Autism charities estimate more than 500,000 people in the UK have autism and one in 100 children could be affected.

Campaigners eager to highlight autism




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By FIONA MACLEOD
CAMPAIGNERS are calling for action on autism in advance of the world's first awareness raising day.
The United Nations has declared tomorrow World Autism Awareness Day to highlight the plight of those with the developmental disorder.Autism charities estimate more than 500,000 people in the UK have autism and one in 100 children could be affected.Baroness Pola Uddin congratulated Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general, and the UN General Assembly for establishing the milestone.She said: "This is a historic event and I hope it will not only raise awareness of autism and Asperger's syndrome, but that the United Nations will help the poor."Lady Uddin called on Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister, to support Autism Awareness Campaign UK's call f
or a national strategy and a ten-year action plan on autism.She also asked for an autism task force to be set up to examine the education and health issues around the disorder.Ivan Corea, head of the Autism Awareness Campaign UK, urged Douglas Alexander, the International Development Secretary, to work with UN agencies to help poor families with autism in Africa and Asia.Last week campaigners protested outside the Scottish Parliament, to mark the day, demanding better services for children with the condition. Fiona Sinclair, of the pressure group Autism Rights, said Scottish children were missing out because of a lack of specialist provision. She warned: "We are going to face the situation where we have hundreds of thousands of people with autism completely screwed up by the system and reaching adulthood without having had an education which meets their needs."