Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a severe and disabling neurodevelopmental disorder. According to data, the number of people with autism in China has exceeded 13 million. In March of this year, Jiangsu Province issued the "Implementation Plan for Comprehensive Care Services for Autism Patients (2025-2028)", breaking through the current limitation of autism patients only receiving rehabilitation assistance in the childhood stage, expanding the age range of care services to the entire life cycle, and forming a policy guarantee system that runs through the entire process (including early intervention, enrollment in kindergartens, rehabilitation assistance, medical security, employment support, etc.). At the same time, Zhejiang Province has also issued the "Implementation Opinions on Strengthening the Full Process Care Services for Autistic Individuals in the Province", proposing to provide "full process care services" for autistic individuals. There are also some cities that provide this service, such as Wuhu in Anhui province. It is worth noting that prior to this, the China Disabled Persons' Federation, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Civil Affairs and other ministries jointly issued the "Implementation Plan for the Care and Promotion of Autistic Children (2024-2028)" (hereinafter referred to as the "Action Implementation Plan"). Among them, it is proposed to improve the comprehensive care service system and guarantee policies for the development of children with autism. This means that not only should "full care services" be provided to children with autism, but in some places, "full care services" should also be provided to the entire autism population. Associate Professor Li Xin from the Law School of Jiangnan University believes that it is of great significance to improve the comprehensive care service system and guarantee policies for the development of children with autism, and to extend the age range of care services to the entire life cycle. This means that the services provided to people with autism in China have shifted from remedial assistance to systematic empowerment, systematizing the institutional support that was previously scattered in relevant systems. This is more conducive to promoting the integration and comprehensive development of people with autism, reducing the burden on families with autism, and promoting social equity. The government is paying increasing attention to the autism spectrum disorder community. Expanding the age range of caring services to the entire life cycle can also help promote a more inclusive and civilized society. For example, in the field of education, promoting the integration of children with autism into compulsory education is not only beneficial for the comprehensive development of children with autism, but also allows other children to understand the diversity of society itself, while enhancing their level of humanistic care and service awareness for people with disabilities. ”Li Xin said. Wang Jun, a lawyer from Beijing Kaiyao Law Firm who has been concerned about the autism population for many years, believes that the "Action Implementation Plan" sets out key tasks, including the improvement of rehabilitation services, the integration of education and health, medical security and rehabilitation assistance, family life security, and family supportive services, which are conducive to ensuring the full development of the autism population. The Action Plan for the Construction of the System points out that in recent years, various regions and departments have actively taken measures to strengthen screening and diagnosis of autism, improve the rehabilitation and education level of children with autism, and achieved significant results. However, services for children with autism still face many prominent difficulties and problems, such as a lack of rehabilitation resources and difficulties in social integration. The main way to solve the problem is to improve the comprehensive care service system and guarantee policies for the development of children with autism. In Wang Jun's view, children with autism require comprehensive and sustained policy support. In all aspects, children with autism require support and protection in rehabilitation, education, healthcare, social security, and other areas; Continuity is manifested in the fact that children with autism require support and protection throughout their entire life cycle, from initial diagnosis to school, work, community life, and being taken care of. Autistic individuals require a wide range of support and protection over a long period of time, but the current formulation of corresponding policy norms lags behind and lacks. Yao Guodan, Deputy Director of Beijing Shou'er Yazhi Children's Rehabilitation Center, believes that providing policy support for autism patients throughout their life cycle requires the construction of a systematic and coherent support system from early screening and diagnosis, child intervention and education, adolescent transition support, adult employment placement, to elderly life security and other stages. Yao Guodan gave an example that in the early screening and diagnosis stage, it is necessary to improve and popularize the early screening mechanism, include autism screening in the routine physical examination of newborns, and establish referral channels between community hospitals and professional institutions; To reduce diagnostic costs, autism diagnosis fees should be included in medical insurance or provided with special subsidies in accordance with the law, and remote areas should be supported to achieve expert consultations through remote medical care. In the stage of children's education, it is necessary to promote integrated education, equip special education resource classrooms and professional teachers in ordinary schools, implement the accompanying teacher system, protect the enrollment rights of children with autism, and prohibit schools from refusing or indirectly persuading them to withdraw. ”She said that vocational education for children with autism should also be developed, vocational skills training should be provided for high functioning autistic adolescents, internship bases should be established in cooperation with enterprises, and the "school enterprise family" tripartite connection model should be explored. In her opinion, providing "full care services" for the entire autistic population cannot be separated from the support of supporting systems. Including cross departmental collaboration mechanisms, establishing joint systems among multiple departments such as health, education, civil affairs, and human resources and social security; Professional talent cultivation, universities add special education, rehabilitation therapy and other related majors and determine the enrollment scale according to demand, provide professional title promotion channels and job allowances for employees, and reduce talent loss. There are also legislative issues related to the comprehensive care service system and guarantee policies for the development of children with autism, as well as legislative protection. In the opinion of the interviewed experts, there are many laws and regulations related to autism in China, such as the Law on the Protection of Persons with Disabilities, the Law on the Protection of Minors, and the Regulations on Disability Prevention and Rehabilitation. However, there is still a lack of connection and omissions between laws and regulations, which cannot provide "full life cycle" legal protection for autism, leading to various survival difficulties for autism, such as rehabilitation difficulties, education difficulties, employment difficulties, property management difficulties, etc. Li Xin believes that labor laws should include employment integration for individuals with autism. Building a four in one integrated employment system of "legal protection - ability adaptation - job development - social support", establishing a tiered employment transition mechanism (preparatory employment - support employment - stable employment), matching employment positions for the autistic group, and constructing a "enterprise family community" support network may be a more practical integration measure, allowing families with autism to see hope for their children to live independently. In Li Xin's view, inclusive education also lacks legal protection. It should be clearly stipulated in relevant laws to promote inclusive education, safeguard the right to education for children with autism, and increase the enrollment rate of school-age children with autism in compulsory education. And implement the "one person, one case" education placement measures during the compulsory education stage. In addition, in response to the transition dilemma after compulsory education, it is possible to consider expanding the supply of vocational high school degrees, supporting secondary vocational schools and ordinary high schools to accommodate autistic students in regular classes, or promoting the establishment of special education classes in ordinary vocational schools. She believes that the guardianship system urgently needed by individuals with autism still lacks a systematic and actionable plan. Although the Civil Code clearly states that "organizations" can become guardians, which is the institutional basis for social guardianship service organizations to serve as guardians for the autism community, the detailed rules still need to be improved. For example, unclear qualifications of guardianship organizations, blurred boundaries of guardianship responsibilities, and lack of supervision mechanisms are several major obstacles faced by the guardianship of individuals with autism. In the future, under the framework of the Civil Code, the legislative body can issue separate regulations on guardianship, build a hierarchical guardianship network, improve the guardianship model of separating people and property, and provide long-term sustainable institutional support for autism patients and their families. Autistic individuals belong to the category of people with mental disorders. On the basis of proposing comprehensive care services at the national level, national legislation should also provide 'full life cycle' care for autistic individuals. Relevant laws should be improved from early screening and diagnosis, rehabilitation assistance, enrollment, medical security, employment support, social participation, and other aspects to provide legal protection for autistic individuals and their families. ”Li Xin said. Industry insiders are calling for the development of a systematic and specialized law for individuals with autism. Wang Jun believes that the formulation of specialized laws and regulations can comprehensively and systematically cover the rights and interests protection of individuals with autism throughout their entire life cycle from birth to death, and unify the rights and related protection measures in various aspects such as rehabilitation, education, medical care, employment, and life security. This can avoid the problem of poor legislative connection in different fields, clarify the responsibilities of each responsible party, increase social attention to the autism community, and enhance social tolerance and support. But the legislative process is relatively complex and lengthy, requiring a lot of time and resources to be invested in research, argumentation, and drafting work. We can gradually implement relevant content in existing legislation and actively carry out research and argumentation on the formulation of special laws and regulations. When conditions are ripe, the Law on the Protection of the Rights and Interests of Autistic Persons will be introduced, forming a complete legal protection system with specialized laws as the core and relevant legal provisions in various fields as supplements. ”Wang Jun said. (New Society)