Southsea woman with autism speaks up at a meeting with chair of the education select committee, Robin Walker MP, about improving services for autistic people

Isabelle Mangan, 24, met the chair of the government’s education select committee, Robin Walker MP, to discuss her experience of the education system as a young person with autism, and the issues that others are facing.

The 24-year-old, who attended Mayville High School and is from Southsea, is member of Ambitious about Autism’s Ambitious Youth Network. This is a group of people aged between 16 and 25 from all across the country who advise on the charity’s work to improve the services that are available for people with autism.

The charity asked Mr Walker for a meeting to discuss its Written Off? campaign, which calls on the government to protect SEND funding and families’ legal rights to get support

for their children.

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The meeting took place on January 26, and Isabelle, along with other members of the network, spoke to the MP about the issues that they have had to endure throughout their education and how this has affected them.

From long delays and difficulties in accessing education health and care plans, to the lack of understanding and support from staff, unrealistic school targets and social isolation and bullying – the meeting visited a lot of areas of concern.

Isabelle said: ‘I am so glad to have been a part of this meeting. I spoke to Mr Walker about my experience as an Ambitious about Autism intern and the need for more autism-specific career support in schools.

‘It was very emotional hearing everyone else’s speeches and realising that so much more still needs to be done to support young people with autism.’

Ambitious about Autism’s Written Off? report revealed that 65 per cent of parents say they are not happy with their autistic child’s mainstream education.

During the meeting, Mr Walker agreed on the importance of autism-specific teacher training and the need for better understanding of the experiences of autistic pupils in schools.

She added: ‘I hope that by sharing our stories we can have a positive impact in encouraging the government to act and put the right provision in place for autistic children and young people.’