Autism Acceptance Week
2024

Currently, there are around 700,000 Autistic people in the UK. With one in every hundred people having Autism, you'll likely come across someone in your everyday life who is on the spectrum. At Bupa, we want to play our part in helping to make our spaces, workplaces, and the communities that we serve as inclusive and accessible as possible.

The abilities and needs of autistic people vary and can evolve. While some people with Autism can live independently, others have severe disabilities and require life-long care and support.

There are also specific healthcare needs related to Autism or other co-occurring conditions. For example, people with Autism may be more vulnerable to developing chronic noncommunicable conditions because of behavioural risk factors such as physical inactivity.

We spoke with some of Bupa’s Physiotherapists to gain insight into their experiences of working alongside patients and customers living with Autism. Our Chelmsford clinic MSK Physiotherapist Brad explains:

“We always try to make our clinics as inclusive as possible for anyone who walks through our doors. We value the diversity of our customers and employees. During our appointments, the way we communicate varies from person to person, and we can flex and adapt our approaches to best suit the person in front of us. For example, if a customer is autistic and struggles with loud and overstimulating environments, we will do our best to ensure their appointment takes place in a quieter part of the clinic and that our approach is calmer and not overwhelming.”

Clinic Manager, Paul Youngman added to this; “Our clinics are set up to help make everyone feel more comfortable, for example, our clinic rooms have been tested for soundproofing to ensure confidentiality as well as maintaining a calm and quiet environment; and our reception lights react to the natural light of the day to maintain a comfortable lighting level in the clinic.”

In the workplace, employees are welcome to join our Neurodiversity community as part of our Be You network. The platform helps people to connect, offer support, and learn from one another. People are given the chance to buddy up and find others who have similar experiences which encourages peer-to-peer learning and advocacy.

We're normalising that everyone is on their own journey. That our differences make us stronger and this helps us to support the needs of our customers and communities. We believe that having varied perspectives promotes understanding and helps generate innovative ideas to solve the complex problems of a diverse and fast-changing world.

Find out more about how we make health happen in our Clinics in the video below.