The British National Autism Society (NAS), established by parents of children with autism in 1962, offers a wide range of services including autism diagnosis and assessment, early intervention, schools and education, services for adults support and advice for familiies, training, consultancy and a vast information service.
NAS's 40th Anniversary celebrations were launched at a celebratory event, hosted by the actress , author and NAS President Jane Asher, in London on Thursday 17th January 2002. The event (marking NAS's 4 decades of groundbreaking education, care and support, championing the needs of the 500,000 people with autism in the UK) featured the unveiling of a campaign designed to shock the public into a greater awareness of autism.
This Ruby Anniversary campaign underlines the NAS's vision of a world where people with autism can be understood and respected, their needs recognised and supported so they can live their lives to the fullest potential in a well/informed and tolerant society that sees them as people, not problems.
The NAS has many active international connections as it works to forge links with other Autism organisations around the world, to share information and expertise about autism, and has established links with Eastern European countries such as Romania, Poland, Hungary, and the Ukraine. It also has strong working links with other countries such as Singapore where the NAS works in partnership with parents and professionals in Singapore since 1996 to develop a blueprint for services in Singapore.
This “Reach/Me Project”, fully funded from Singapore, concentrates on the more able child with Asperger syndrome and seeks to enable mainstream education to be accessed and supported through a specialist outreach teacher. The project will include the development of information and diagnostic services to support the needs of the wider group of people with autistic spectrum disorders. The NAS is providing a formal advisory position to the project, offering continuing consultative support and training. One can find out more about the project by visiting the Reach/Me website via NAS's site.
The NAS often conducts its information projects in groundbreaking ways such as its Autism 1999 Internet Conference which was conducted OnLine. The papers of this important conference continue to be accessible via www.autismconnect.org (or via NAS's web site).
To learn more about the NAS's important works and activities, visit its site at www.nas.org.uk.