'Blatant discrimination': Charity criticises exclusion of some autistic people in Camhs review

According to the charity, eight in 10 autistic people experience mental health conditions

Ireland’s national autism charity said it is deeply concerned by the decision of the Child Adolescent Mental Health Services (Camhs) to exclude autistic people and their families from the upcoming audit of its services.

AsIAm said the decision was regressive and deliberately sets out to exclude a number of autistic people.

In a statement on Tuesday morning, the charity said there are autistic people who are on mental health medications without a formal diagnosis.

"It is nothing short of a disgrace that this cohort would be excluded and will cause many to ask why this is the case," it said.

"Whilst it is acknowledged that this review is to include autistic people with a co-occurring formal mental health condition, the audit sets out to exclude those with a primary diagnosis of autism."

According to the charity, eight in 10 autistic people experience mental health conditions during the course of their lives.

Deputy CEO of AsIAm, Fiona Ferris, said autistic people and their families have had particularly negative experiences interacting with Camhs due to a lack of clear pathways to mental health supports.

She said families around the country are deeply concerned about this latest development which she labelled blatant discrimination.

"Prima facie, this approach and direction by Camhs is discriminatory and inequitable," said Ms Ferris.

"If autism is a primary diagnosis which there is no medication for, and such a person has been prescribed medication by a psychiatrist the only team who could be responsible is Camhs, as disability teams do not have a psychiatrist on staff."

She said there is already a rock-bottom level of trust within the autistic community for service providers and the exclusion of this cohort will only serve to deepen this.

The charity said it remains steadfast in its position that any audit of Camhs must be inclusive, transparent, and open to include all autistic people who avail of its services.

AsIAm has called on the minister with responsibility for mental health, Mary Butler, to urgently sanction the inclusion of all autistic people within the Camhs review.

The future delivery of mental health services in Ireland must be equitable across the board, irrespective of diagnosis, the charity said.