Peer support was the autism strategy’s most promising idea, a working group member said

A member of the economic inclusion working group for the draft National Autism Strategy was asked at the 2024 Autistic Pride Day Symposium, on 8 June 2024, whether they were hopeful. They said they were, and named the part of the strategy that excited them most after its work on social enterprise. It was a large component on peer support for autistic people. The member said “there’s nothing more valuable than peer support”, and grounded the claim in their own experience. Over the years, the member said, being involved in conversations with other autistic people had probably been the most helpful thing there is for an autistic person.

A larger focus on peer support would have incredible outcomes, the member said, for autistic young people, for autistic entrepreneurs and for autistic people generally. The member also named another of the strategy’s guiding principles, self determination, which was exciting too, because they had always believed that “autistic people hold the solutions” for autistic people. Autistic people have the ideas and the solutions, the member said, and need support to create them and make them work.