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World Autism Acceptance Week took place from 27 March to 2 April and SLaM, alongside autistic people and supporters all around the world, arranged a number of events to mark this week. Only two years ago, we were marking Autism Awareness Week. What led to the move from Awareness to Acceptance – and are we moving to a position of more acceptance of autistic people using SLaM services?

The suggestion that it wouldn’t always be me talking about my child to professionals was raised a few years ago, during a conversation with Health. “We couldn’t be discussing this with you if he was 16,” they said. At the time I was confused, disgruntled – he wasn’t yet 16, why make the point? I just wanted to find out the next steps to appeal a referral they’d turned down.

I found out about the opportunity to contribute to the Strategy through the Parent Forum linked to my child’s treatment at SlaM. Although I am an autistic adult, I joined as a parent of an autistic child who had received treatment through the Trust.