Supporting autistic adults through end of life care

Being seriously ill or facing the end of your life is hard - really hard. It takes a huge physical, emotional and financial toll on the person on the end of life journey and on all of those travelling alongside. If you are autistic, it is likely that all of this will be compounded by a profound sense of overwhelm and maybe even by access to care inequalities. While autism itself does not directly reduce life expectancy, autistic individuals often face additional barriers to receiving the support they need. This extends to end of life care.

PAT seeks to alleviate some of the distress experienced by autistic people living with life-limiting conditions by working with researchers and professionals involved in the provision of end of life care to raise awareness of the additional challenges likely to be faced by autistic individuals, and to develop evidence-based ways to better address these.