Skip to main content

Open petition: Introduce national support standards for autistic children with PDA

Created by Tatum Davis
Closes on

We urge the Government to recognise the growing cohort of autistic children with a Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA) profile who are unable to attend school safely.

We believe that in demand-heavy, compliance-led settings, they may face escalating crisis, including increased risk of self-harm and suicidal ideation.

In our view PDA is inconsistently supported across education, health and local authorities, resulting in many children experiencing preventable crisis. For some children, proximity to mainstream environments triggers crisis; without timely access to low-arousal or alternative learning pathways, risk increases. We ask the Government to strengthen partnerships through improved awareness of PDA-related needs, supported by training and accountability, so children are not required to fail first.

Sign this petition

14,786 signatures


Petition progress

View all updates for this petition, with the most recent first.

  • Government will respond to this petition

    This petition got more than 10,000 signatures meaning that government will respond to it.

  • Petition published

    This petition can now be signed.

    If this petition gets 10,000 signatures, government will respond to it.

    If this petition gets 100,000 signatures, it will be considered for debate in Parliament.

    This petition will stay open until 20 August 2026.