Autism

Debate between Cheryl Gillan and Anne-Marie Trevelyan

Thursday 29th March 2018 Commons Chamber

[Mrs Anne-Marie Trevelyan (Berwick-upon-Tweed) (Con)]

Every time we have a debate on autism, we bring the issue forward, as the hon. Member for Huddersfield (Mr Sheerman) pointed out.

As someone who has family experience of this—my wonderful 18-year-old son, who has been through the mill, has Asperger’s—constituents are starting to contact me and come and talk to me. They are stepping out into the light and saying, “How do I cope?” Having these debates is genuinely giving confidence to families, particularly mothers, to ask for help and ask how they might find support. As ever, I add my continued gratitude to my right hon. Friend the Member for Chesham and Amersham (Dame Cheryl Gillan) for all the work she is doing.

[Dame Cheryl Gillan]

My hon. Friend gives me a good opportunity to say to all those people who email me and contact me on social media that I cannot deal with all the questions and issues that come into my inbox, but I encourage those people to contact their MPs directly, because it is their own MPs who can help them—