Date: 09/04/2019   |   Category - National ASD Development Team, News

The WLGA and Data Cymru have both achieved ‘Autism Aware’ status, following successful completion of a training programme by the National Autism Team.

For an organisation to successfully achieve ‘Autism Aware’ status, it must have demonstrated its commitment by ensuring that a significant proportion of its staff members have undertaken and successfully completed the Autism Aware Certification scheme.

It is estimated that 1 in 100 people are autistic. Registering as an Autism Aware organisation will support autistic people to better access its services, and will increase staff members’ awareness of the condition.

Dr Chris Llewelyn, WLGA Chief Executive said:

“I am extremely pleased that WLGA has succeeded in fulfilling its commitment to become an Autism Aware organisation. The training provided by the National Autism Team to staff members was useful and practical in enhancing understanding of the condition, and to make us aware of the small steps we can all take to make our own day-to-day communication more accessible and inclusive. I would urge any organisation interested in becoming Autism Aware to get in touch with the National Autism Team.”

Andrew Stephens, Executive Director of Data Cymru said:

“We decided to include autism awareness training as part of our staff development plan for 2018-19. Our staff found the training really useful, with much of it being directly applicable to our approach to dealing with our customers and colleagues.

“We’re very pleased that we can now say that our staff are “Autism Aware”. The next step for us is to complete the HR scheme and become recognised as “Positive about working with autism.”

To find out more about the Autism Aware scheme, please visit www.asdinfowales.co.uk .