Budget cuts will not affect French autism programmes, Hollande
French president François Hollande has promised that cuts in government spending will not affect the budget allotted to autism. On his first public outing since the end of August, Hollande visited a new unit for autistic children in the west of France on Thursday.
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Hollande announced that, despite planned cuts of 50 billion euros over the next three years, the 205-million-euro Third Autism Plan will not be affected.
The funding is being used to create more than 3,000 extra places in specially adapted centres for autistic children and adults, as well as early diagnosis programmes.
Bertrand Jacques, treasurer of France's Autism Collective umbrella group, told RFI that he welcomed the news, while saying that most of the care currently available for autistic children is not appropriate.
One out of every 150 French children is born with some form of autism.
Only 20 per cent of autistic children go to mainstream schools.
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