The National Autistic Society is the oldest autism society in the world and one of the best in terms the quality of its services, information and its role as an advocate for autistic people and their families. It has 11,000 members, provides contract services to around a thousand individual children ands adults with autism and has an annual turnover of around 50 million UKP.
The NAS began as a parents' organization at a time when autism was thought to be a rare disorder. It was poorly understood by a medical profession that was influenced by psycho-analytical theories which blamed a child's autism on dysfunctional parenting - the infamous 'refrigerator mother' theory. Diagnosis was difficult to obtain. Our founders even had to struggle to get the term autism accepted in preference to childhood psychosis and schizophrenia. In common with other severely learning disabled youngsters our children were often deemed 'ineducable' and excluded from the school system.
Faced with professional ignorance and hostility the NAS deliberately wrote guarantees of parental control into its constitution. It is largely thanks to these early parents' determination that understanding and recognition of autism is so much better today. We now know that it is a spectrum disorder that affects people across the whole range of intellectual ability. It is far more widespread than anyone believed, affecting six in a thousand children. The NAS has led the way in both these developments. Particular credit must go to Lorna Wing and her associates, who pioneered the concept of an autistic spectrum and brought the work of Hans Asperger to the attention of the English speaking world.
Now the NAS faces a fresh challenge as we plan for a future in which there are going to be many more autistic people than anyone expected even a decade ago. Once again the NAS will be in the forefront of the campaign for autism friendly services in schools and in supporting autistic adults in the community. In this we are learning to work with a new set of allies, autistic people who know what they need and want to advocate for themselves.
One of my proudest moments was when I was elected as a National Councillor of the National Autistic Society.I look forward to playing my part in the development of the NAS both locally and nationally.