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

Proposed Changes to Our ASAN AUNZ Rules (Constitution)

Nominations Open for New Volunteer Board Members

2024 Annual General Meeting – Saturday, 9 November, 2024

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.

Systemic Advocacy - ASAN AUNZ Contribution
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🎉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
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📱🖥️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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Autistic Self Advocacy - Disclosure at Work - Your

Autistic Self Advocacy - Disclosure at Work
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💬🌈Disclosure at work, telling people in your workplace that you are Autistic, can be hard & complex.

For those of us who are used to masking our needs, it can be a challenge to decide if you should disclose.

📝Disclosure is important to get the support you need at work, there are laws that protect our rights at work (link below). Reasonable workplace accommodations & understanding at work can come from disclosure & help you to contribute & be your best at work.

But, disclosure is complex, and many have mixed experiences. A recently (2023) published study (link below) found that both good & challenging outcomes can come from disclosure.

Full disclosure is the best way to have your legal rights protected at work, but sometimes the pathway from disclosure to your needs being met & rights protected is not straightforward.

When considering if disclosure is the best for you at this time, you could think about:
📌Trying soft disclosure first. This involves telling people what you need without directly telling them you are Autistic. For example, you could try ‘I work best with written instructions to help me better understand a task’.
📌Is your workplace a space you feel comfortable & safe to talk about Autism & Autistic identity?
📌What outcome would you like? Think about what reasonable workplace adjustments you would like to request.
📌Do you have the spoons/capacity to have a disclosure conversation with your managers & workplace peers at this moment?
📌&, what tools & self supports can you put in place if you do not receive a positive outcome or response?

Each person's experience with disclosure & having their needs met at work will be unique.

#AutisticRights #DisabilityRights #DisabilityDisclosure #WorkplaceDisclosure

🔗References:
Disability Rights https://humanrights.gov.au/our-work/disability-rights
Autistic disclosure experiences - study
https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10.1089/aut.2023.0005

Nominations Open for New Volunteer Board Members!

Systemic Advocacy - ASAN AUNZ Contribution
📣💬🌈

🎉Celebrating the experience & contribution of ASAN AUNZ board member Dave Murphy!

🌈2023 and 2024, ASAN AUNZ saw many exciting changes for our organisation, including important legacy members and founders passing the baton on to our next generation of custodians.

⚙️📳💻Moving into a new era for ASAN AUNZ has required significant organisational work behind the scenes, particularly in regards to our tech & systems.
🔗📨 Dave has been instrumental to ASAN AUNZ supporting our organisation through these system changes.

In 2023 Dave received a formal Level 2 Autism diagnosis after searching his whole life for answers as to why he was ‘different’ and always on the outer.

His diagnosis gave him the answers he had been searching for. From there he started researching Autism & looking for associated organisations in Australia that could help him on his journey, starting at the ripe old age of 62!

All this came about 12 months after Dave retired from the WA Police Force (after almost 30 years) where he had the time to research Autism, how it had affected him, how it affected people around him and how he could move on from there.

👮🏼Being a Frontline Police Officer & first responder in general where situations are dynamic, volatile and unpredictable were a challenge for Dave. The immense amount of mental energy expended trying to mask and camouflage his (undiagnosed at the time) Autism related anxieties and hypersensitivities to respond & resolve incidents was also challenging.

Dave had formally trained as a Police Prosecutor where advocacy for justice and victims of crime was an everyday experience, satisfying his strong sense of Justice, he had an overabundance of empathy meaning he would go above and beyond to help people.

🌈Continuing that advocacy mindset brought Dave to ASAN AUNZ!

🎉Each of our board members volunteer their time - we are so proud to have wonderful community members like Dave on our board who contribute so much to ASAN AUNZ & our community!

👮🏼Pictured is Dave in his police uniform prior to his retirement.

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#AutisticAdvocacy #SystemicAdvocacy
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Join us for our upcoming SGM and AGM! The Autisti

Autistic Advocacy - Call For Writers Pitches! 📣