About Autism Champions
Autism Champions provides neurodivergent-led, person-centred autism support for families in and around Oxfordshire. We are a team of experienced teachers, support workers, parents, and autistic adults with specialist training and/or lived experience of autistic children and young people in mainstream and specialist schools. Working together with teachers, children, parents/carers and other linked professionals, we explore and create strategies to help the children develop, learn and succeed, at home, at school, college or at their place of employment.
We work with children, young people and adults, whether they have a diagnosis or not. Working with different kinds of minds is always a learning experience, and it takes careful attention and a degree of humility to get it right. In other words, instead of seeing deficit, disorder, disaster, tragedy, fault, we choose to see autism as a different way of being human and celebrate peoples humanity and uniqueness.
Our mission
We endeavour to create a society that appreciates the needs of neurodivergent people, enabling them to live and learn in ways authentic to their unique identities. We do this by providing quality, bespoke neurodivergent focused support.
Our values
Advocacy
We are led by neurodivergent people and for neurodivergent people
We don’t see ourselves as experts, we see those coming to us as the experts of their own experience. We are here to get it right, not be right. We enable those we work with to find solutions that work for them. These solutions might challenge existing thinking and systems.
Family
We are family focused.
We see the family as a unit, we need to work with the whole family not just the neurodivergent child.
Progress
We strive to creating long lasting change.
We help schools change, so that when future neurodivergent pupils come along, they don’t need intervention or face exclusion because the school is now an autism champion itself.
Bravery
We challenge unconscious bias and systemic barriers faced by autistic people.
Our behaviours
Systems thinking
We are aware that our role has an impact on the wider system. We do not work in silos to others thinking or experiences. We work in collaboration, not competition.
Non-attachment
We de-trigger ourselves, knowing that others’ crises are not our own. We personalise our response and stay safe ourselves.
Compassion
We are non-judgmental and do not marginalise. We know that none of us ever holds the whole picture.
Listening
We remember the importance of listening and not trying to fix. We listen to others and then are able to support.
Humility
We appreciate, admire and respect the value of a diverse neurodivergent community without losing sight of the challenges they face.
Curiosity
We are a learning organisation. We are keen to understand your unique experience and to avoid assumptions.
Accessible
We want our work to be accessible by all. We are thoughtful about the language we use and avoid acronyms.