Many people in the autistic community have voiced their concerns at the announcement of the ‘Spectrum 10k’ research project based at Cambridge University. Scottish Autism recognises and shares these concerns. Whilst we welcome the statement from project researchers that they have no intention of eliminating autism, the long-term implications of collecting genetic samples from autistic people, and the potential use of such data in future, are worrying.  

Scottish Autism is committed to recognising and accepting diverse thinking styles, and enabling autistic people to live happy and healthy lives. We advocate that research priorities should be guided by the priorities and needs of autistic people. Our own research programme seeks to undertake participatory research that reflects these priorities and helps to develop more enabling practice in social care and education. The autistic community has been consistently clear that research based on improving services should be a priority for large-scale investment. Scottish Autism calls on institutions funding and leading autism research to consider this a priority too.