Autism Champion blog: Reflections on the last four years (December 2025)

As it comes to a close, RCPsych Autism Champion Dr Conor Davidson reflects on the achievements and successes of his four-year term.

Phew, that went fast!

My four-and-a-bit year term as Autism Champion has now ended. When it started, in May 2021, we had just come out of the third COVID-19 lockdown and were still only allowed to meet in groups of six. A lot of my work in those first months was focused on the impact of Covid on the autistic community, including gathering evidence from College neurodevelopmental experts for the National Covid Enquiry.

I also set up a College Autism Working Group, with representation from across the College faculties and other partner organisations. It has been a privilege to chair the Group’s meetings. They have brought together clinical, research, policy and lived experience voices to shape the College’s approach to autism. I thank all the Group members for your thoughtful and respectful contributions. In our meetings, three key principles became clear very quickly:

• Autistic people are disproportionately impacted by mental health problems but can thrive with the right treatment and support.
• There are lots of autistic patients in every area of psychiatry, therefore autism should be every psychiatrist’s business.
• There is also lots of autism within the psychiatric profession itself.

The last point was something of a surprise for me at first, but it really shouldn’t have been. Being autistic and being a great psychiatrist are not mutually incompatible – in fact, medical school selects for autistic traits like attention to detail and conscientiousness.

Neurodivergent psychiatrists usually have high levels of understanding, empathy and rapport with their patients. Unfortunately, stigma and workplace barriers still exist for neurodivergent psychiatrists of all grades. It has thus been very pleasing to see the College set up a disability task and finish group, which included neurodevelopmental conditions in its remit. This has resulted in actions such as new guidance on College examinations, a workplace reasonable adjustments form, and a report on providing reasonable adjustments for mental health employers.

A big part of my role has been contributing to teaching and training. The National Autism Training Programme for Psychiatrists reached over 1500 colleagues in England. It won learning project of the year at the RCPsych awards and was nominated for an international learning technologies award (sadly didn’t win that one, but had a lovely night out in London at the awards ceremony). The programme has laid the groundwork for a wider neurodevelopmental credential which will cover the full range of neurodevelopmental conditions across the lifespan.

Another aspect of the role is advocacy and policy work. I sat on the NHS England Autism National Steering Group and the All-Party Parliamentary Advisory Group on Autism. I gave evidence to the House of Lords review of the Autism Act. Look out for a College Autism Position Statement in the new year. Being based in England, I’m very grateful to the autism leads in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland for a whole-UK perspective. We face common challenges, such as long waiting lists for autism assessment, overloaded Special Educational Needs systems, and barriers to accessing appropriately adjusted mental health services.

Although at times obscured by the media discourse around ‘overdiagnosis’, the contours of a future approach are beginning to emerge: a shift across public services towards support that is individualised and based on need. I predict that the next few years will see neurodevelopmental considerations becoming more part of the routine business of psychiatry, with ND profile factored into formulation and treatment plans. It is undoubtedly an exciting time for the field. If you are a psychiatrist interested in becoming the next College Autism Champion, please do get in touch via sigs@rcpsych.ac.uk and I would be happy to have a chat about the role.