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Description
Young people with ASD are now excluded from the community, many of their rights are violated, they do not have equal opportunities to enjoy what exists for young people in the community. They are not visible, heard, and decision-makers do not place their problems among national and local priorities, they do not take effective and coordinated measures to respect their rights. From data obtained from young people and parents, over 95% of young people and adults after finishing special or regular school, university, they stay at home, without specialized support, with only small financial benefits.
The project creates basic conditions to increase the chances of young people with ASD spectrum disorders for social inclusion, for their activation towards involvement in actions to respect the rights to health, education, work, participation in the community. A set of tools (toolkit) is being created and the Café My Voice is being set up, a space dedicated to communication, socialization/inclusive learning. Actions will be carried out to empower other essential factors in the youth ecosystem: empowering families, providing advocacy resources as well as educating typical young people to become resources, activation poles within a program called Café My Voice. 30 young people with ASD will participate in the learning program within the Café, 30 parents are trained in advocacy topics, 20 typical young people are part of the program developed at the Café and 30 representatives of the central and local authorities will be involved in the information actions, sensibilization, awareness in the problem of young people with ASD.
The program support dedicated to young people will generate a set of training resources that will exist on the project page that will remain available and functional after the end of the project. The innovative support component "Friends" for young people with ASD has a great potential for replication and development in other areas of the country.
Summary of project results
The project aimed at increasing the capacity of relevant actors in the ecosystem of young people with ASD (young people with ASD, parents of young people, authorities and public institutions with relevant skills, typical young people, other community actors) to get to know each other, coordinate and collaborate in order to better involve young people with ASD in community life and their better participation in the decision-making processes that affect their lives, in support of their own needs to become active in combating social exclusion.
Young people with ASD are generally excluded from the community, do not have equal access to opportunities and do not have developed skills to represent themselves, advocating for their needs and rights. They are also socially isolated, without specialized post-educational support, which negatively affects their quality of life. As part of the project, an innovative program was created to support 30 young people with ASD from Bucharest, Ilfov and Constanța, through the development of communication skills, relationships and active participation in the community. A Cafe/My voice Cafe was established as a space dedicated to socialization, personal development and advocacy activities, where young people participated daily in structured activities adapted to their needs. In these activities, young people learned about rights and self-advocacy, developed independent living skills and were supported by volunteers. In parallel, the project ran an advocacy and awareness campaign, targeting public authorities, to improve the understanding of the specific needs of young people with ASD. More than 100 families of these youth have benefited from resources and advocacy counseling, and 20 typical youth have been trained to become mentors and support resources for youth with ASD.
In terms of impact, the project addressed the major challenges faced by young people with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) in terms of social inclusion, access to education, employment and active participation in the community. 30 young people with ASD participated in learning and development activities, gaining social skills, self-advocacy and community involvement; 100 families benefited from advocacy support, increasing their ability to support their children''s rights; 20 young volunteers were actively involved in supporting young people with ASD, forming mentoring and friendship relationships.