Together …

Advocating for all Autistic People

Advocating for Autistic people through systemic advocacy; fostering Autistic agency and empowering Autistic people with self advocacy skills; creating opportunities for participation and active citizenship; and celebrating Autistic voices, identity and our contribution to our world!

Our team ...

We are an Autistic-led organisation run by our community, for our community.

Our Origin Story ...

When we began there were just a few of us

Our Visual Story ...

Advocating for our diverse and divergent community

For more than 20 years we, the Autistic Self Advocacy Network of Australia and New Zealand, have been the leading organisation for Autistic advocacy in Australia, and later New Zealand.

We emerged as one of the first, rights based, grassroots, systemic advocacy organisations in Australia. When we began there were very few organisations and initiatives including the voices of actually Autistic people, and very few making space for us to speak for ourselves. We are pleased that there are now so many wonderful advocates and organisations working to support the Autistic and autism communities in a multitude of neuroaffirming and Autistic-led ways. We are proud to continue to have a place in this community.

We are run by Autistic people, for Autistic people. We work to centre the voices of Autistic adults, with a specific focus on systemic advocacy and empowering our community with self-advocacy skills.

Nothing about us without us … and, stronger together!

Latest news

Important Updates on ASAN AUNZ SGM & AGM

2024 Annual General Meetings

Nominees for volunteer board members

Proposed Changes to Our ASAN AUNZ Rules (Constitution)

Autistic Advocacy – Call For Writers Pitches!

NDIS Amendment Bill Position Statement

ASAN AUNZ Contact

Feel free to email us, or connect with us by reaching out on socials, we would love to hear from you!

We are an Autistic-led organisation, predominantly made up of volunteers, we will get back to you as soon as we are able and have the spoons to respond, we thank you for your patience.

ADVOCACY Contact

If you would like to contact us regarding systemic advocacy or to invite ASAN AUNZ to be involved in any project work please email operations@asan-aunz.org.

Socials Contact

If you are an Autistic writer or content creator that would like to contribute to ASAN AUNZ by sharing your story with our community, we would love to hear from you!

If you would like to pitch a website article, specifically around your advocacy experiences, with tips and hints you would love to share with our community, please email socials@asan-aunz.org and comms@asan-aunz.org.

Media Contact

If you would like to contact us for organisational comment or interviews please email comms@asan-aunz.org

We, ASAN AUNZ, respectfully acknowledge First Nations Peoples as traditional custodians of the lands, skies and waters where we live, learn, create and work. We acknowledge First Nations Peoples as the original and ongoing custodians and pay respect to Elders past, present and emerging.

We, ASAN AUNZ, acknowledge the LGBTIQASB+ community and its significant intersection with Autistic and neurodivergent communities. We affirm everyone’s right to freely identify and acknowledge their sexual and/or romantic orientation, gender identity and neuroqueer expressions. We actively advocate for the rights of our queer community, contributing to a world that is free from discrimination.

We have adopted the Australian specific acronym, that includes ‘SB’ to represent ‘Sistergirl’ and ‘Brotherboy’, importantly acknowledging our indigenous peoples queer communities.

Shaping the Future of ASAN AUNZ - New Board Nomine

Everyday Autistic Self Advocacy - Self Compassion

Autistic Self Advocacy - Workplace Accommodations

Nominations Open for New Volunteer Board Members!

Systemic Advocacy - ASAN AUNZ Contribution
📣💬🌈

🎉Sharing the advocacy work of ASAN AUNZ board member Cheryl Koch!

Earlier this year The Office for Autism in South Australia announced that ‘up to 1,300 South Australian families with babies showing early signs of autism will be among the first to benefit from a new nation-leading autism support program thanks to a joint investment by the Albanese and Malinauskas Governments.

The Inklings program will help parents and carers understand the needs of infants between the ages of six to 18 months who are showing early signs of autism and builds the capacity of families to better support the child.

Some in our community have expressed concern over the program & some have celebrated it.

ASAN-AUNZ board member Cheryl attended the information session on 6 September, met with the Hon Emily Bourke MLC, Assistant Minister for Autism and Maggie Rutjens, Acting Director Office for Autism on 27 September 2024 and had a meeting with the team running the pilot at The Kids on 10 October 2024.

ASAN-AUNZ sought to understand how Autistic people are included in these activities and how the human rights of those involved are being respected.

We were pleased to hear that the program has had many autistic participants as well as two neurodivergent people involved in the program’s development and trials. We also learned that the program benefits the child-carer relationship whether or not the carer and/or child are autistic.

As a result of this advocacy, we have been asked to distribute information about the Kids Neurodivergent Professionals group. If you are neurodivergent, have a professional role and qualifications in childhood development, and would like to find out more, please contact secretary@asan-aunz.org for a copy of the role description and expression of interest form.

📣We will continue to advocate for our communities & look forward to sharing more details about this program soon.

🌈Each of our board members volunteer their time - we are proud of the systemic advocacy work of ASAN AUNZ board member Chery & the contribution she is making to our communities!

👷‍♀️🎤Pictured is Cheryl speaking at a conference.

Everyday Autistic Self Advocacy - Phone Calls
☎️📞

📱🖥️For many of us, we need emails & text rather than phone calls.

📱😓Phone calls for Autistic people can be challenging, overwhelming, exhausting & sometimes painful. This can be due to our sensory & processing needs & differences.

💬📝Information, meetings & interactions in writing rather than phone calls:
✅Allows us sufficient processing time.
✅Means we can refer back to what was written rather than trying to remember everything.
✅Reduces distractions like noise & voice time.
✅For many, it requires less masking.
✅Can reduce anxiety & pressure.
✅Costs many of us less spoons than a phone call.

Requesting an email rather than a phone call can sometimes be challenging, you could try the below scripts:
📌As an Autistic person I am unable to do phone calls, thank you for emailing instead & accommodating this support request.
📌I have sensory processing differences, phone calls are incredibly challenging for me, to support our communications, please email or text rather than call, thank you for understanding.

🌈❔Do you have any go-to scripts to help you request emails rather than having to speak on the phone?
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#EveryDayAutisticSelfAdvocacy #AdvocacySkills #Autistic #Neurodiversity #AutisticAcceptance
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Image descriptions in comments.

Autistic Self Advocacy - Disclosure at Work - Your