Our Voice Our Rights

In the lead-up to the Scottish Parliamentary Elections in May 2021, we partnered with ENABLE Scotland and Scottish Autism to call on all the major political parties in Scotland to commit to a Commissioner to protect and promote the rights of autistic people and people with a learning disability. For us, a Commissioner is crucial to ensure that human rights are respected and upheld, and that autistic people and families have equal access to the services and support they need.

We were delighted that as an outcome of the Our Voice Our Rights campaign, we secured cross-party support for a Commissioner. In particular, we were pleased to see the SNP commit to introducing legislation on this during the course of Parliament. Following on from this, in September 2021, there was a commitment in the Programme for Government to scope this work out during 2021-2022.

While this is a very positive step forward for much needed change, we will continue to push the government to see out their commitment for a Commissioner to help protect and uphold the rights of autistic people and their families to ensure real change.

https://ourvoiceourrights.org/

Past campaigns successes 

Not Included, Not Engaged, Not Involved

In Autumn 2018, we worked in partnership with Children in Scotland and Scottish Autism to publish a report on the experiences of autistic children missing school. The report titled Not Included, Not Engaged, Not Involved Found that more than a third (34%) of parents said that their children had been unlawfully excluded in the last two years — with almost a quarter (22%) saying this happened multiple times a week.

As a direct result of the Not Included, Not Engaged, Not Involved report and subsequent campaign, the Scottish Government — in partnership with the General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTGS), Education Scotland (ES), and the Scottish Council of Deans (SCDE) — have developed new measures to improve autism awareness and training within schools and educational settings.

We have also worked with the Scottish Government and partners to agree a number of changes that will ensure new teachers receive a common baseline of content on autism during their initial teaching education (ITE) programmes.

You can read more on the Not Included, Not Engaged, Not Involved report and campaign here: https://www.notengaged.com/