Autism is a condition that affects about one in a hundred of us.  But few people understand or can recognise it.  This can have serious implications when people with autism encounter the criminal justice system. Recent research by City University and the University of Bath suggests that most people with autism, and about 75% of their parents,  are left very upset after dealings with the police.  April is Autism Awareness Month, and Pod Academy's Lee Millam  went to talk to Dr Laura Crane of City University London, to find out more.

Lee Millam:  Autism is a complex condition for which there is no cure.  The main features are problems with social communication and interaction.

Laura Crane:   Everyone with autism is very different, but people with autism all show the same key features - impairment in interacting with people socially and repetitive behaviours, interests and activities.

These really vary so you could have one persion with autism who is very verbally and intellectually able, whereas others may not speak, they may have intellectual disabilities and may need full time care to meet their needs.

Autism can affect anybody, we don't know what causes it and it is sometimes quite hard for people to be diagnosed because some signs can be very subtle.  But it can affect anybody.  One in a hundred means 700,000 people in the UK.

Because we don't know what causes autism there are no treatments, but there are lots of interventions available to enable people with autism to lead rewarding and fulfilling lives - in schools, in the community - to help people with autism get jobs or help them learn in the classroom. But there is no cure.  If you have autism you live with it throughout your life.

There have been lots of high profile cases in the media where  people with autism have come in contact with the police and the outcomes haven't been very positive.

We wanted to see whether these experiences were rare, but actually they were very common.  It wasn't just these extreme cases we hear about.  We did a survey of 400 police officers and 100 member of the autism community (parents and autistic adults) and we asked them about the experiences of autism within the criminal justice system - what they think worked well and not well.

The police were generally fairly satisfied with how they worked with individuals with autism but the autistic adults and their parents were not.  69% were dissatisfied.  It shows there is a disparity between the views of the police and the view of people with autism themselves. That is something that needs to be addressed.

One of the key problems is that the police often direct their resources towards people with quite classic signs of autism - difficulties with language, intellectual impairment, very clear social impairments.  And on the other end of the spectrum you have individuals who are very articulate, very verbally and intellectutally able and they're often termed as having 'high funtioning autism' or Asperger's syndrome.  When the police come into contact with someone with a diagnosis of high functioning autism or Asperger's syndrom, they might see that their symptoms aren't very obvious.  They can verbalise what happened and give a fairly good account of what's gone on, but actually they need a lot of help and support as well and I think the police might overlook that because they'll over estimate the capabilities of that person.

I think one of the key issues is autism awareness.  Lots of people have heard of autism, they may be aware of a friend or family member who has an autism diagnosis, but few people know exactly what that means.  They wouldn't necessarily know if someone they met had autism.  It is a hidden condition unlike other conditions (eg Down's Syndrome where people have a characteristic appearance). Training police officers about the characteristics of autism - so when they encounter someone with autism they can identify that this person is vulnerable a...

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