Autism Act (Northern Ireland) 2011

The Autism Act 2011 is an act of the Northern Ireland Assembly. The Act makes provision about the needs of adults and children who have autistic spectrum disorders including autism and Asperger syndrome.

Background

In 2002, the Department of Education published guidance for teachers regarding autistic spectrum disorders, and an evaluation of the provision of services for autistic children in Northern Ireland.
In 2007, the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency published a review of early intervention provision for autism. It recommended a joint strategy, comprehensive assessment procedure with a waiting time of no more than 4 months, intervention that takes into account the needs of individual families, and more thorough training.

Duties

Autism strategy publication

The Act requires the publication of an autism strategy document.
Several iterations of the strategy have been published.

Independent reviewer

The Act requires the appointment of an independent autism reviewer.

Health and Social Care Trusts

The Act requires the Health and Social Care trusts to provide data on the prevalence of autism in their areas.

Provisions

Section 5 provides that the Act came into force at the end of the period of three months that began on the date on which it was passed.

Reception

AutismNI has hailed the original act as "the most comprehensive and progressive legislation for autism across the UK and Ireland" and that with the amendments, the legislation has been "strengthened even more"

Amendment

Autism (Amendment) Act (Northern Ireland) 2022

In 2022, the Northern Ireland Assembly passed a private member's bill to further strengthen provision of services and to ensure that services are "person-centred". The amendment act passed unanimously.

Funding

The amended Act requires the Department of Health to publish details of funding.

Data

The amended Act requires the data published by the Department of Health to be separated into adults and children.