Autistic Voice and Participation
Find out how we meaningfully include autistic people in decision-making at all levels within Scottish Autism.
Our work will always be led by the priorities of autistic people and their loved ones. That’s why we are committed to meaningfully including autistic people in decision-making at all levels within Scottish Autism, from board-level governance of our organisation to day-to-day decisions about the support people receive. In order to do this better we have a strategic focus on our Voice and Participation Agenda, transforming the way we do things.
This work has included increasing autistic representation on our board, recruiting a Participation Officer to work across the organisation, and supporting the work of our Neurodivergent Employee Forum. We have also established an Autistic Advisory Panel, drawn from autistic people we support directly and the wider autistic community. The panel will guide strategic priorities for our service provision, campaigning, and research work. The Autistic Advisory Panel engages directly with the board and Executive Leadership Team of Scottish Autism.
Scottish Autism’s Voice and Participation Agenda has five workstreams:
Inclusive governance
Ensuring autistic inclusion in strategic decision-making on the board and Autistic Advisory Panel.
Changing organisational culture and processes
Using language that reflects community preferences, ensuring our communications are accessible and inclusive, and that our definitions of ‘quality’ support and organisational values are informed by people with lived experience.
Decision making in individual services
Including supported autistic people meaningfully in service reviews, recruitment to their teams, using supported decision-making in everyday life, and nurturing self-advocacy skills.
Local service development
Planning and development of services across Scotland should be informed by priorities identified in local service forums and engagement of the local autistic community. To support this aim, we are looking to enhance our relationships with local Autistic People’s organisations and the wider autistic community.
Citizenship and Community Participation
We will look to increase opportunities for people we support to be active citizens, taking part in democracy and elections. We want to provide opportunities for people we support to join Autistic People’ Organisations and have access to Autistic Space and to support the development of skills and opportunities to self-advocate for autistic peoples’ rights and needs in wider society.
The Inclusive Governance report
Our Voice and Participation Agenda has been shaped according to priorities set by a consortium of Autistic People’s organisations who we commissioned to advise us. The report was produced by the National Autistic Taskforce, Autistic Mutual Aid Society Edinburgh and Autistic Rights Group Highland.
Read the report