ORGANIZERS

Autism-Europe (AE) is an international non-profit organisation, whose main objective is to advance the rights of autistic people and to help them improve their quality of life.
AE as an international association is comprised of almost 90 member organisations from 38 countries and represents an estimated 7 million people throughout Europe. Self-advocates and families play a central role in the organisation. AE is recognized by the European institutions as a key representative network in Europe of autistic people and their families.
AE advocates towards European decision-makers to foster a better policy response to the needs of autistic people. AE also strives for more awareness and understanding of autism in society.
Autism-Europe’s mission is to improve the quality of life of all persons with autism and their families in Europe. Our priorities are:

• Representing autistic people towards European Union’s institutions;
• Advocating for the rights of people with autism and fostering inclusion;
• Promoting access to education, training, health and employment, as well as life-long support in the community;
• Liaising with other non-governmental organisations sharing similar objectives;
• Promoting exchange of information, good practices and experience.

Autism-Europe ’s main objectives are:

• to ensure full implementation and respect of the rights and the effective participation of people with disabilities;
• to promote a rights and evidence-based approach to autism working together with people on the autism spectrum, their families, professionals and decision-makers;
• and to encourage research on autism, prevalence studies and exchange of best practices and evidence-based interventions for autistic children, as well as support and habilitation services for adults.

Autism-Europe’s work is based on the principles of the United Nations’ Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UN CRPD), i.e.:

• respect for inherent dignity;
• individual autonomy including the freedom to make one’s own choices;
• non-discrimination;
• full and effective participation and inclusion in society;
• respect for difference and acceptance of persons with disabilities as part of human diversity and humanity;
• equality of opportunity;
• accessibility;
• equality between men and women;
• respect for the evolving capacities of children with disabilities and respect for the right of children with disabilities to preserve their identities.

                  

The Jim Foundation creates a better world for autistic people. A world where every person can realize their full potential.

The Foundation has nearly 25 000 members, including autistic people, their families and carers, teachers, professionals and others who sympathize with people on the spectrum.  

Foundation’s strategic aims are:
 

1. to increase access to diagnosis and therapy in Poland. 
 

Even 10% of all autistic people diagnosed in Poland receive their diagnosis at JiM. That includes both small children and adults. 

Ten of thousands of children and adults use the screening tools offered by JiM Foundation to decide if they want a diagnosis. 

Together with top academics in Poland, we validated the ADOS-2 protocol. We also popularized the diagnostic tool in Poland. Currently, the Foundation trains hundreds ADOS-2 diagnosticians per year.

2. to increase acceptance of autistic people.
 

Yearly social campaigns run by the JiM Foundation reach over a dozen of millions of people. The aim of the campaigns is to raise awareness and spread knowledge about autism to increase acceptance of autistic people. 
 

An important project that helps with achieving this aim are "Quiet hours". We have successfully implemented them in several thousand stores of international and Polish chain stores: Lidl, Stokrotka, Aldi and Empik. The main purpose of the “Quiet hours” is to help autistic people in everyday situations and to increase acceptance in society.   
 

3. to implement the Polish Autism Strategy. 
 

The JiM Foundation is running an advocacy project, which is aimed at implementing an Autism Strategy by the Polish government. 

On our road to achieve this goal, we convinced each of the candidates for the President of Poland to sign the 400 000 Declaration calling for designing a strategy for autistic people. Each presidential candidate pledged to support all activities that will lead to implementing the strategy for autistic people. The current President also supports this declaration. 
 

In April 2021, thanks to JiM’s contribution, both Chambers of the Polish Parliament passed unanimously a resolution to support and provide equal opportunities for people on the autism spectrum. The Resolution contains a call for action to the Government aimed at creating a strategy for meeting the needs of autistic people.

In the designed strategy, particular attention is given to autistic adults and their needs. One of the most important parts of the strategy is to create a support system which will help the young adults with the transition into adulthood. Hence the advocacy project lead by the JiM Foundation is called “Transition” (“Przejście” in Polish).

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