Thursday 29 March 2012

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes!

Monday 2nd April marks World Autism Awareness Day and the start of a month of awareness drives internationally.

We at ACT NOW (Autism Campaigners Together) will be launching our new name, logo and website on Monday. We also plan to release a series of videos over the month of April, featuring the words of autistic people and their parents/carers across the UK.

As always, we couldn't do this without your input and it's not to late to get involved. If you want to share what autism means to you then contact Teresa on act.now@btinternet.com or leave a comment here on the blog or over on Facebook.

Thank you for your continued support, it gives us strength to continue our campaign and support work across the UK. Lets march on together and keep ensuring the voices of the autism community are heard.

The Core Group

Sunday 11 March 2012

Nearly time for change!


World Autism Awareness Day is not far away now and we would love your help so we can put together our next campaign video for release on the day. We want to put together a montage of your words.

What does autism mean to you? How does having autism or living with autism affect your daily life? 

Email act.now@btinternet.com , comment here if you're a member of Google or comment using the comment function on Facebook. It's that simple - we really appreciate your input.

We are very excited about our new website, name and logo, which we will launch on World Autism Awareness Day too! It's all happening - no preview though, we're saving it all for the big day!


 
The Welfare Reform Bill may now 
be law but we're marching on!

ACT NOW will keep campaigning for the welfare
 rights of the autism community right across the UK.

Saturday 3 March 2012

What do you think about the SEN system?

ACT NOW would like to know what you think needs to change within the SEN system that would improve the quality of life for your child during their time in school?

** We believe there needs to be a level playing field for children with autism. No matter what impact being on the autistic spectrum for each child, they not only require but deserve to be able to access the therapies and interventions that could help to improve their learning and ability to succeed.
In short we believe that every child with autism requires an Education, Health and Social Care Plan to enable them to be all that they can be. Without solid foundations, outcomes and achievements throughout life could be affected.

If we want our children to be part of the workforce when they are adults we need to give them the right tools to enable them to do so when they leave education.

Every child who has a diagnosis of autism has impaired communication, socialisation and imagination. regardless of how verbal they may appear. Every child therefore requires a plan.

 ** It shouldn't go without saying that teachers should have a good, solid working knowledge of ASD's and the impact on children within education in order that they can work with and educate effectively every child. 

** All parents of a child with an ASD should be able to access the SEN system with no barriers and there must be an easy way to challenge the system in place if it isn't working for their child.

Parents must be able to access information about what support they can get for their child - it should be a partnership.

All parents should be treated on an level playing field and fully involved in the entire process.

What do you think? Please leave your comments on our FB pages/groups under this posting on here on the blog. (Alternatively you can email to act.now@btinternet.com)