Ms Tara O'Donnell-Killen:

I agree completely.

I would also like to add that one specific area that gets missed, and in which we could really do with some training, is maternity care. There is a large number of autistic women, and autistic pregnant and birthing people, and they are being missed in maternity care. There is no expertise there to support them at such a crucial time in life, particularly for a first child. Obviously, it is such a sensory experience anyhow, and people are intimately in your space, so it is a real touchpoint for a huge number of pregnant people, birthing people and women and can have a massively traumatic effect and impact on their journey and introduction into parenting. I bring attention to that as a point. If we are going to be looking at training in the services, this is a touchpoint that is being missed. Another huge piece is end-of-life care, particularly if we are looking at people who are going into, say, hospices, or places where people are to be cared for. There can be a lot of distress and discomfort around it not even being understood that they have sensory needs and preferences. This could be helped by more compassion and sensitivity and even just to provide the training. We know how wonderful, for instance, hospice care is. Our professionals are so wonderful and so caring. I have experienced that quite a few times there. However, these professionals do not have any understanding of autism, autistic people or those specific needs. It would not actually take a massive amount because the will and the compassion is there in these cases; it is just that little bit of extra understanding.