The National Autistic Society is the leading charity for autistic people and their families in the UK. Since 1962, the National Autistic Society has been providing support, guidance and advice, as well as campaigning for improved rights, services and opportunities to help create a society that works for autistic people.

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The National Autistic Society

Founded	1962; 62 years ago (1962)
Founder	Group of London-based parents
Type	Registered charity
Focus	Supporting the rights and interests of all autistic people
Location	London, UK
Area served	United Kingdom
Members (2020–present)	20,000[1]
Revenue (2012–13)	£88 million[citation needed]
Employees	3,630[citation needed]
Website	www.autism.org.uk

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The mission of the charity is to transform lives and change attitudes to help create a society that works for autistic people.

The National Autistic society is a member of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Autism.^[2]

The National Autistic Society is also a founding member of Autism-Europe, an umbrella organisation bringing together 80 autism organisations from over 30 European countries. As a member of Autism-Europe, the National Autistic Society collaborates and shares examples of learning and good practice with other associations throughout the continent.

The current Chief Executive is Caroline Stevens. She took over from Mark Lever in 2019, after being Chief Executive at Kids for six years.^[3]

Over 3,000 people work for the National Autistic Society in schools and services as well as training, fundraising, policy and campaigns teams.

Led by their Chief Executive, Caroline Stevens, the National Autistic Society's strategic management group of seven directors is accountable to the board of trustees.

The president of the National Autistic Society is Jane Asher and the patron is the Duchess of Edinburgh.^[4] The National Autistic Society is funded through UK government grants and voluntary contributions.

The National Autistic Society has the following names registered with the Charity Commission:

• The National Autistic Society
• National Society for Autistic Children
• Autism UK
• Action for Autism

The organisation was founded on 23 January 1962 as the Society for Psychotic Children by parents of autistic children living in the area, with the assistance of a member from the Spastics Society (later Scope).^[11][12] It was renamed the Society for Autistic Children later that year,^[13] the National Society for Autistic Children in 1966, and the National Autistic Society in 1975.^[12]

In 1963, Gerald Gasson, a parent and member of the executive committee, designed the primary symbol for autism: a puzzle piece with a picture of a crying child inside of it, which was first used as logo by the NAS itself.^[14][15][16] In 1965, The Society School for Autistic Children was established, later renamed as the Sybil Elgar School after their first principal.^[17] It was described as "the first of its kind in the UK, and, it is thought, the world", and quickly became an example for how autistic people should be taught, and influenced the TEACCH methods in the US.^[12]