Speaking to the Sunday Tribune yesterday, Niall Crowley urged people with intellectual disabilities to start making use of the equality legislation, and pointed out that they were currently much less likely to do so than people with physical disabilities.

"There have been no rulings on any cases taken by people with autism, as far as I am aware, " he said. "It is very important that people with intellectual disabilities are made fully aware of their rights under the equality legislation, and that they have the confidence to use this legislation effectively."

Crowley said that the disability grounds made up a "very significant portion" of the Equality Authority's case files from last year, with 15% of cases being taken under disability employment discrimination, and 26% taken under disability discrimination in the goods and services sector.

"We really need to invest in advocacy support groups who will provide information and support in using the equality legislation, and give a voice to people with autism, " he said.

"There is a growing perspective that intellectual disabilities can be protected by the equality infrastructure, but there is still a long way to go."

Crowley was speaking ahead of his presentation to Dublin's first Autism Conference on Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA), which took place in Trinity College, Dublin this weekend.

The conference attracted speakers from Ireland, the UK and the United States, all of whom were specialists in the field of ABA. While much of the debate about autism is often around developmental services for young children, the conference this weekend also focused on helping teenagers to cope with autism in their adult lives.

Martina Boylan, conference organiser and director of education at The Red Door, an ABA school in Sandyford, Dublin, said she hoped to impress on parents of older children that ABA could still be of help.

"The message we want to give out to everybody is, there's always hope and you can make a change, " she said. "Small changes, maybe, but you can make changes, no matter where you're at."

The issues of sexuality and sexual relationships for autistic teenagers and young adults were discussed by Dr Peter Gerhardt, president of the Organisation for Autism Research in America.

"Persons with autistic spectrum disorders are sexual beings, " he said. "However, individual interest in sex or in developing an intimate sexual relationship with another person varies widely across individuals at all ability levels.

Unfortunately, there continues to be a lack of evidence supporting the effectiveness of sex education and training for persons with ASD. As such, there is a significant need for individualised, effective instruction for persons with ASD across the ability spectrum."