| Affiliation with other organizations: |
Declared Entity of Public Utility by the Spanish Ministry of Interior, the Confederation Autismo España (Autismo España) collaborates and maintains strong links with various NGOs and NGO Networks at regional, national and international level. Indeed, it strongly contributes to the work of the Spanish Committee of Representatives of Disabled People (CERMI), that created a network for NGOs such as Down España and Salud Mental España, working in the different fields of disability in Spain. Autismo España is part of the following Commissions of the CERMI: - The Executive Committee as a representative of the Consortium of Autism. - The Commission of Assessment of Disability, of which Autismo España is the chair. - The Ageing Commission, in collaboration with academics from Spanish Universities such as the University of Burgos to enhance investigation in this field. - The Commission of Education and Culture, that has been developing a distance-training course to the attention of staff teaching in the compulsory secondary education (ESO). - The Commission of Accessibility and the Working Group on Cognitive Accessibility - The Commission on Women - The Commission on the Social Image of Disability and Means of Communication - The Commission on Youth and Disability - The Commission of Statutes, Internal Regulations, Admission of New Members and Guarantees Furthermore, Autismo España has been working with different NGOs on specific projects, such as the Project Empower with the Foundation “ICO y Hablarenarte” of Madrid and the American Alliance of Museums. Autismo España also worked with the Group “SEPI Correos” on the Project Travelling Exhibition of Mail Art as part of the International Call for Mail Art. Moreover, Autismo España has been collaborating with the Foundation ONCE and the Foundation Repsol in different settings, such as for the Project “Formación sin Limites” that also involved the National Institute of Educational Technologies and of Teacher Training Programs. At a European and international level, Autismo España is a member of the Association Autisme Europe, the World Autism Organization (WAO) and of the United Nations Global Compact. |
| Publications: |
- Confederación Autismo España (2010) Guía para la Transición de las Entidades de la Confederación al Sistema para la Autonomía y Atención a la Dependencia. Confederación Autismo España - Confederación Autismo España (2010) Autismo, Calidad de Vida HOY. Confederación Autismo España - Confederación Autismo España (2010) Guía en las Tecnologías de la Información y la Comunicación (TIC) para Personas con un Trastorno del Espectro del Autismo (TEA). Confederación Autismo España - Confederación Autismo España (2016) iCalidad. Confederación Autismo España - Confederación Autismo España (2016) Envejecimiento y Trastorno del Espectro del Autismo. Una Etapa Invisible. Confederación Autismo España - Confederación Autismo España (2016) Posicionamiento sobre el Comentario General no4 (2016) sobre el Derecho a la Educación Inclusiva. Confederación Autismo España - Confederación Autismo España (2015) Documento de Posicionamiento: La nueva Ley 38/2015, de 29 de septiembre, del Sector Ferroviario Incluye Obligaciones para Garantizar la Accesibilidad y la Información Adecuada a todas las Personas con Discapacidad. Confederación Autismo España - Confederación Autismo España (2015) Estrategia Española para las Personas con Trastorno del Espectro del Autismo. Confederación Autismo España - Confederación Autismo España (2015) Memoria de Actividades. Confederación Autismo España (publicación anual) - Confederación Autismo España (2015) Documento de Posicionamiento sobre la Ley 45/2015, de 14 de octubre, de Voluntariado. Confederación Autismo España - Confederación Autismo España (2015) Documento de Posicionamiento sobre la Ley 43/2015, de 9 de octubre, del Tercer Sector de Acción Social. Confederación Autismo España - Confederación Autismo España (2015) Sistema de Información y Estadístico sobre los Trastornos del Espectro del Autismo (TEA) en España. Confederación Autismo España |
| Purpose of the organization: |
The purpose of Autismo España is to support persons with ASD and their families while promoting and advocating for the effective exercise of their rights. Its main objective is to foster their quality of life and ensure them equal opportunities. Autismo España aligns itself with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the Optional Protocol, and the Charter for Persons with Autism from the European Parliament. As such, its aim is to reflect in its activities the following principles: the acknowledgment of the own identity and dignity of persons with ASD, the recognition of persons with ASD as citizens with rights and obligations, the right to social inclusion and the right to equal opportunities. In order to successfully carry its mission, Autismo España has set the following priorities: a) To improve the political impact of advocacy on the effective exercise of the rights of persons with ASD and their families, by promoting and defending those rights from a regulatory and administrative perspective, while raising awareness on this group of interest and upholding the existing achievements in terms of provision of services. b) To move forward in the convergence, cohesion and commitment of the confederated organizations of Autismo España, and more broadly of the whole autism community, in order to achieve a better representation of persons with ASD and their family at the regional and state level. c) To enhance investigation and push the dissemination of information on people with ASD forward, in order to generate a better knowledge of ASD and to work towards advancing the organizational development of the confederated organizations by providing them with quality models and best practice guidelines. d) To establish an organizational structure that would ensure the sustainability of Autismo España on a mid-term basis, and to develop the identity and strategic direction of the confederation. In line with the aforementioned priorities, Autismo España developed the following Decalogue of core actions: 1) To advance social awareness, knowledge and training of professionals working in key areas for people with ASD and their families such as in education, health, social services, justice, security, etc. 2) To further the universal accessibility to information, assets and services, especially from a cognitive accessibility perspective. 3) To ensure the early diagnosis of ASD cases in the different settings related to early childhood development, as well as the access to an assessment of the diagnosis by a specialist, and an early interdisciplinary treatment and attention. 4) To foster an individual, comprehensive and specialized assistance adapted to people with ASD and their family in the different steps of their life. 5) To promote an inclusive and specialized education of quality for students with ASD at the different stages of their life, as well as a comprehensive and specialized attention to their health, including their mental health. 6) To facilitate the access of persons with ASD to employment and to enable them to benefit from the highest level of independence when reaching adult life. 7) To enhance the access, civil participation and social inclusion of persons with ASD. 8) To guarantee the legal protection and effective exercise of the rights of persons with ASD and their family. 9) To promote investigation, development and innovation in order to expand the understanding and knowledge on ASD, for a better informed scientific dissemination of the topic to the society and to the relevant services related to it. 10) To facilitate the equal access of persons with ASD to resources, assets and specialized services in the whole Spanish territory. |
| Activities relevant to the conference of States Parties to the convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities: |
On 23 March 2016, Autismo España participated in the working day “Diversidades sexuales” dedicated to define priorities and guidelines in order to include the right to a satisfactory sexuality to the programmes and projects of attention to persons with discapacity. Autismo España collaborated to designing and implementing a training proposal on inclusive education to the attention of teachers of secondary compulsory education (ESO). This project, called “Formacion sin limites” aimed to strengthen the inclusive focus on the reflexion and educative practice in this academic step. In February 2015, Autismo España organized a Press Conference in the framework of the celebration of the International Day del Syndrome of Asperger, dedicated to social entities, and with the aim of promoting the diffusion of the knowledge on ASD. On 29 September2016, Autismo España organized a conference, alongside with the “Grupo Parlamentario de los Socialistas y Democratas del Parlamento Europeo”, on the prospect of the future adoption of a European Strategy on Autismo by the European Union. During 2015, Autismo España closely collaborated with Autismo Europa on a document of observations to the Proposal of a Directive by the European Parliament and the Council related to the approximation of the legal dispositions, regulatory and administrative of the member states in the requisite of accessibility to determined products and services, published on December 2015 in the Official Journal of the European Union. On the Global Day on Autism (Día Mundial de Concienciación sobre el Autismo DMCA), Autismo España joined the campaign of awareness led by Autismo Europa called “Autism. Stop Discrimination” and promoted it to its entities. In 2015, Autismo España coordinated the development of a group of discussion between families and professionals about the detection and early intervention in ASD, in line with the work conducted in the framework of the project ASDEU (Autism Spectrum Disorders in the European Union). Finally, Autismo España led the campaign “Estoy Preparado” aka I am prepared, aiming to raise awareness on the business community on the abilities of persons with ASD, that was launched on 3 December 2015, on the International Day of Persons with Disabilities. |
| Confirmation of the activities of the organization at the regional, national or international level: |
At a regional and national level, Autismo España has developed, among others, the following projects and activities: 1) Autonomy Program (continuous activity maintained since 2012; Spain) that aims to promote personal independence and social inclusion of people with ASD and to create a professional network for the prevention and early identification of ASD. 2) Respite program (continuous activity maintained in recent years; Spain) that aims to facilitate the planning, development and management of leisure programs and family relief. 3) Tourism and Thermalism Program (continuous activity maintained since 2004; Spain) taht aims to the development of holiday shifts for adults with disabilities that promote inclusive leisure and holiday enjoyment in a normal way. Over time, they have benefited from this program 2,500 people, and 22 holidays shifts per year have been organized 4) Awareness raising (continuous activity maintained since 2012; Spain): 5 awareness campaigns, 5 celebrations of the International Day of Autism Awareness, Active presence at conferences and seminars of scientific research... 5) Support to the education of adults or young people with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD): 14 ICT classrooms have been equipped and 120 people with ASD have been trained in social and labor skills (continuous activity maintained since 2012; Spain) 6) Promotion and defense of the rights of people with ASD (Spain): Participation in the development of non-legislative proposal approved by the Congress of Deputies on November 18, 2014. |
| A list of members of the governing body of the organization, and their countries of nationality: |
The Executive Board of Autismo España is composed of: - Miguel de Casas Rogríguez (President), Spanish - Jose Luis Bruned Martínez (Vice President), Spanish - José maría Sabido Galera (Secretary), Spanish - María Soledad Guerrero Ferre (Treasurer), Spanish - Susana Guri Adrados (Spokeperson), Spanish - Manuel Nevado Ojeda (Spokeperson), Spanish - Marta Roca Fina (Spokeperson), Spanish |
| Description of the membership of the organization, indicating the total number of members: |
As of today, Autismo España represents and consists of 75 organizations spread across 15 Autonomous Communities and of the two Autonomous Cities of Ceuta and Melilla, as detailed below: - Andalusia: 1 federation, 9 associations and 1 foundation - Aragon: 2 associations - Canary Islands: 1 association - Castilla la Mancha: 1 federation and 1 association - Castille and Leon: 1 federation, 9 associations and 1 foundation - Catalonia: 3 federations, 4 associations, 1 specialized center of rehabilitation, 4 foundations and 1 resource center - Ceuta: 1 association - Community of Madrid: 1 federation, 8 associations, 1 foundation and the Spanish Center of Autism - Community of Navarre: 1 association - Community of Valencia: 1 association, 1 foundation - Extremadura: 1 association - Galicia: 1 federation, 7 associations, 2 Centers of Specialized education and 2 foundations - La Rioja: 1 association - Melilla: 1 association - Basque Country: 2 association - Principality of Asturias: 1 association - Región of Murcia: 2 associations In order to join Autismo España as a member, applicants have to be: - Federations sharing the same principles and objectives as Autismo España. - Foundations that offer services to persons with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) and their families. - Associations of persons with ASD and associations of families of persons with ASD that provide assistance to persons with this disorder. Furthermore, these organizations have to meet the following requirements: a) Their social purpose must broadly be to defend, assist and protect persons with ASD. b) They have to be legally listed in the relevant register of their area of work. c) They should not have been related to any legal prohibitions in order to be granted the quality of beneficiary of subventions, as stated in the dispositions of the Law 38/2003 of the 17th of November, “General de Subvenciones”. d) They must fully comply with their tax obligations towards any public administration and towards the Social Security according to the current rules. e) They have to expressly adhere to the purposes specified in the statutes of Autismo España, as well as its mission, vision and values as stated in its Strategic Plan, in force at any time. f) The governing bodies of the entity must mainly be composed of parents, guardians, and up to second degree relatives of persons with ASD. Organizations exclusively composed of professional or that do not meet the aforementioned requirements are not eligible. In case that organizations are composed of both parents and professionals (known as mixed organizations), they are eligible as long as they meet the aforementioned requirements. The Confederation counts three types of members: a) Distinctive member organization b) Bonded member organization c) Honorary member. In total Autismo España gathers through its member organizations an approximate of 10 000 persons with ASD, their relatives and professionals related to this spectrum. |
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