For a very long time we have dreamed of having a community centre – a place the young people we support can call home. And yesterday, this finally came true! We have ambitious plans to create a fantastic space for the community, where young people can attend regular events and activities, as well as a safe space where young people can simply ‘drop in’ and feel at home.

Here are some exciting things to look forward to, which will be available for autistic young people who are members of our community (access to our community is currently free for autistic young people across Greater Manchester):

⭐ A variety of social activities based on interests including Pokémon, gaming, board games, arts and crafts, anime, movie nights and more!

⭐ Workshops, activities and talks for young people, focused on helping them to understand autism and learning how to advocate for their needs.

⭐ A space to work on advocacy projects with our young people and the wider community so we can create more resources and further increase understanding of autism.

⭐ We know that a lot of our members are not currently attending school or have difficulty attending school and we are keen to offer support to these young people, whose needs are not being met elsewhere. Therefore, we will be running a learning community focusing on Self Directed Education. Rather than expecting young people to follow a curriculum when they are struggling, the aim is to help young people to regain their passion for learning and recognise that who they are is ok.

⭐ Face to face training for professionals, parents and anyone else who feels they may benefit from this.

⭐ We aim to have a library full of affirming books, resources and more for young people and their families to access.

If you would like to help us open and offer as much as we can to the community, please do consider donating, so that we can buy all of the equipment we need to get started!

I also wanted to sincerely thank everyone who has supported us on our journey and made this possible. It still doesn’t feel real, and I have spent most of the past 2 days crying happy tears. We are so, so excited to now be able to bring so much more joy, hope and excitement into the lives of our community members.

- Andy