Meeting new people is hard..the next few days I just end up in bed

Why people with autism believe Tories need to think work-from-home again over benefits ultimatum

- IMOGEN CLYDE-SMITH

AS a child Peter Marshall started to learn to mask his autistic traits in the hope of being liked and accepted. It is a skill that he has developed over decades - but it has been exhausting.

Now an activist who works to tackle discrimination faced by disabled people in society, he believes more should be done to support autistic people in the workplace.

It comes after the government's Autumn Statement, during which the Chancellor announced that certain people who are unable to work because of their disability will be told to find remote-working jobs, or could face losing their benefits.

Disability groups have reacted with concern to the planned changes to the Workplace Capability Assessments (WCA).

Tim Nicholls, of the National Autistic Society, said it will not address the root causes of low employment for autistic people, nor are there enough home-working jobs available.

Autistic people face the lowest employment rate of disabled adults with just 29 per cent in work, according to the Office of National Statistics.