Ambassadors help us celebrate 50th Birthday

To mark our 50th birthday, we commissioned the largest ever survey into autism, in order to show what life is like in the UK for people affected by the condition. Over 8,000 people, including many ambassadors and champions from the AAN, were among those who took part.

You can now read the full report, ‘The Way We Are: Autism in 2012’, online. 

Some of it does make for difficult reading but for all the troubling experiences there are also many stories of hope and courage.

Covering the wide range of autism experiences from diagnosis and employment to school and independent living, the report shows that whilst there have been enormous strides in autism awareness since the NAS started life in 1962, there is still work to do.

Ambassadors Sam, Gabriel and Ben were among many Ambassadors interviewed for the report. 

We were also really grateful to Daniel, Jennifer, Basil and Mark who were involved in a focus group many months ago to help with messaging for the 50th

Many, many thanks to all who took part in the research and got in touch to share their experiences with us. 

First ever policy focus group kicks off with PIP

Back in January Sarah, Caroline, Daniel, Robyn, Carolann and Kirsty came together to discuss the Personal Independence Payment assessment and respond to the Government’s consultation questions.  Within two hours, we’d unpicked the pitfalls in the criteria, with the group giving our policy experts a thorough and refreshing take on what needs to change.  It was another example of how you guys really are the experts.  We’ll be using it to inform our response to the consultation. 

Don’t forget that you can have your say on this very issue.  Click here for more details on how to tell the Government directly what they need to do.