Tag: neurodivergence

Support for autistic adults

Improving outcomes for neurodivergent and autistic people, and people with learning disabilities

Autistic adults are to benefit from more than £600,000 of new funding to improve access to advice, support and assessment, including support while waiting for assessment.

The funding will ensure more people can access help at the right time, in the right place, based on their individual needs.

It is part of wider work by the Scottish Government to improve neurodevelopmental support for adults and children and comes ahead of the publication of a draft route map for adult neurodevelopmental support in the autumn.

The route map will set out a four-tier approach, based on recommendations from the Royal College of Psychiatrists, comprising public health, universal, targeted and intensive support based on individual need.

Mental Wellbeing Minister Maree Todd, said: “I know that too many neurodivergent people, including those with autism, are waiting too long for the support they need.

“This funding will help improve people’s access to support based on their individual needs, and supports our aim for people to be able to access support as soon as needs are identified regardless of diagnostic status.

“Specialist secondary services have been overwhelmed in recent years with increased demand for assessments and support.

“Tackling that  is key so we can ensure neurodivergent people, and people with learning disabilities are understood, supported, and empowered.”

Scottish Government action to improve outcomes for people with learning disabilities, autistic people and neurodivergent people includes:

  • supporting over 2,800 people with Learning Disabilities through the Learning Disability Support Fund in its first 6 months of implementation
  • £20 million of funding to implement the Coming Home Action Plan, which sets out measures to ensure people with learning disabilities and complex support needs benefit from tailored support and housing close to home, family and friends.
  • an additional £29 million of Additional Support Needs (ASN)  in 2026/27 to support the ASN workforce
  • supporting children and young people with neurodevelopmental needs and their families with £7.6 million funding to local authorities, announced in September
  • taking forward reforms to improve neurodevelopmental support and ensure people can access support, including a draft route map for adult neurodevelopmental support which will set out a four-level approach to support based on recommendations from the Royal College of Psychiatrists
  • providing £2m a year to NHS Boards to deliver annual health checks for people with learning disabilities, which resulted in 3,287 onward referrals last year

Coming Home Action Plan

Easy Reader Summary

Parents of neurodivergent children forced to sacrifice careers because of failing support systems, new national survey finds

New findings from neurodiversity charity Salvesen Mindroom Centre (Mindroom) highlight 88% say caring responsibilities have limited their career progression, while more than half provide the equivalent of a full-time working week of unpaid care.

Leading neurodiversity charity Salvesen Mindroom Centre (Mindroom) has published a pioneering national survey examining the workplace experiences of parents and carers of neurodivergent children, revealing thousands are being forced to reduce hours, turn down career opportunities or leave work altogether because of gaps in health, education and family support.

Based on responses from over 250 parents and carers surveyed across Scotland and the UK in Autumn 2025, Holding It All Together: Workplace Experiences of Parents and Carers of Neurodivergent Children (supported by Baillie Gifford’s Neurodiversity Network) suggests the biggest barriers to employment are not caring responsibilities alone, but delays in diagnosis, fragmented services and inconsistent support.

The full findings will be unveiled at an online launch event on 4 August, where Mindroom will present the research for the first time, explore what it means for families, employers and policymakers, and outline the action needed to tackle the issues identified. Registration is now open.

The report paints a stark picture of parents trying to balance employment with caring responsibilities:

  • 88% said caring responsibilities had limited their career progression
  • 80% reported a negative impact on household income.
  • 98% said the experience had negatively impacted their mental health.
  • 55% provide 30 hours or more of unpaid care each week.
  • 74% have changed their working patterns, and 58% have reduced their hours.
  • Despite this, 69% continue to balance professional or management roles and 44% work in hybrid roles. 

Mindroom’s report’s central message is that the difficulties experienced by parents and carers are not caused by neurodivergent children themselves, but by systems that fail to provide timely and coordinated support. The report is launched alongside Mindroom’s 2025 Impact Report, which highlights rising demand across Scotland.

In 2025 alone, the charity supported 2,172 children, young people and families, received 1,801 new enquiries, and has seen demand increase by 309% since 2020. *

Aileen Shrimpton, Mindroom’s Director of Development, says: “Supporting parents and carers is not a niche issue.

“When support is delayed or inconsistent, families carry the consequences, and so do workplaces. This report provides a baseline for action.”

Gill Christie, Baillie Gifford, Chair of employee-led Neurodiversity Network, on behalf of the project team, continues: “Parents and carers of neurodivergent children are still holding work, family life and overstretched systems together, often invisibly.

The challenges described in this report arise not from them or their children, but from the fallout of systemic pressures outwith their control.”

Alan Thornburrow, CEO of Mindroom, concludes: “This research exposes an invisible workforce issue that has been hiding in plain sight.

“Parents and carers of neurodivergent children are not stepping back from work because they lack ambition or ability. They are doing so because they are carrying the consequences of delayed diagnoses, fragmented services and inadequate support systems.

“When skilled people reduce hours, turn down progression opportunities or leave employment altogether, families lose income, employers lose experienced staff, and the economy loses valuable talent. Supporting these families isn’t simply a welfare issue, it’s an economic one.”

To register for the official online launch event for Holding It All Together and discover the full extent of the findings, please visit: ‘Holding It All Together’ Launch**

To learn more about Mindroom’s work, please visit: Mindroom’s official website

“Completely unacceptable”

Issues faced by neurodivergent people must be urgently addressed, says Holyrood committee

Challenges faced by people with neurodivergence should be addressed “without delay” according to MSPs on Holyrood’s Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee.

The Committee launched the inquiry after the delay to the Learning Disabilities, Autism and Neurodivergence Bill. Having held formal and informal sessions in light of this delay, the Committee agreed to focus on the challenges facing neurodivergent people in education, work and the criminal justice system

Throughout the inquiry the Committee heard about the importance of, and difficulty of getting, a diagnosis of a neurodivergent condition.

Dr Jim Crabb from the Royal College of Psychiatrists told the Committee that “[A] diagnosis can be incredibly powerful and validating; for some people, it can be life saving”, while Karbie Brook, from ARGH Scotland, told MSPs that prior to diagnosis: “I simply thought that I was a broken human, that I was no good at being human and that I did not really deserve to be here because what use was I anyway.”

The Committee also heard that, in some situations, delays to diagnosis had led to people taking their own lives and concludes that this situation is “completely unacceptable”.

In its report, the Committee warns that, with 43 percent of children in Scottish schools having an additional support need, action must be taken so that neurodivergence is not seen as a deficit.

The Committee says that it is essential for young people to receive a diagnosis early in life and calls for the Government to ensure that there is a long-term strategy and funding to ensure that Scotland has the workforce needed to be able to respond to the demand for diagnoses.

The report also explores the implementation gap between Scottish Government policies and the lived experience of witnesses. The Minister for Social Care and Mental Wellbeing told the Committee that the Government was now recalibrating systems due to an unforeseen increase in demand.

While the Committee welcomes this, it urges the Government to speak to people with lived experience to ensure services meet the needs of neurodivergent people.

Karen Adam MSP, Convener of the Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee said: “Some of the testimony that we heard during this inquiry was devastating and, as we say in our report, as a country we cannot carry on like this.

“Our inquiry has found that we must fundamentally change as a society. The Scottish Government must act urgently so that our public services understand distress, communication and difference properly, so that we can intervene early, reduce harm, and support better outcomes across education, health, employment and justice.

“I am also grateful to all those we heard from during our inquiry. We repeatedly heard about the barriers, stigma and discrimination faced by neurodivergent people, but having their views on the record shone a light on the scale of the problem.”