A new free education programme for families and carers of autistic people is being launched across England.
Commissioned by NHS England, Autism Central aims to build knowledge and understanding of autism and empower families and carers to advocate for autistic people they support to get the right understanding and adjustments in place across the services they use.
Co-produced with autistic people, families and carers, Autism Central delivers the programme through one-to-one and group sessions with high-quality online learning and information. Families and carers can also talk to people who share similar experiences by joining a workshop, drop-in session, coffee morning or virtual meet-up.
Each session is delivered by family members and carers of autistic people trained to share their knowledge and experience with others as peer educators. They listen, offer guidance, and know what services are available in a local area.
Access Autism Central
Information, guidance and events are all available on the Autism Central website, which is free to access. Families and carers can explore topics such as diagnosis, employment and mental health, find local help and take part in online learning.
Autistica is one of the programme's nine partners, which also includes Ambitious about Autism, Autism Alliance, Autism Education Trust, British Institute of Learning Disabilities (BILD), Contact, Great Minds Together, National Autistic Society and the National Network of Parent Carer Forums.
“Autism Central is helping families to learn more about autism and the support available to them. There is a wide range of curated and new material along with signposting to learning resources. This wrap-around learning benefits from the experiences of autistic people and their families - and prepares other families and carers to advocate to get the best from the services they encounter.”
Lisa Myers, Programme Director, Autism Central.