History and Achievements
Founded in 2001, Autism Cymru is Wales’ own national Charity for ASD. As a nation, Wales has a population of 3m but also since the Millennium has had its own government. Consequently, Autism Cymru seized the opportunity to quickly present a concept to Ministers proposing that the Welsh Assembly Government should establish an All-Wales Strategy for ASD. This autism strategy went out to consultation in early 2007 and when implemented on 1st April 2008, Wales will be the first nation in Europe to have a government-led strategy for ASD.
Autism Cymru is currently leading a partnership developing a Wales Autism Research Centre and a Wales Chair in ASD at Cardiff University due to be established in Sept 2008. Underpinning these strategic developments, the Charity takes a whole-nation approach to partnerships which improve the quality of life for people with ASD. These include working with all four of Wales Police Forces, creating ‘autism-friendly’ mainstream and special schools throughout Wales; providing a free and comprehensive bi-lingual on-line information resource for Wales visited by over 16,000 people each week; delivering a range of training opportunities for practitioners and families throughout Wales including major international research and practice conferences attended by over 5,000 people; described as ‘the best-online autism conference on the planet’.
Autism Cymru is also a collaborating partner in the development of a European Autism Information System (EAIS) which is a European Parliament initiative to promote consistency in ASD diagnosis and provision across Member States.
Vision Statement
Autism Cymru aims to make a real difference to the provision and delivery of services for people with Autistic Spectrum Disorders in Wales. Its primary task is to influence and drive forward strategy, policy and whole-nation practice on behalf of the autism community in Wales at national and local level.
Website:
Celtic Nations Autism Partnership