South Lanarkshire’s Autism Resources Coordination Hub (ARCH) celebrated its sixth year flying the autism pride flag at council HQ to celebrate the annual event.

Autistic adults, children, young people, and their parent carers joined staff from Education Inclusion and Social Work, alongside representatives from UNISON, to see the flag raised.

The flag will fly for the week, while Hamilton Town House which will be lit in Neurodivergent Blue for the duration of acceptance week, which takes place from 2 to 8 April this year.

Professor Soumen Sengupta, Director of Health and Social Care for South Lanarkshire, said: “These are challenging times across our diverse communities and for all of our services, which makes it all the more important that where we can we do as much as we can to enable individuals, families and carers.

“We are committed to working together to do our best to improve health and wellbeing in the community, with the community – because they are part of our community and which is why we are proud to fly this flag outside our council HQ.”

Ramon Hutchingson, ARCH Coordinator said this year’s flag raising was particularly important as the public consultation process for the Learning Disability, Autism and Neurodivergence (LDAN) Bill being proposed by the Scottish Government will end on 21 April 2024.

He said: “At this year’s 2024 BAFTA award ceremony, the British actress Samantha Morton said representation matters, and it especially does this month, as our community is on the verge of real reform which could place Scotland at the forefront of autism-informed policy and practice.

“I would urge all interested parties to fill in the public consultation questionnaire before the closing date by going to the Scottish Government website.”