Debate contribution: Autism Services

Debate contribution by Mr Robbie Butler on 12 May 2026.

MLA

Mr Robbie Butler

Party at the time

Ulster Unionist Party

Date

12 May 2026

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Private Members' Business

Heading

Autism Services

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5528432

Read the official Assembly record

Text

Yes, that was bad timing, but I will draw an analogy from the SDLP Member's coming in on this side of the House: it validates what Cheryl Brownlee said about the debate being not really a debate but a consensus. I was not going to speak on the motion, but it is rare that we have an Alliance motion to which the TUV has tabled an amendment and we are all agreeing. What a moment. If I were the parent of a child with profound autism, I might get a wee bit excited about that and would probably think that things were going to change overnight. Unfortunately, as we know, the wheels of change turn slowly here. I pay tribute to those who work in the space of autism support, whether they are in the medical profession, the teaching profession or the community and voluntary sector, because they have held back the wave of pressure that parents and young people have faced when, many times, a system that was not really designed for them has left them high and dry. In our constituency offices, we have sat with parents who have literally been tearing their hair out because they did not know what the pathway looked like from early diagnosis to interventions and, crucially, into the long term. I have had the privilege of serving on the all-party group on autism. I was also on the Committee for Education at a critical moment. We need to learn from the mistakes of the past. There was a review of the Education Authority (EA). Members may remember that, between 2018 and 2020, there was a horrendously long tail of undiagnosed autism, and parents were fighting tooth and nail to get diagnoses. It was not just the system, however; it was a cultural attitude towards autism. We need to be guarded. Last year, in the Chamber, I talked about some of the utterances that had been made. Yes, they were from the USA, across the pond. President Trump and, I think, RFK Junior were literally calling into question whether autism was a real thing and suggesting that there was overdiagnosis and medication of it. If we are not guarded, we could allow the culture to shift here. It could become a blame culture — blaming parents — when, in fact, we have report after report of failings. We have inherited some of those failings, but, if we do not change the tone and the intent, we will become facilitators of them. I acknowledge the legislation that came through and the appointment of the Autism Reviewer. The review and the report have been very useful in bringing a focus.

I do not think that anybody will disagree with my next point, but the amendment points to it a little bit. In this situation — I am going to use the word "consensus" — if we had the Education Minister, the Economy Minister and, possibly, TEO here to understand the complexity of this arrangement, we might achieve consensus. A child born with autism will have autism when they die. What does that mean? When we talk about giving every child the best start in life, what do we want to do next? We want to give that child the best educational experience that they can have. What do we want to do then? We want to give them the best opportunities post-19. Unfortunately, however, we are a wee bit disjointed and fragmented. That is what true cross-departmental work would look like. I say this to those parents and young people: do not give up hope. Keep the pressure on us. We get paid to bring about change and to see the Executive working in a collegial way, rather than being brought to the brink on items that are political but do not affect people's lives. There are priorities to which we should put our shoulder to show people that we value them and that this is a place that cares about all of them. We will be moving into an election phase shortly, guys. I am sure that every party will be looking at its manifesto. I urge each of the Members and all the parties represented here to consider the fact that we have taken one small step with the Autism Act and the Autism Reviewer, but we need to move into post-19 provision. A parent or family of a child with autism, who understand that that child is going to need support, should have an Executive, an Assembly and even an Opposition who will say, "We're going to provide and develop a pathway right through, so that you will have the comfort of knowing that your child is going to grow into adulthood with the best opportunities possible". I thank the proposers of the motion and the amendment for the opportunity to speak on the issue today.

814 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

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Assessed 21 October 2026 at 01:21 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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