I used to teach and work with autistic children

and back in the day there was funding available but since the predations of New Labour and their successors the NeoLib Cons the emphasis has been on NOT spending money and thus people with special needs in society have been sidelined. With the right kind of support children like Oscar can lead meaningful lives but sadly the society he lives in won't make that support available as it is "too expensive"... Money that is not spent on social needs is then freely allocated to the military machine.