State Visit!
The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, the Rt Hon Matt Hancock MP, was our special guest on Thursday morning, when he visited the Sycamore Trust UK headquarters in Dagenham.
Mr Hancock is the member of parliament for West Sussex and has served as Health Secretary since July last year and his visit was one of a number of activities that we have taken part in throughout World Autism Awareness Week.
The Health Secretary was keen to meet people with experience of autism, so we introduced him to some of our young people, as well as their parents and some of our staff.
On arrival, he was treated to a presentation from two of our young Autism Ambassadors, Alex Rowley and Francesca Cutri, and the Minister took part in a couple of role-play exercises, designed to help people to understand the different challenges faced by people on the spectrum on a daily basis.
Following the presentation, Mr Hancock then hosted a lengthy Q&A with the assembled young people and their parents and asked a number of questions about life on the autistic spectrum and what challenges are faced by parents and carers of young people with autism. He asked what he might be able to do to help, and apart from the obvious topic of funding, the parents spoke about the length of time to get a diagnosis and the lack of opportunities for young adults in the workplace.
Following his visit, the Health Secretary said:
"Thanks to the Sycamore Trust and their Autism Ambassadors for their unforgettable interactive demonstration of the impact of sensory overload on autistic people. Autism awareness helps to increase empathy and gives us all pause for thought about what each of us can do.
"During World Autism Awareness week it’s so important to highlight the challenges that autistic people face, as well as the skills and talents they can bring to our workplaces and communities. I had terrific discussions with autistic people and their families and urge everyone to feed into the review of our new autism strategy so we can work to improve support."
Sycamore CEO Chris Gillbanks appreciated the Health Secretary’s visit. She said; “we were delighted to welcome Matt Hancock and trust that his visit has helped him to understand what life is like for young people on the spectrum as well as parents and carers of autistic people. We hope we have persuaded him just how many people are affected and how important it is to raise awareness of autism.”
