Advocacy Projects
Through our advocacy projects, we aim to increase the acceptance and understanding of autism.
Designing a representative logo
Over the past few months, we have enlisted the help of student designers at the University of Nottingham to develop a logo for the Autism Social Network which represents our aims and values. After submitting their designs, members of the Autism Social Network voted for the design they felt best represented the network - thank you to all the members who participated in the voting.
We are now pleased to announce the winning design of our new logo!
We would like to thank the designers who took their time, dedication, and skills in creating the logo and for taking part in the competition. The designers came from the Autism Social Network (ASN) and from the Creative Student Network (CSN). The results are as follows (corresponding to images on the right from top to bottom):
Winner 🥇 – Martha Roberts, BSc Zoology (ASN)
'I wanted to offer a design as I always want to give back to the Network, as an autistic person, it has given me so much. It was important to me to portray autistic people as we see each other, vibrant, interesting, and often very sociable people, which was the most important thing for me to portray in my design.'
First runner-up 🥈 – Sophie Higgins, BA Media & Communications (CSN)
Second runner-up 🥉 – Lin Qiu, BA Media & Communications (CSN)
Again, we would like to thank everyone who made this happen.
Project Myth-buster
One of our projects was to produce videos to demonstrate the diversity within autism. We wanted to show how autistic people can all have very different experiences and don't fit into a stereotyped view of autism. To do this, members of the network volunteered their time to get together and decide how best to convey this message. They decided that one thing they had all experienced was the negative effects of autism myths or stereotypes. So, through many discussions, they put together some myths about autism and decided to 'debunk' them on camera. What you can see below are student members of the Autism Social Network discussing some of the myths they have witnessed. We understand that this doesn't necessarily cover all myths surrounding autism, but it does cover some stereotypes that the students felt valuable to discuss.
This project was funded by the Cascade Funding Programme.
Project Top Tips
Transitioning to university life can be challenging. We created a video to showcase tips from current autistic students for new students, helping them to get the best out of university.
Check it out below.
This project was funded by the Cascade Funding Programme.
If you are interested in taking part in research conducted by the Autism Research Team, have a look at our current projects here:
Quiet Spaces Project
Neurodivergent individuals often experiences sensitivities to sensory information, such as bright lights or electricity noises. This project is working with staff and students at the University of Nottingham to develop a map of 'quiet spaces' on university campuses.
Watch this space for further developments!
This project is funded by the Sphere Funding Programme.