Learning disability and autism: get involved

It is important that people are involved in decision making about services that partnership to make sure that people with a learning disability, autistic people and family carers are a part of NHS decision making.

To make sure people are involved in the development of services which impact on them we have set up the NHS England Learning Disability and Autism Forum. Anyone can join. The Forum is a network of autistic people, people with a learning disability, family carers and supporting organisations who want to have a say in the work of NHS England. We communicate with the network through:

We have also set up the NHS England Learning Disability and Autism Advisory Group. When there are places available in the advisory group, we advertise them on our social media pages.

We are keen to grow the network and share best practice. If you would like to join or share your ideas please email us on engage@nhs.net or call us on 0113 824 9686.

Read an easy read summary about why we should give more power to people with a learning disability through the work we do.

Watch this short video about getting involved

Find out more about why it’s important that people are involved in the work of NHS England:

We also employ staff with lived experience.

We highlight here the work of our lived experience staff who have helped to shape guidance and resources and to co-produce.

Co-production means working with people with lived and learned experience from the beginning, all the way through to the end of a project or piece of work, together. When we co-produce, we get better results.

The learning disability and autism programme has a long history of employing people with lived experience, including family carers.

They bring value to our work:

  • adding their views based on their experience of health services
  • passionately making a difference to the lives of the people we support
  • including their understanding and connections across the wider community

You will find some of them talking about their experiences on the NHS England YouTube channel: Learning Disability and Autism – YouTube