Autism Guernsey chairman is stepping down from role

The former teacher started working with the charity after retiring as principal of Blanchelande College.

‘I’ve got other things I want to do and throughout my career in education, and now at Autism Guernsey, I have always believed it’s very healthy for organisations to have a change of leadership from time to time.

‘It brings in new ideas and freshens things up, so I think it’s important not to outstay your welcome,’ said Mr Warren.

Some of Mr Warren’s career in education was spent in services for autism, including running a communication base for children with autism at St Sampson’s High.

Autism Guernsey, which was established in 2013, supports people who find it difficult to get all the assistance they need from the States.

Mr Warren said that changes had occurred since he joined the charity.

‘Over the past couple of years, charity services have become more clinical,’ he said.

‘Autism Guernsey employs an occupational therapist and has contacts with psychologists, so the range of services has increased. I think that’s also been coupled with an increase in expectations from clients and their families. Probably the biggest challenge facing Autism Guernsey is getting people to understand that the range of services it can provide is inevitably going to be limited by funding.’

The charity relies solely on grants, donations and fundraising activities, and every year has to raise some £400,000 just to maintain existing services.

Large donors, such as the Guernsey Community Foundation and Children in Need, make a huge difference.

‘The fundraising challenges have definitely become more difficult over the past couple of years and that seems to be a general feeling among the charity sector,’ said Mr Warren.

‘In the past few months, we’ve had to put some restrictions on the range of services we can offer to people who are new to the charity.’

The number of people using the service has increased.

When Mr Warren started, the charity was supporting only eight people, and now it is more than 300.

‘That gives an indication of how much things have changed, and it’s difficult to know exactly why.

‘There’s certainly been an improvement in diagnosis, and a greater recognition of the condition within the medical profession more widely.

‘One of the interesting things is that if you go back in history, it was viewed as being really only a boys’ thing, but we now know that it’s not gender-specific and there are significant numbers of girls who also have the condition.

‘There’s no doubt that the public attitude has moved on in many areas. We have things like quiet hours in supermarkets now, and there is a recognition of difficulties that the condition can cause, but there is still a significant way to go.

One of the areas that I think has changed the most is employers’ attitudes to it and their willingness to adapt working conditions.’

While Autism Guernsey searches for a replacement, Jerry Girard is interim chairman.

Mr Girard said Mr Warren had been ‘an inspirational chairman’ and would be ‘a hard act to follow’.