No |
| Cultural grievance politics | 0.01 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.02 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.03 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.97 | Yes |
| Overall judgement | 0.04 | At or below not-flagging threshold |
| Option | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-based framing (chosen) | 1.00 |
| Reports or questions it | 0.00 |
| Criticises or condemns it | 0.00 |
| Adopts it | 0.00 |
| Subject | Probability |
|---|---|
| Disability (including neurodivergence and mental health), disabled people and disability or sickness benefits | 1.00 |
| No identity-related subject | 0.00 |
| Flags, emblems, symbols, names and memorials | 0.00 |
| Parades, bonfires and commemorations | 0.00 |
| Irish language, Ulster-Scots and language policy | 0.00 |
Assessed 21 October 2026 at 11:51 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.
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