The National Autistic
Society, UK
Helpline for Autism & e-learning
The National Autistic
Society (NAS) is the UK's leading charity for people affected by
autism. It provides a wide range of advice, information, support
and specialized services to 100,000 people each year.
The initial Funding Agreement with
the NAS was signed in March 2008 to support the NAS Autism Helpline
and covers a three-year period (2008 to 2010). The funding enabled
the NAS to make significant developments to their Helpline service,
which currently assists over 40,000 callers a year.
As a result of the Trafigura
Foundation's support, the NAS will be able to provide advice and
support to a greater number of callers and deliver technological
improvements that will make it easier to target and assist young
people with autism via instant messenger and SMS text services.
As well as extending the Autism
Helpline, the Trafigura Foundation's support will help the NAS to
further identify the needs of children and adults with autism and
their families and, in turn, develop vital new services which will
have a tremendous impact upon those affected by autism for many
years to come.
In order to relieve parents of some
of the pressures that looking after an autistic child inevitably
brings, NAS established 13 UK-wide "befriending" schemes. These
schemes offer the opportunity for a trained volunteer to spend a
few hours each week with a person with autism. This provides a much
needed break for the parents and supports the family as a
whole.
In 2009, Trafigura London Charity
Committee selected the NAS London and South East Befriending Scheme
as the beneficiary project of funds raised through employee
participation in the London Marathon and Five Countries Bike Ride.
The Trafigura Foundation agreed to match all funds raised and meet
the funding requirements of the London & South East Befriending
Scheme from January-December 2009.
in 2012, the Trafigura
Foundation decided to grant a seed input for the first year of
NAS new “e-learning” project. It aims at developing a web-based
platform on autism providing professional training to all the
professionals working around this handicap (local authorities,
health practitioners, social workers, etc.). Built under a social
business scheme, the venture will be providing sustainable jobs to
young autistic adults
http://www.nas.org.uk/nas/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=2150
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