Neurodiverse Self Advocacy Partnership CIC

Neurodiverse Self Advocacy Partnership CIC

At a glance

Causes

  • Campaigning
  • Children / families
  • Community safety / victim support / domestic violence
  • Counselling / advice
  • Education
  • Health and well being / research and care
  • Human rights
  • Learning disabilities / difficulties
  • Lesbian, gay, bisexual & transgender
  • Local / community
  • Men
  • Mental health
  • Training / employment support
  • Women
  • Young people

Other details

Organisation type: 
Not for profit
Geographical remit: 
National - Britain

Objectives

The objects of the organisation are

  1. The support and enablement of Neurodivergent people to lead healthy and fulfilling lives, achieve their life goals and realise their potential in order to achieve equality and fully contribute to society.
     
  2. By Neurodivergent People we mean people on the autistic spectrum with or without various co-occurring conditions …
     
  3. We will provide an online platform for those who want to find actionable information about Autism Spectrum Condition and neurodiversity. This interactive platform will be organised by those on the spectrum who can offer advice and guidance based on their own experiences and understanding autism from within.
  1. We will enable Neurodivergent people to support each other, provide peer to peer support and coaching right from the suspicion of the diagnosis, throughout the diagnosis process and beyond.
     
  2. We will support Neurodivergent people to achieve their life goals such as obtaining qualifications, achieving and retaining fulfilling employment, forming and raising a family and aging happily by providing tailored peer to peer advice and support based on our lived experience and inside knowledge of our condition.
     
  3. Too often those classed as Low Support Needs only receive support at crisis point. We will support and enable neurodivergent people who need specific tailored support in order to successfully achieve their potential.
     
  4. We will advocate for autism acceptance as part of human diversity, achieving equality for neuro-divergent people in all aspects of human endeavour they choose.
  1. We will operate an open national Neuro Diverse Self Advocacy Partnership organisation that will provide a forum (“a place to discuss”), with an open process for autistic adults to network, to discuss priorities and needs. We will be the voice of adults on the spectrum, at a national scale that is distinct from the voice of professionals working in autism and organisations set up to provide support for families with children on the spectrum. This provides us with the authority to discuss autistic needs from a Neurominority perspective for which current structures have no capacity.
     
  2. We will provide a space for autistic people to contribute, to get involved, to use the wealth of skill and knowledge autistic people have, capitalising on their lived experience and inside knowledge of autism. Autistic people can do a lot to support each other and basically themselves.

Activities

We run a self help information site and forum for autistic and neurodivergent adults and are currently running a mentoring into employment programme.
 

Our current priority is to build an online project management capability with with suitable functionality.

It is estimated that there are about 700,000 autistic people in UK. All autistic children grow up into adulthood, however the support for autistic adults is very limited. Existing support is targeted only at a fraction of people with most significant care needs, while the majority of more independent and better functioning adults struggle with all the challenges and barrier arising from their autism without any support. Being a minority of 1%. it is hard for autistic adults to achieve meaningful, real interest communities locally and we need a virtual meeting place at a national scale.

Only 16% of autistic people are employed

Autistic adults suffer from high suicide rate

Autistic people often have additional mental health problems, such as depression

We aim to harness the skills and insight into our condition of highly skilled, professional autistic adults and anyone who wants to volunteer for this cause in order to build an online peer two peer support community.

Shifting focus from seeing autistic people as being receivers of care and benefits and being primarily a cost to society, towards enabling de-stigmatisation and acceptance of autism, enabling autistic people to be in gainful employment, function independently and participate fully in all aspects of life as they choose.

We operate online and our address is a registered address.

Current opportunities

The Role of HR Advisor is to lead NDSA HR expertise and qualifying as a Disability Confident Leader.