Today, Scottish Autism releases a publication titled, ‘Service Provider’s Response to the Microsegmentation Project’. The Micosegmentation Project was funded by the Scottish Government through Scottish Autism to take forward key recommendations of the Scottish Strategy for Autism (Scottish Government, 2011). The core research team consisted of: Professor Tommy MacKay, Professor Martin Knapp, Professor Jim Boyle and Michael Connolly. The primary purpose of the project was to provide a reliable foundation for identifying those costs of autism which may be ‘escapable’, that is, those which would not be incurred with appropriate interventions for individuals on the spectrum. This was taken forward by carrying out a ‘microsegmentation’ of the autism spectrum, its co-occurring conditions and its associated problems, so that a conceptual map of the spectrum might be constructed.

Scottish Autism supports the aims of the recommendations made in the report. In addition, we call for action in a number of key areas where there have been enduring challenges for autistic people and their families, often for decades.  In the publication, we give our response to issues raised in the report and detail the change we feel is necessary to make the financial investment made in this research worthwhile.

Read the report in full at www.gov.scot/publications/2018/03/3640 and read the Service Provider’s Response to the Microsegmentation report.