awards £900,000 to accelerate innovations that support autistic people and people with learning disability
Summary
There has been a rise in referrals for autism assessment, with systems under pressure to meet demand, and significant health inequalities can impact access to the right support for autistic people and people with a learning disability.Competition 20 - Autism and Learning Disabilities was launched in May 2022, as a Phase 1 development funding competition, funded by the Accelerated Access Collaborative, in partnership with the Academic Health Science Networks (AHSNs) and Autistica. The project will research and co-design improvements to its inclusivity and accessibility profile, with specific reference to autistic children and children with learning disabilities, broadening reach and furthering it towards providing a fully personalised solution.XR Therapeutics - awarded \xa396,653 - Creating a more accessible mental health intervention for individuals with autism and learning disabilitiesXR Therapeutics provides a VR supported intervention to treat anxiety and phobias. The focus for this project is to adapt its model to support individuals with a learning disability, develop new scenes to help patients access healthcare, and create a roadmap to support mass adoption across NHS Trusts.Uncommon - awarded \xa398,419 - The worlds first neurodivergent wellbeing platform bringing affordable and effective mental health and wellness solutions to neurodivergent people across the globeUncommon is a universally accessible digital wellness platform, which helps neurodivergent GenZers understand and celebrate their unique minds, take control of their mental health, and achieve their education, career and personal goals.Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust and oVRcome - awarded \xa391,112 - Supporting patients with Learning Disabilities and/or Autism to oVRcome phobias & social anxiety in their own homesMid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust and oVRcome are developing a Virtual Reality programme to support patients with a learning disability and/or autistic people to overcome anxieties around healthcare situations, including social stories to help patients prepare for interactions with healthcare services and VR Exposure Therapy to address needle phobias and social anxiety.MeeToo Education trading as Tellmi - awarded \xa388,472 - The Tellmi Autism project: Digital innovation to reduce suicide and increase access to effective support for autistic young peopleA free-to-access, digital, pre-moderated, peer support service with integrated psychoeducation, suicide prevention, and diagnostic screening tools to improve mental health in autistic young people.Health Companion Ltd Health Fabric Unity - awarded \xa395,600 - Multilingual platform to improve autonomy for autistic service usersThe Unity platform from Health Fabric is an AI enabled self-management platform to enable people from diverse communities / ethnicities to manage the challenges associated with autism and empower the family to support autistic young adults to develop skills around autonomy (especially those who transition from child to adult services).This project will open up a digital communication pathway between primary care and service users so that Annual Health Check (AHC) and Health Action Planning (HAP) processes will be more inclusive and provide better access to health and care services, including health promotion.SBRI (Small Business Research Initiative) Healthcare is an Accelerated Access Collaborative funded initiative that provides funding to innovators to develop solutions that tackle existing unmet needs faced by the NHS. As the only bodies that connect NHS and academic organisations, local authorities, the third sector and industry, AHSNs are catalysts that create the right conditions to facilitate change across whole health and social care economies, with a clear focus on improving outcomes for patients.Autistica is the UKs leading autism research and campaigning charity. From research through to service design and information campaigns, they work in partnership with autistic people, the government, NHS, and others to make change happen.Autistica has committed to creating a more enabling world by 2030.