Adults on the spectrum: your chance to educate professionals!

From Carol Povey, the NAS Director of the Centre for Autism:

"The first 5 modules of ask autism are now finished and this morning it was launched. Further details can be found on http://www.autism.org.uk/askautism.  Within 20 minutes of launching, we had our first enquiry. 

 

I want to take the opportunity of thanking all of you who have contributed to making this the unique product it is.  The aim of ask autism is to educate and enlighten professionals and others about what autism is, from the perspective of those who know best, - adults on the spectrum.  There is nothing quite like it in the market, and I hope and expect it will make an enormous difference in peoples understanding, directly benefiting autistic people not only in the UK, but across the world.  This could not have been done without the contribution made by each and every one of you.  The generosity with which you have shared your experiences, insight and amazing skills, is truly inspiring.  Everyone has contributed to the work in a different way, and we now have a training product that will not only reflect the autistic voice, but also its fabulous diversity. I particularly want to thank Damian who has been the mainstay of the work, and Dinah, who inspired it in the first instance.  (I think it may have been a conversation she had with Mark Lever!)

 

We have had challenges on the way.  To try to keep to the principles of true co-production and participation when faced with tight deadlines, funding uncertainly, branding and language issues, and technical delays has been difficult, and at times we have failed to always keep each other as involved as we had planned and hoped.  There are lessons for the future, but today, we need to count our many reasons to celebrate. We need to tell the world not only what a fabulous training product we've developed, but also that it really does come directly from autistic people.  I hope this collaborative way of working can be brought into so many more areas, now we have shown it can work. 

 

The unique aspect of Ask autism is that it is the voice of people on the spectrum - your voice.  I hope you feel it reflects your experiences and I hope you agree with me that we have a once in a lifetime opportunity to make a big difference with this training. 

 

Now that the launch is underway, we will be planning our next steps.  I hope to see many of you at the autism and participation conference on 28th January. Soon will then be deciding what our next modules should focus on.  I hope you will stay involved, and look forward to working with you in the future."