Autism

BSL Support

You Said - Together We Did

The Newham Autism Action Plan: Let’s Talk Autism was launched in April 2024. One year on, we are pleased to share the You Said, Together We Did report, which outlines the progress made during the first year of the Action Plan against our 2024/25 priorities.

We have also set out our priorities for 2025/26. Both documents are available on the right-hand side of this page.

We welcome your feedback. Please feel free to contact us directly at Autism.Commissioning@newham.gov.uk.

Newham Autism Action Plan

The Newham Autism Action Plan is the first joint Adults and Children’s autism plan that is set out to deliver on the six priority areas outlined in the National Autism Strategy:   

1. Improving understanding and acceptance of autism within society 
2. Improving autistic children and young people’s access to education, and supporting positive transitions into adulthood 
3. Supporting more autistic people into employment 
4. Tackling health and care inequalities for autistic people 
5. Building the right support in the community and supporting people in inpatient care 
6. Improving support within the criminal and youth justice systems 

Who is the Plan for?

This Plan is for anyone living in Newham who has been diagnosed with Autism and their family, friends and carers. It is also for any professionals, students or anyone interested in understanding autism in Newham.

How will the Plan help?

The purpose of the Newham Autism Action Plan is to improve the lives of autistic people, their families and carers in Newham.  The Action Plan will give us the direction to where we want to be in the future and how we will get there.  It will bring together the information we hold locally about autism in Newham and identify the next steps in how we want to shape the borough towards a more autism friendly community.

This work will be co-produced in partnership with the autistic community including residents, friends and family, carers, community, voluntary organisations and other partners. E.g Schools, East London Foundation Trust, Met Police.

How do I get involved?

There are different ways of getting involved:

1. As an autistic resident, you can join the Autistic Residents Advisory Group (ARAG). This group meets quarterly. We would welcome any autistic resident to join this group to help co-produce, shape and deliver the plan. Joining instructions and more information about the group can be found here: Newham's Autism Resident Advisory Group (ARAG) – Autism – Newham Council   

2. As an Expert by Experience; you will serve as a representative of autistic residents in Newham, bringing forward a collective voice. You will be recognised and respected for your contributions in this role. There are ten (10) Expert Resident Roles available. Experts will be compensated for their contributions to leading the delivery of the Autism Action Plan and supporting governance implementation.

   Applications for an Expert by Experience role is now OPEN.  To  apply  for   one of these roles, please find more information here. Deadline for submissions is 7th September 2025.

3. As an Autism Champion; If you have some availability to volunteer to help build an autism friendly community please email us on Autism.Commissioning@newham.gov.uk.  We would welcome anyone who has a passion to support autistic residents including parent, carers, family and friends general public, teachers and other professionals and local business.

4. As a professional, business, service provider or general public; if you are interested in getting involved with the Autism Programme, please email Autism.Commissioning@newham.gov.uk

5. If you care for someone who is aged 18+ you can join:

• Carers of Autistic Residents Peer Support Group to access informal support advice and guidance from likeminded people and help shape services. Register here or email carersautisticadultsnewham@gmail.com 
• Carers Residents Advisory Group (CRAG) to help shape services for carers. More information and registration here: Carers Strategy 2021-24 – Carers – Newham Council 

• If you care for a child or young person aged under 18 years, please contact the Newham Parent Forum (NPF) on info@newhamparentforum.co.uk to access support and information.

Newham Autism Small Grants Funding

The Autism Small Grants will enable local autistic residents to build community resilience by applying for one-off funding of up to £1,000 to:

• support the costs of running activities on a regular basis, and enabling new activities to set up;
• support the costs of running groups meeting on a regular basis, and enabling new groups to set up

Autism Projects: Examples of some work completed

1. Situational Mutism Survey

This survey was open in November 2024 to autistic residents who experience situational mutism or situational speaking. Situational Mutism is an anxiety disorder that prevents those affected from being able to talk in certain situations.

The purpose of this survey was to identify access issues experienced by this group and to identify where we can target the work, under the Autism Action Plan, to improve access to services.

A summary of the results of this survey can be found to the right of this page. If you would like to comment further about any information contained in the survey summary please email Autism.Commissioning@newham.gov.uk . We would welcome any feedback.

2. Patient-led World Café Report: Supporting Autistic Patients at Newham Hospital

A World Café was held in Newham Hospital on September 2024 to identify how the hospital could improve support for autistic residents accessing hospital services. The participants were made up of hospital staff, autistic residents, carers and other autism and healthcare professionals.

A report and the recommendations can be found to the right of this page. If you would like to comment further about any information contained in the report please email Autism.Commissioning@newham.gov.uk . We would welcome any feedback.

3. Newham Autism Action Plan Soft Launch Event

The Newham Action Plan was launched in April 2024 after a year of working with residents and stakeholders to co-produce the action plan. You can find out more about the launch here. 

The theme for the launch was employment, a seven minute video was produced for the launch. We interviewed six autistic people who live or work in Newham to find out what their experiences are as an autistic person and the minor adjustments needed to support them to remain in employment.