Changing attitudes is both an art and a science. Autistic. So what?, our campaign for World Autism Acceptance Month united people with numerous kinds of expertise to spark something special.

At Autistica, we have six ambitious 2030 Goals. One of them is to change attitudes towards autistic people. Although awareness has increased about autism and neurodiversity in recent years, misinformation, biases, and stigma are still rife. That makes so many aspects of life more challenging for autistic people: from mental health, accessing healthcare, to finding and retaining work. We knew World Autism Acceptance Month was an excellent opportunity to help change hearts and minds.

We were delighted to work with the creative advertising agency Do Not Behave and behavioural change specialists The Behavioural Architects. We tasked them with a campaign to support our Attitudes 2030 Goal. We wanted a campaign that grabs people’s attention and promotes understanding to non-autistic people without alienating them.

The teams at Behavioural Architects and Do Not Behave developed two concepts. At Autistica, we thought both had potential. But it was important to learn what both autistic people and non-autistic people thought of them. 

The campaign must have approval from the autistic community, but our primary audience is non-autistic people. This presents an interesting challenge, as both groups have wildly different levels of knowledge and understanding about autism.

Autistic people often have deep expertise on autism. Both from their lived experience, and the hyperfocus that can come with learning that you are neurodivergent (and having a brain inclined towards intense interests). Whereas, generally, non-autistic people won’t know as much. They might know a little about some of the challenges autistic people face. But could be anxious about saying or doing the wrong thing. Coupling this with the huge diversity of the autistic community, creating a campaign that lands is never without a challenge.

The Behavioural Architects ran four workshops to test and refine the concepts: two with autistic community members, and two with non-autistic people.

I recruited community members from the Autistica Network for the workshops, then spent a fascinating day watching them from behind a one-way mirror. In the workshops, they shared stories from their own lives, discussed which examples of the creative stood out to them, and potential strengths and challenges of messaging. I’m so grateful for the honesty and insights from our community. They hold our work to high standards and aren’t afraid to call us out if we get something wrong.

The outcomes from the groups led to ‘Autistic. So what?’ becoming a frontrunner for our World Autism Acceptance month campaign.

Next, the agencies pitched an exciting one-minute film to us, and found a fantastic filmmaking agency to deliver it, Not Just Any. The film was directed by three-time British Arrow Awards winner, Robert Sanderson, one of a huge team of filmmakers donating their time and expertise on this project. They secured excellent venues that let us use their spaces for free, including Screen on the Green in Islington, The Muddy Puddle café in Stoke Newington, The Behavioural Architects’ office, and King's Place.

My contribution was to find community members to feature in the film and ensure they were fully briefed and paid. It was such a joy to work with the cast: from Autistica Ambassador Bradley Riches (headphones), Daniel Wakeford (fidget and pace), Leticia Knight and Yasmine Dankwah (always on time), Nina Lockner-Vie and Anouska Stahlmann (eye contact), and Rachel Clark (joining in). Our database manager, Nat Nanda, also stepped up with only 24 hours' notice to star in the small talk scene.

As someone who works for a science charity, I’m rarely one for magic, but the cast certainly brought a sprinkling of something special on set. To me, this feels evident in the final video.

There’s a saying in the charity sector about having a ‘champagne vision with a lemonade budget’. This is because charities are always trying to deliver phenomenal things without much funding. The team that worked on Autistic, so what? delivered a fine vintage of a campaign on a shoestring. This wouldn’t have happened without so many brilliant minds volunteering their time and creativity towards this project. A huge thank you to everyone involved.

If you’ve got this far reading this blog, please consider sharing the video or commenting to show your support. We would love to build on this campaign for future years. So you can play your part by sharing the video, commenting, or even sharing your own Autistic. So what? moment on social media. And if you see any of our so what? billboards this April, please take a photo and share it with us on social media. 

A big thank you to everyone who contributed their time and expertise to this project. Especially to the following:

• The Behavioural Architects and Do Not Behave for the campaign creative and behavioural expertise. Particularly, Jo Moore, Sarah Davies and Rachel Abbott.
• Sue Higgs for your invaluable contributions towards producing the campaign and film.
• The Autistica Network members who shaped the campaign in the workshops. And to the non-autistic people for sharing their perspectives.
• Our all-autistic and neurodivergent cast: Bradley Riches, Daniel Wakeford, Leticia Knight, Yasmine Dankwah, Nina Lockner-Vie, Anouska Stahlmann, Nat Nanda, and Rachel Clark.
• Not Just Any - for producing a fantastic film. Including Thea Slevin, Francesca Di Murio and Robert Sanderson
• Cabin Editing Company: Delilah Walter, Kayt Hall, Charles Gamble
• Gas Music- Gary Hilton
• Noble State- Rebecca Boswell, Parv Thind
• Bloc Party - permitting us to use your track on our video.
• Ocean Outdoors - for donating space for our digital out of home billboards
• And thank you to Screen on the Green, The Muddy Puddle Café, King’s Place, and Behavioural Architects for letting us film in your spaces.