British association Autistica highlights the true scale of the hidden mortality crisis in autism in its report ‘Personal tragedies, public crisis. The urgent need for a national response to early death in autism’. Many families and autistic individuals have raised concerns over early deaths in autistic people. Ground-breaking new research now confirms the true scale of the mortality crisis in autism: autistic people die on average 16 years earlier than the general population. For those with autism and learning disabilities, the outlook is even more appalling, with this group dying more than 30 years before their time.
In light of this situation, Autistica has also lauched a petition calling on the UK Government to immediately implement a National Autism Mortality Review to understand why autistic people are dying so early and to prevent the tragedy of further unnecessary early deaths in autism.