History
The charity was founded in 2001 "to improve the lives of people in Wales with an autistic spectrum disorder and their families" by influencing major policy change, research and practice through education and training, research, awareness raising and collaborative efforts with other organizations. Start-up funding for the organization was provided by Dame Stephanie Shirley's The Shirley Foundation. It was this charity which first created the concept of a government led national autism strategy, presenting the concept to Ministers in the Welsh Government in 2001. The Minister for Health and Social Services in Wales then announced on 4 December 2002 that the Welsh Government would develop the world's first national autism strategy in partnership with Autism Cymru. The CEO of Autism Cymru, Hugh Morgan OBE, chaired the development of the national autism strategy in Wales between 2003-2007. They then partnered with theVision
Autism Cymru's vision statement was:Autism Cymru is committed at promoting its services and activities on both national and local scale by focusing approaches on person oriented services to ensure each person in Wales gets the proper diagnosis, education, services, housing, independent living and employment opportunities by working strategically and collaboratively with multidisciplinary partners which include: other research, education, medical and housing organizations, as well as employment and service companies.
People
Patrons and chair
The original funding for Autism Cymru was provided in 2001 by president Dame Stephanie Shirley's Shirley Foundation, which was one of the top 50 grant-giving foundations in the United Kingdom.''Autism Cymru: Dame Steve Shirley to address Institute of Directors''Staff
Hugh Morgan OBE, FRSA, was formerly the first CEO of Autism West Midlands, working with them from 1988-2001, before becoming the founder CEO of Autism Cymru in 2001. He was the author of several books on autism including Adults with Autism: A Guide to Theory and Practice, Cambridge University Press 1996, . Maggie Bowen was the Deputy CEO. The charity had no administrative staff; its trustees and staff had considerable first hand experience of supporting people on the autism spectrum and their families.''AWARES''Collaborators
Autism Cymru took a person-centered approach in all its work. It establish very effective collaborations bring about major change, with policy-leaders in Wales and internationally, with research institutions, with other charities and with funders.Membership
Membership for individuals was free and could be obtained by applying online through the official website.Autism Cymru activities
Autism Cymru's activities included awareness development, collaboration with other organizations to realize their vision, participation in research and enhancement of educational opportunities. It worked with partners, such as Autism Initiatives and Wales Autism Research Centre (WARC), who had congruent objectives regarding training, awareness building, service and research.Awareness
It sponsored Holly's Ball and Emily's Ball, events set up by the Holly and Emily's mothers to raise awareness about autism. It also sought to raise funds for theOther organizations
Autism Cymru was a founder member of the Celtic Nations Autism Partnership, which was launched in collaboration with Autism Northern Ireland, Irish Society for Autism and the Scottish Autism in 2006/7; was a member of Autisme-Europe and had collaborations with others including Autism Initiatives and with Mudiad Ysgolian Meithrin.''Autism Cymru's Activities''Governmental and justice organizations
Governmental and justice organizations that Autism Cymru collaborated with included: local health boards and authorities, all four Welsh Police Forces, and the Wales Ambulance Service Trust on the Emergency Services ASD Attention Card Scheme and training, and most powerfully, work with the Welsh Assembly Government. Their national AWARES website, when launched in 2002 was believed to have been "the first national resource website of its kind in the world".''Autism website 'first of its kind'.''Research
Research activities included founding the partnership with Cardiff University and Autistica to create the Wales Autism Research Centre; and collaborations withEducation
Autistic Cymru set up the website for AWARES - the All Wales Autism Resource, which provides information for Welsh and English speaking autistic people in Wales and also ran annual world on-line conference. Hugh Morgan was quoted in 2002 by theTraining and employment
Autism Cymru collaborated with The Irish Society for Autism on the 2009-12 European-funded Deis Cyfle, a project that received some of its monies from the European Regional Development Fund. The project was launched on Monday 10 May 2010 and provided opportunities for people with autism in education and employment. It served over 5,700 people across Wales and Ireland.Seminars
Adam Feinstein from AWARES ran a series of monthly one-day online seminars with leading figures from the world of autism. The online conferences were hosted by Autism Cymru. The seminars helped raise awareness of autism by inviting noted guest speakers and experts to address issues and answer questions. Guests included Carol Gray, President of The Gray Center for Social Learning and Understanding, and Professor Gary B. Mesibov, one of the world's leading authorities on topics related to autistic children and adults' education issues. Autism Cymru ran a series of seminars on various locations with guest speakers addressing autism issues. Past speakers includedPublications
They also produced 'award-winning' book publications.Autism Initiatives and C-Saw services
Autism Initiatives and C-SAW in North Wales, former partners of Autism Cymru, provided services for children and adults through a creative approach and lifelong support. C-Saw provided social activities and services. Three social clubs — grouped by age ranges 8 to 16, 16 to 25, and 25 and up — provided opportunities to socialize, build confidence and gain life skills. There was also a quarterly coffee mornings club for parents. Services offered by C-Saw included counselling, community outreach, transitional program for young people into adulthood, and physical activities.Housing opportunities
The collaborative sought to obtain more partnerships especially housing associations, local authorities and other trusts to join the effort in bringing Welsh autistic people supported living projects and quality housing solutions, respite and short break services, to solve what was described as 'Tomorrow's Big Problem' by Hugh Morgan.Morgan, Hugh. ''Tomorrow's Big Problem:Housing Options for People with Autism: a Guide for Service Commissioners, Providers and Families.'' National Autistic Society, 2004. Chapter 5.2See also
* Wales Autism Research Centre (WARC) *References
Further reading
# Kenneth J. Aitken, ''An A-Z of Genetic Factors in Autism: A Handbook for Parents and Carers'', Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2010. # Anthony Bailey, Rowan Williams, ''Disabled Church - Disabled Society: The Implications of Autism for Philosophy, Theology and Politics'', Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2010. # Simon Baron-Cohen, ''Autism and Asperger Syndrome - The Facts'', Oxford University Press, 2008. # Olga Bogdashina, ''Autism and the Edges of the Known World: Sensitivities, Language, and Constructed Reality'', Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2010. # Dave Griffiths, John Smythe, Change Directory of Social, Tom Traynor, Dave Casson, ''Directory of Grant Making Trusts'', Directory of Social Change, 2005. # Glenys Jones, British Institute of Learning Disabilities Staff, University of Birmingham Staff, autism.west midlands (Organization) Staff, Autism Cymru Staff, ''Good Autism Practice: GAP: Celebrating the First 10 Years of the Journal'', British Institute of Learning Disabilities, 2010. # Hugh Morgan 'Adults with Autism: A Guide to Theory and Practice, Cambridge University Press, 1996, # Rachel Pike, ''Talking Together about an Autism Diagnosis: A Guide for Parents and Carers of Children with an Autism Spectrum Disorder'', National Autistic Society, 2008. # Lynn Plimley, Maggie Bowen, ''The Autism Inclusion Toolkit: Training Materials and Facilitator Notes'', SAGE Publications Ltd, 2008. # Lynn Plimley, Maggie Bowen, ''Autistic Spectrum Disorders in the Secondary School'', SAGE, 2006. # Lynn Plimley, Hugh Morgan, Maggie Bowen, ''Autistic Spectrum Disorders in the Early Years'', SAGE, 2007.External links
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