Dr. Olive Healy:

There are two facets that need to be considered when we think about inclusion and improving awareness of autistic people's needs across society. The first is making sectors of society more aware of what can be done, upskilling members of society in understanding strategies, changing environments, and creating environments that are more autism friendly and open to being successful in terms of autistic people participating in them. The second facet involves giving autistic people skills and support in preparing them to integrate better and be able to access areas of society where barriers exist currently. For example, we have the behaviour support in dentistry, or BeSiDe, network in Trinity College. It is a marriage of research between psychologists and dental health professionals and involves the Dublin Dental University Hospital. We work with dental health professionals on how best they can use strategies that are effective in improving participation in oral health. There is a recommendation from the Lancet commission on the future of care and clinical research in autism to the effect that all autistic people should at least have access to one oral healthcare check every year. For many, that does not happen.

Putting into professionals' hands strategies and skills they can utilise to improve participation is a matter that arose in the messages we saw. Research can drive this forward. Those strategies must also be put in the hands of the stakeholders – autistic people and their families – themselves. Leveraging technology to do that is vital so that these supports can be made available through technological platforms, for example, mobile apps. We have seen some good success with this approach, but more research needs to be done to examine how effective it can be and what its outcomes are.