Deaths of autistic and/or learning-disabled people in England have increased by 134% during the coronavirus pandemic.
Between 10 April and 15 May there were 386 deaths, half of them with confirmed or suspected Covid-19, compared with 165 deaths in the same period in 2019.
This is a 134% rise, four times the 34% rise within the general population. (Source: CQC)
This wide disparity can not be wholly due to clinical vulnerability to the virus: it is also caused by social factors and governmental failures, which leave learning-disabled and autistic people without the support and opportunity to understand and communicate their needs.
The government is prioritising tests in care homes for older people, but not those for for learning-disabled and/or autistic people.
Neurodivergent Labour is demanding urgent government action to reduce this shameful level of excess deaths.