FEATURE NEURODIVERSITY
Trying something a little different
With the topic of health equity high on the profession ’ s agenda this month , Clarissa Thompson reflects on the strengths she brought as an occupational therapist to a brandnew autism access lead role , while sharing some of the key findings from the project and her thoughts on why occupational therapy is so vital to future neurodiversity services
In April 2020 , the UK was in lockdown and I was returning to work after maternity leave to a brand-new role of autism access lead . The post was funded by the Humber Transforming Care Partnership and the aim was to complete a service development project that explored the gaps in services that influence the mental health of autistic people ( without a learning disability ) living in Hull and East Riding of Yorkshire .
After working as an occupational therapist in the East Riding Community Learning Disability Team , as well as in the Adult Autism Diagnostic Service , I was excited to apply my skills to a new role , albeit in the abnormal world that the COVID-19 pandemic brought to us .
Person-centred practice As an occupational therapist I have always endeavoured to be a person-centred practitioner , who considered the needs of the individual , and this became a key feature for the project .
Many studies about autistic people have not included an autistic voice and presented findings that were based on the opinions of neurotypical professionals , often overlooking the true experience of being autistic .
Movements such as # actuallyautistic and # nothingaboutuswithoutus , highlight the importance of listening to the autistic community , and I used my values as an occupational therapist to embed this within the project and involve autistic people as much as possible .
I used surveys and virtual interviews with autistic people of all ages to try and gain a true insight into their experience of mental health services .
Nationally , the 2019 Autism Act : 10 Years On report , by the National Autistic Society , highlights that 76 per cent of autistic people have reached out for mental health support in the last five years . This finding was also supported in my project and highlights the importance of ensuring autistic people can access mental health services when they need to .
Another important finding was that autistic people did not always meet the criteria for services , where difficulties were attributed to autism , rather than mental health . Within the project , I have advocated for a move away from diagnosis-led pathways , towards a needsled model that places the person back at the centre of their care .
22 OTnews November 2021