National Autistic Society

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The National Autistic Society
Founded1962; 62 years ago (1962)
Founder
Group of London-based parents
TypeRegistered charity
Focus
Supporting the rights and interests of all autistic people
Location
  • London, UK
Area served
United Kingdom
Members (2020–present)
20,000[1]
Revenue (2012–13)
£88 million[citation needed]
Employees
3,630[citation needed]
Websitewww.autism.org.uk

The National Autistic Society is the leading charity for autistic people and their families in the UK. Since 1962, the National Autistic Society has been providing support, guidance and advice, as well as campaigning for improved rights, services and opportunities to help create a society that works for autistic people.

The mission of the charity is to transform lives and change attitudes to help create a society that works for autistic people.

Activities[edit]

Neurodiversity paradigm
Philosophy
Organizations
Events
Issues
People
Films
Criticism

The National Autistic society is a member of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Autism.[2]

The National Autistic Society 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 National Autistic Society 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.[3]

Organisation[edit]

Over 3,000 people work for the National Autistic Society in schools and services as well as training, fundraising, policy and campaigns teams.

Led by their Chief Executive, Caroline Stevens, the National Autistic Society's strategic management group of seven directors is accountable to the board of trustees.

The president of the National Autistic Society is Jane Asher and the patron is the Duchess of Edinburgh.[4] The National Autistic Society 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

List of National Autistic Society schools and facilities[edit]

Present schools and facilities[edit]

The National Autistic Society manages a number of schools in the United Kingdom:

Name of NAS School Location(s) County Year first opened Notes
Helen Allison School Gravesend (originally) followed by near Meopham Kent 1968 Weekly & Termly boarding and Day learning school for pupils/students aged between 4 and 22 years old, which opened 3 years after Sybil Elgar School opened.[5]
Radlett Lodge School Hatfield (on temporary occasions) and in (mainly) Radlett Hertfordshire 1974 Weekly boarding and Day learning school for pupils/students aged between 4 and 22 years old, which opened on the same year as Somerset Court.[6]
Robert Ogden School Thurnscoe near Rotherham Yorkshire 1976 Weekly & Termly boarding and Day learning school for pupils/students aged between 5 and 19 years old, which opened 2 years after Radlett Lodge School and Somerset Court opened and became the first and only NAS school in the North of England before Church Lawton School.[7][8][9]
Sybil Elgar School Southall (mainly), Ealing (since weekly boarding facilities first opened) and Acton (since sixth form classes were relocated) Middlesex, West London 1965 Weekly boarding and Day learning school for pupils/students aged between 4 and 22 years old, which took 3 years to construct after the NAS was founded.[10]

The National Autistic Society also runs services for autistic adults.

Past schools and facilities[edit]

The National Autistic Society had also managed 3 former schools that no longer existed since the changes of the NAS logos.

Name of NAS School Location(s) County Year first opened Year last closed Notes
Anderson School Somewhere between Bath and Bristol followed by Chigwell Greater Bristol followed by Essex 2012 2020 Independence school for pupils/students aged between 11 and 19 years old which opened on the NAS's 50th Anniversary, became the second NAS school to open in the West Country after Broomhayes School, had the longest relocation and had closed down at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic having only been opened for 8 years.
Broomhayes School Westward Ho! followed by near Bideford Devon 1985 2015 Weekly & Termly boarding and Day learning school for pupils/students aged between 11 and 22 years old which was the first and only NAS school in the West Country before Anderson School and had closed down for putting Kingsley House up for sale when the school got close to its 30th anniversary.
Daldorch House School Mauchline Ayrshire 1998 2020 Weekly & Termly boarding and Day learning school for pupils/students aged between 5 and 22 years old which was the only NAS school in Scotland and had closed down at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic having been opened for 22 years.

Liberty Academy Trust schools and former NAS facilities[edit]

Here's a list of Academies that have left the National Autistic Society after 10 years or under and since between 2022 and 2023 are now under the Liberty Academy Trust.

Name of former NAS
and now LAT School 		Location(s) County Year first opened Notes
Church Lawton School Church Lawton Staffordshire/Cheshire boarder 2015 LAT School first opened by the NAS following the closure of Broomhayes School.
Thames Valley School Reading Berkshire 2013 LAT School first opened by the NAS following the year of its 50th anniversary.
Vanguard School Lambeth Southeast London 2020 LAT School first opened by the NAS following the introduction of a new NAS logo from 2018.

History[edit]

The organisation was founded on 23 January 1962 as the Society for Psychotic Children by parents of autistic children living in the area, with the assistance of a member from the Spastics Society (later Scope).[11][12] It was renamed the Society for Autistic Children later that year,[13] the National Society for Autistic Children in 1966, and the National Autistic Society in 1975.[12]

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.[14][15][16] In 1965, The Society School for Autistic Children was established, later renamed as the Sybil Elgar School after their first principal.[17] 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.[12]

Awards and nominations[edit]

Year Association Category Nominee(s) Result Refs
2017 Diversity in Media Awards Marketing Campaign of the Year Make it Stop Nominated [18][19]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "National Autistic Society membership". National Autistic Society (www.autism.org.uk). Retrieved 19 April 2020.
  2. ^ "Advisory group - All Party Parliamentary Group on Autism". www.appga.org.uk. Archived from the original on 26 January 2018. Retrieved 15 December 2018.
  3. ^ "National Autistic Society appoints new Chief Executive (28 June 2019) - National Autistic Society". National Autistic Society (www.autism.org.uk). Retrieved 11 November 2019.
  4. ^ "Our structure and people". National Autistic Society (www.autism.org.uk). Retrieved 17 April 2018.
  5. ^ "Helen Allison School - The National Autistic Society - NAS". National Autistic Society (www.autism.org.uk).
  6. ^ "Radlett Lodge School - The National Autistic Society - NAS". National Autistic Society (www.autism.org.uk).
  7. ^ "Robert Ogden School - The National Autistic Society - NAS". National Autistic Society (www.autism.org.uk).
  8. ^ "The Robert Ogden School". OFSTED. 6 October 2020.
  9. ^ "SC032154". OFSTED. 12 May 2022.
  10. ^ "Sybil Elgar School - The National Autistic Society - NAS". National Autistic Society (www.autism.org.uk).
  11. ^ Allison, Helen Green (June 1997). "Perspectives on a puzzle piece". National Autistic Society (www.nas.org.uk). Archived from the original on 25 February 2004. Retrieved 1 July 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  12. ^ a b c Goldman, Lawrence (7 March 2013). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography 2005-2008. OUP Oxford. p. 344. ISBN 978-0-19-967154-0.
  13. ^ Chaloner, Len (17 December 1962). "The autistic child". The Guardian. p. 4.
  14. ^ "National Autistic Society Timeline - 1963. First NAS logo developed". National Autistic Society (www.tiki-toki.com). Retrieved 2 April 2017.
  15. ^ Grinker, Roy Richard; Mandell, David (1 June 2015). "Notes on a puzzle piece". Autism. 19 (6). SAGE Publications: 643–645. doi:10.1177/1362361315589293. PMID 26378295. S2CID 21016160.
  16. ^ Muzikar, Debra (20 April 2015). "The Autism Puzzle Piece: A symbol that's going to stay or go?". The Art of Autism. Retrieved 1 April 2017.
  17. ^ "Our Story So Far". National Autistic Society (www.tiki-toki.com). Retrieved 20 December 2017.
  18. ^ "2017 Shortlisted Creative - Diversity In Media Awards". Archived from the original on 9 February 2018. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
  19. ^ "Make It Stop". National Autistic Society. 28 March 2017. Archived from the original on 12 December 2021. Retrieved 17 April 2018 – via YouTube.

External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to National Autistic Society.
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