NCB Now Member News: The National Autistic Society
NCB
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
The National Autistic Society (NAS), the UK's leading charity for people affected by autism, kick-started its 50th birthday celebrations in royal style recently, with a reception at St James's Palace hosted by the charity's patron, the Countess of Wessex.
Among the 400 guests were many famous faces, including the charity’s president, Jane Asher; autism campaigner Sally Bercow and her husband, John Bercow, speaker of the House of Commons. The guests were joined by some of the NAS’s longest serving members of staff.
Jane Asher said: “Back in 1962, the world was a very different place for people affected by autism. Families were stigmatised by accusations of “cold” parenting and the term “refrigerator mother” persisted. That year, a small group of parents gathered around a kitchen table, frustrated at the lack of understanding and help available for their children, and founded what was to become the UK’s leading autism organisation. The many guests at St James’s Palace demonstrate that the same passion, commitment and determination of the NAS’s founders is still very much alive today.”
www.autism.org.uk
