Going Gold for Autistic Acceptance
The Senedd, Cardiff Bay 2019
And Now for Some Positive News ……Going Gold for Autistic Acceptance
On World Autism Day Tues 2nd April The Autistic Women's Empowerment Project and Autistic UK , both user-led organisations run by autistic people for autistic people joined together to strengthen the Autistic Voice by holding an event at The Senedd. Cardiff Bay which focused on autistic and non-autistic people working together to overcome the disabling barriers in society.
The day was attended by 70 people who spent the afternoon listening to the experiences of Autistic adults who have all joined together to ensure that we “Hear the Autistic Voice” Autistic speakers came together to not just raise awareness, but with the aim of increasing understanding. By sharing our stories we want to show that we are the real experts in our own lives, and demonstrate true co-production by offering our help to public sector providers and others who really want to understand our needs and explain to them the very real barriers Autistic adults are currently experiencing. We believe that this is the only way that we can move beyond awareness to acceptance and equality
Special Thanks go to Mark Isherwood AM for hosting the event and to all our speakers. It was truly inspiring to hear so many united autistic voices and to share the stage with those who work co-productively with us. We had autistic adults speaking about their experiences, challenges and their own unique strengths and talents. All had a common theme acceptance, recognition of needs and rights, involvement of autistic voices, representation and co-production as well as ensuring the Autistic community are actively involved, in design, delivery and monitoring of services.All reinforced the importance of us all working together to break down the barriers and obstacles that society too often places in our way.
We are already making plans for Going Gold 2020 It will once again be organised by Autistic People for Autistic People and the wider autism community!
Looking forward to it already