Dr. Lorna Lopez:

I thank the Deputy for her questions. I will go through them. The first point was about the importance of the autistic voice in all the research, as the Deputy mentioned at the very start, and the importance of engaged research. The Deputy also spoke about the report the committee has to write. That is my key message, namely, the importance of the autistic community and their voice in research and in engaged research. It is not just about us, as researchers, listening, but for them to be taking part in the research, from setting the research priorities all the way through the engaged research life cycle, to undertaking research and disseminating the research. The autistic community must be involved in the whole process of research; that is important and a key aspect.

Regarding genetic causes, the Deputy mentioned the 20% figure. We are discovering more and more genetic variants and genetic explanations for autism. We know much more than we did five years ago. It is down to the international collaborative effort and the technology. International researchers are coming together and making discoveries and the technology has enabled us to look much more at our genomes and to understand that within the family context. Regarding more diagnoses, diagnoses have increased fourfold over the last 20 years. Research shows that the majority of that is because of diagnostic expansion. We are much more aware of the diagnoses. On drugs, I highlighted a European consortium. One of theirs is arbaclofen, which works on social interaction, which is in development. A European consortium is involved in that.

The consortium's research element has engaged A-Reps, an autism representative group. It is involved in every step of the research process and its members' voices are listened to in the research.