Notes from our CEO

Our Autism Acceptance campaign made headlines this year as we focused on the theme of Everyday Equality.

John Phillipson Chief Executive Officer

But behind the scenes, too, we were taking action to ensure that our own organisation lives up to the commitment to listen to autistic and neurodivergent people.

Our Board of Trustees reviewed our governance arrangements, and agreed to some far-reaching changes to how the Society is run. As part of this, we recognise that we need to formalise how we ensure agency for autistic and neurodivergent people.

So we will make sure we involve autistic people in the Board and related committees that we are setting up, so they have a real voice in the future of NEAS and how it’s managed.

For this I’m very grateful for the support of outgoing chair Gavin Bestford, who has dedicated the last 21 years to advocating for autistic people as a trustee and then Board chair.

It’s the end of an era; Gavin has been chair all the time I’ve been here, and we’ve worked on a lot of projects together. You can read our tribute to him on pages 10-11.

I’m delighted that Dr Rakesh Chopra, a trustee for a number of years, has agreed to be the new chair and I’m confident he and I will work closely on the changes agreed by the review.

Meanwhile, we’ll continue with our ground-breaking services to help overcome the barriers autistic and neurodivergent people face in their everyday lives – from coping at university (page 14) to getting a job (see our DiversityNE project on pages 12-13).

Thank you for your continuing support for our work.

John Phillipson