National Autistic Society

Sarah Lambert, the head of policy at the National Autistic society is a member of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Autism.[2]

In 2011, the NAS consulted with numerous police agencies in developing identity card schemes designed to ensure a tolerable environment for autistic individuals during inquiries; participating agencies included the Wiltshire Police, the Essex Police, the Norfolk Constabulary, the Suffolk Constabulary, and the Cumbria Constabulary.[3][4]

The NAS is also a founding member of Autism-Europe, an umbrella organisation bringing together 80 autism organisations from over 30 European countries. As a member of Autism-Europe, the NAS collaborates and shares examples of learning and good practice with other associations throughout the continent.

The current Chief Executive is Caroline Stevens. She took over from Mark Lever in 2019, after being Chief Executive at Kids for six years.[5]

The NAS is organised into four regions and currently run by an elected Board of Trustees and an elected Council through a Strategic Management Group. The president of the NAS is Jane Asher and the patron is The Countess of Wessex.[6] The NAS is funded through UK government grants and voluntary contributions.

The National Autistic Society has the following names registered with the Charity Commission:

• The National Autistic Society
• National Society for Autistic Children
• Autism UK
• Action for Autism

The NAS manages a number of residential schools in the United Kingdom.

• Anderson School near Bristol (originally) and in Chigwell, Essex for pupils/students between 11 and 19 years old[7]
• Broomhayes School & Children's Centre (alternatively Kingsley House) in Westward Ho! (originally) and near Bideford, Devon, which has now been turned into an adult residential facility since the school got close to reaching its 30th Anniversary[8]
• Church Lawton School in Church Lawton, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire for academic pupils/students[9]
• Daldorch House School in Ayrshire, Scotland for autistic adults[10]
• Helen Allison School in Gravesend (originally) and near Meopham, Kent for pupils/students aged between 4 and 22 years old[11]
• Radlett Lodge School in Hatfield (temporarily) and in Radlett, Hertfordshire for pupils/students aged between 4 and 22 years old[12]
• Robert Ogden School in Thurnscoe near Rotherham, Yorkshire for pupils/students aged between 5 and 19 years old[13][14][15]
• Sybil Elgar School in Southall, Ealing and Acton, West London for pupils/students aged between 4 and 22 years old[16]
• Thames Valley School in Reading, Berkshire for academic pupils/students[17]

The organisation was founded on 23 January 1962 as the Autistic Children's Aid Society of North London by parents of autistic children living in the area, with the assistance of a member from the Spastics Society (later Scope).[18][19] It was renamed the Society for Autistic Children later that year,[20] the National Society for Autistic Children in 1966, and the National Autistic Society in 1975.[19]

In 1963, Gerald Gasson, a parent and member of the Executive Committee, designed the primary symbol for autism: a puzzle piece with a picture of a crying child inside of it, which was first used as logo by the NAS itself.[21][22][23] In 1965, The Society School for Autistic Children was established, later renamed as the Sybil Elgar School after their first principal.[24] It was described as "the first of its kind in the UK, and, it is thought, the world", and quickly became an example for how autistic people should be taught, and influenced the TEACCH methods in the US.[19]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to National Autistic Society.

• Official website