Strengthening the autism data-to-policy pipeline by understanding access to health and social services for autistic individuals in British Columbia and the impact on their health and wellbeing

Autism Spectrum Disorder is one of the most common neurological disabilities in Canada. Autistic individuals face significant barriers to equal participation in society, safety, health and quality of life. Autistic youth have higher healthcare service utilization, are more likely to fall in the top 5% of most frequent healthcare users and are more prone to mental health problems. The complex needs of autistic individuals require cross sectoral access to appropriate services to more effectively and efficiently support their healthy development and participation in society. Unfortunately, social inclusion and timely access to diagnosis and health system supports is not the reality. This often leads to adverse long term health and socio-economic outcomes. The National Autism Strategy (NAS) and organizational priorities of the Autism Alliance highlight the critical importance of social and economic inclusion and timely access to diagnosis, supports and services. As the Autism Alliance works on the implementation of the NAS, there is a gap in evidence describing the provincial landscape of accessing services and supports for autistic individuals. This information is critical to facilitate evidence informed implementation of the Strategy. This project can bridge the data-to-policy gap by analyzing administrative data from British Columbia to better understand the current access to supports and services received by autistic youth and associations with socioeconomic outcomes later in life. The analysis will use provincially linked health, education and social services data sets from the British Columbia Data Innovation Program to conduct a statistical analysis for the purpose of current access to early diagnosis, supports and services for autistic youth and association with health and socioeconomic outcomes. In cooperation with an Advisory Council, findings will be translated into policy recommendations to inform the NAS implementation at provincial/territorial levels.