What’s new in Autism?

February 2026

Celebrity Ambassadors

Brit Award-nominated singer Cat Burns is a new Celebrity Ambassador to the National Autistic Society (NAS) in the UK, following her appearance on reality show The Celebrity Traitors in the last year, where she reached the final.

The NAS has several Celebrity Ambassadors, an important position, as children growing up autistic, as well as newly-diagnosed autistic adults, have someone to look up to and can see that it is all right to be autistic. People I look up to as an older white autistic male are naturalist Chris Packham from Winter Watch, Spring Watch and Autumn Watch, who is an NAS Ambassador, and actor Anthony Hopkins and musicians Gary Numan and David Byrne of Talking Heads, who are not.

To people who are not autistic, I point this out because of/ the range of people who are autistic. I do not want to be your stereotype, nor am I your inspiration.

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A postcode lottery

In the news of January 2026, Health Secretary Wes Streeting admitted that the NHS is falling short on providing diagnostic services for autism and ADHD in adults. In Oxfordshire, this has led to waits of up to 18 years to be diagnosed. As the service comes under the local authority and the NHS Trusts, this can lead to different service levels according to where you live. I really fear for autistic adults in Oxford, where, as well as the very long waiting times, the authority has paused referrals for adults since 2024.

As always, the news you get depends on what you read. Healthcare Management has been positive, quoting Streeting as saying, “Is it simply awareness and a positive awareness that means that people who would have just gone unsupported and undiagnosed are just now realising that they may well have ADHD?”^[1]

On the other hand, the BBC News site says of the independent review Streeting has launched, “It is looking at whether there is evidence of over-diagnosis and what gaps in support exist.” Those words, being the words of the BBC reporter, not an attributed quote, are best ignored.^[2]

Here in Kirklees, there are a number of NHS Trusts operating in the area since the merger of Calderdale Trust with Huddersfield in 2001.

South Kirklees, Huddersfield and the surrounding areas are mostly served by the Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust.
North Kirklees, Dewsbury, Batley, Mirfield, Heckmondwyke and Cleckheaton are served by the Mid-Yorkshire Teaching NHS Trust based at Pinderfields Hospital, Wakefield.
A small part of North Kirklees is under the Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.
A small part of South Kirklees is closer to the Barnsley Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.

This confusion leaves a lot of scope for passing the buck between the Local Authority and the various NHS Trusts.

Following on from my enthusiastic welcoming of Royal ascent being given to the Mental Health Bill 2025^[3], I note that how the earmarked £1.9 billion is spent will be largely down to the local authorities and NHS Trusts. The Royal College of Nursing reacted positively to its passing and the step-by-step implementation starting in February 2026, but noted that without the training of far more nurses in mental health, little may happen.

[1] https://www.healthcare-management.uk/nhs-falling-short-autism-adhd-admits-streeting
[2]https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c5y229z8m3mo
[3]https://stevenhpape.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=20436&action=edit

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