Young adults with High Functioning Autism or Asperger syndrome have told Research Autism that current services fail to meet their needs. Research recently commissioned by the National Audit Office and the Department of Health also concluded that provision for this group is inadequate to meet their needs. The impact is catastrophic: only 3% live independently, just 15% are in full-time paid employment and 6% in part-time employment; and a shocking 70% have additional mental health problems.

People with HFA and AS have told Research Autism that they would prefer one to one services such as mentoring. We have therefore been working with them to develop a specialised mentoring scheme for this group. This project will set up such a scheme and assess the impact of six month's mentoring on the lives of 12 young adults. A positive result would help us to build an evidence base which could be used to leverage further investment in specialised mentoring schemes for people with autism.