Autism Bill

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for that remark. I am so weary of having to keep writing the same thing over and again. I ask this of the Minister: when the new information goes out, which will be after I have retired from this place, will she please make sure that it does not fall victim to what I call "the filing cabinet syndrome" so that it never sees the light of day, because that involves a great disservice. I made a final point on Monday to the permanent secretary at the Department of Health, but I will repeat it now. I have raised two separate debates particularly about Asperger's syndrome and mental health services. We know—my hon. Friend the Member for Chesham and Amersham gave the statistics—that the whole spectrum of autism, including Asperger's syndrome, is not of itself a mental health disorder, but people with Asperger's can develop mental health problems. After all, if any of us had that syndrome and we had struggled to be like everybody else in society—to make friendships, to form relationships, to get a job, to cope independently with life and to communicate with people, because it is a communication disorder—and by the time we reached our early 20s we got nowhere, we would all develop very serious depression and mental health disorders. Such a development is quite common and, as has been expressed, it arises because of a lack of basic facilities and support. Some of the support required is fairly low budget; the National Audit Office report shows how spending a little can save a lot. The problem is that a bit of spending in one Department may mean that a lot is saved in another Department, so inter-departmental interests emerge—again, we are talking about the silo effect. If we are to serve this population properly, we need to ensure that when they need mental health services, they not only get the right ones but they are supported so that they do not end up with a mental health problem on top of the autism. Once those two things become entwined, it can be difficult to find a psychiatrist who can actually unravel what is a mental health symptom and disorder from what is Asperger's behaviour in crisis. Very few people in this country can disaggregate the two behaviours and not only diagnose them, but, if necessary, medicate appropriately for them. I have been involved in two debates in this House on people who fall foul of mental health. When they fall foul of mental health, all too often—these are not rare occasions—people with autism, particularly Asperger's syndrome, are misdiagnosed with conditions such as schizophrenia and are then medicated for schizophrenia, but the medication does not work. Why would it work for someone who does not have the condition? Such people work their way down through a catalogue of different, very strong drugs, trying them out to see whether they have an effect. By the time they reach drug number five, their brain is scrambled. I have seen at first hand the results of what happens when artistic people with high IQs, who at one time could do the most wonderful paintings, are misdiagnosed and drugged with five highly powerful drugs—they end up with scrambled brains; I can give no other description. As I have said before—this will probably be the last time that I say this in this House—if a cardiologist misdiagnosed someone's heart condition and misprescribed in that way, they would be sued, and it is outrageous that this country's mental health services, particularly those in the provinces, away from the centres of excellence in the bigger cities and towns, have not got the expertise to treat people with autism not only with dignity, but in a way in which they deserve to be treated. I say to the Minister that I hope that the outcomes and the practical application of this Bill will ensure that we do not treat people with autism like that any more—it is criminal; there is no other word for it. I am grateful to the House for this opportunity to speak, and I look forward to seeing in practice, out there among the autistic community, the outcome of this wonderful Bill.