Our DNA
Our Commitment to Positive Social Change
CEO Statement
At Empower Autism, we’re committed to, and passionate about, the need to create positive social change with autistic people. We believe that responsible organisations should commit to practices that drive this change. For us at Empower Autism, creating positive social change is fundamental to achieving our mission and how we engage with the community.
It is my pleasure to officially launch Empower Autism’s Strategic Framework and Theory of Change. This document represents not only our commitment to the creation of positive social change, but also our view of why that change is needed and how we intend to work with our community to impact that change.
Our Strategic Framework is our roadmap which sets the direction for us to expand our impact over the next three years. It focuses on 4 key areas:
- Empowerment of autistic people through design and delivery of programs and services.
- Education of mainstream community through design and delivery of education and resources.
- Connection to extend our reach and capacity.
- Wellbeing of our community.
Our Theory of Change sets out our understanding of the change needed, and how we will work with the autistic community to impact that change. It builds a shared understanding of the goals and outlines the needs, strategies, actions and conditions of the future we envisage.
This document brings together our past, our present and our future. In developing this strategy, we reflected long and hard on our 30-year history, the enormous change within the autistic community during that period and what that journey has taught us. Our present is about evolving – listening to and learning from our community and growing into an organisation that is positioned to impact social change with that community. Our future is based around collaboration and continuous learning – we believe collaboration, curiosity to inform continuous learning between the autistic community and the mainstream community is key to our ultimate goal of one accessible community which celebrates the value of neurodiversity.
I’d like to acknowledge Empower Autism’s Board, staff, volunteers and other community members for their time, energy, and passion to advance our Strategic Framework and Theory of Change over the next three years. The Empower Autism community is committed to creating positive social change and we encourage each individual reading this to reflect on our commitments and share how you commit to impacting meaningful social change
Tom Moss
Chief Executive Officer
Our Values
Our vision is to enable autistic people to live with confidence and self-belief. Our mission is to empower autistic people to reach their potential, through programs and services that are based on inclusiveness, self-development and self-advocacy.
We believe that society thrives when diverse individuals, experiences, perspectives, and cultures are welcomed and celebrated. We envision a world where autistic people fully participate, contribute and succeed to their fullest potential with confidence and self-belief.
We will strive to continually celebrate and cultivate a diverse community, while working to enable positive social change with autistic people through programs based on inclusiveness, self-development, and self-advocacy
Our Story
Empower Autism is a well-established, not-for-profit organisation that provides information, support and capacity development services to autistic people, together with their parents, carers and families. We are strong advocates of the benefits of peer led support and we value the active participation of those with lived experience of autism.
We’ve grown from a volunteer based organisation, established in 1994 by parents of children diagnosed with Autism. Today we have a team of 11 dedicated staff and over 50 volunteers who generously donate their time, experience and passion in assisting to run our programs and services.
Respect
acknowledge the worth of every individual
Accountability
transparent, ethical, responsible practices
Independence
promote choice, control and self-determination
Partnership
linking and working with others
Fairness
equitable and accessible services
Innovation
new and creative solutions
Respect
acknowledge the worth of every individual
Accountability
transparent, ethical, responsible practices
Independence
promote choice, control and self-determination
Partnership
linking and working with others
Fairness
equitable and accessible services
Innovation
new and creative solutions