In the month marking #AutismDay2023 on 2 April, the EMPOWER partners join Autism-Europe’s awareness-raising campaign “Building an inclusive society for autistic people”, an opportunity to reflect on the advances made so far for the autism community and the work that remains to improve the lives of autistic people and their families.
Neurodevelopmental conditions like autism affect approximately 15% of children aged 3 to 17 years. These children can have difficulties with language and speech, motor skills, behaviour, memory, learning, or other neurological functions.
These challenges can have a significant impact on their learning process, access to education, and consequently social inclusion. Children with neurodevelopmental conditions can thus greatly benefit from education support tailored to their needs.
In this regard, our project aims to create a novel educational platform, based on a game-based approach and new paradigms from psychology suggesting that executive function and emotional self-regulation are two key sets of skills to target in the educational support for neurodiverse students.
Autistic people can live included in their communities with appropriate support services. They should have access to diverse types and levels of support depending on their individual needs and strengths. They should also receive the appropriate level of support at various stages of their lives, including around diagnosis and key moments of transition in adulthood.
For the #AutismDay2023 campaign, we would like to emphasise the importance of approaching support services on a case-by-case basis and involve autistic individuals and their families in developing personalised support plans. To make this a reality, coherent policies and funding are needed across Europe and at the EU-level to empower people on the autism spectrum to live independently and participate in the community.
With its awareness-raising campaign “Building an inclusive society for autistic people” to mark World Autism Awareness Day 2023, Autism-Europe calls on European, national and regional policymakers and other stakeholders to ensure the full enjoyment of the rights and needs of autistic people in Europe, according to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD). The UNCRPD has been ratified by 45 out of the 46 member countries of the Council of Europe (CoE), including by all EU member states and by the European Union itself in 2010.
To implement the UNCRPD at EU level, the European Commission launched in March 2021 its second Strategy for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which will run until 2030. Autistic people’s needs should be adequately addressed when implementing it in all areas, both at EU and Member States levels.
Autism-Europe prepared a document detailing aims and strategies of this #AutismDay2023 campaign, which will be carried out throughout April 2023 with different communication means and activities. Go through this toolkit to learn how you can engage in the campaign and download useful communication material!
