Join us for a community forum to have your say on the development of a National Autism Strategy (the Strategy).

The Strategy is being developed to help Autistic people across Australia have better opportunities in life. It will help make sure Autistic people have better access to services and opportunities throughout their lives.

To develop the Strategy, we want to hear from Autistic people and their families about their experiences and ideas.

There are a number of ways you can get involved, including attending this community forum. You can also visit dss.gov.au/national-autism-strategy to contribute to our Ideas Wall or complete some online guided questions.

Who can attend the event?

This event is designed to get input from the local community. The event will be suitable for:

Autistic people and their families
people who work with or care for autistic people
other people in the community with an interest in the Strategy.

This event is open to anyone. If you’d prefer to attend a smaller event with only other autistic people, please see below:

We offer an Autistic Voices forum in this location for Autistic people only*. If you'd prefer to attend the Autistic only event, please click on the below link to register your interest (clicking on the link will take you to a new webpage):

https://events.humanitix.com/cairns-autistic-voices-forum

*Participants are welcome to bring a support person if needed, but support people may not take part in the discussion themselves. If you have questions about this or wish to discuss it further, please contact us at engage@thesocialdeck.com

How will the forum run?

The forum will run for 2 hours.

When you attend the forum, you will be able to contribute in a range of ways, depending on how you like to provide input. For example, we will have opportunities to:

use online tools to answer questions
write or draw your ideas and experiences
talk about ideas and experiences with small and large groups and one-on-one with event staff.

Before the event, we will email you more information about what to expect on the day, including how you can participate and what we’ll be talking about. This will include information about the venue.

Notice for all attendees

In order to make sure the event is accessible and safe for all, we request that you:

turn off sounds on phones and other devices before you enter the event
do not wear strong fragrances e.g. perfumes, cologne
do not bring food into the room that has a strong smell.

Accessibility

If you have accessibility requirements, please tell us about them when you register.

The venue will include a low sensory space. Auslan* and live captioning can be made available on request.

*Because availability of Auslan interpreters is limited, requests for Auslan need to be made at least 5 days before the event. In some cases, the Auslan interpreters may attend the event remotely via a TV screen or other device – if this is not suitable for you, please contact us at engage@thesocialdeck.com.

Help and contact

The Social Deck is delivering this event on behalf of the Department of Social Services. For help registering, please contact The Social Deck at engage@thesocialdeck.com or on 0458 228 142.

More information

Visit dss.gov.au/national-autism-strategy for more information, including other ways to have your say and for more resources.

Privacy

During the registration process, The Social Deck and/or the Department of Social Services may collect your name, contact information and other personal details.

Your personal information will only be shared with The Social Deck and the Department of Social Services. It will not be shared with any other parties.

The department’s Privacy Policy, including information about how to make a complaint and access to and correction of your personal information, can be found on the DSS website. The Social Deck’s privacy policy is also available on the Social Deck's website.