Ambitious about Autism

Ambitious about Autism is the national charity for autistic children and young people.

The charity started in 1997 to help create a world where autistic children and young people are heard, included and supported.

Starting as one school, the organisation has evolved to become a movement for change. It was time to update the way it communicates its own story, and how the UK in general thinks and talks about autism.

We worked closely with the senior team on a careful and extensive stakeholder engagement programme to reshape how the charity talks about itself and the impact it makes.

Everything needed to be built from insight from core audiences including children and young people.

Our research showed that autistic people are tired of hiding their real selves and having to ‘fit in’. From this, we developed a powerful new brand narrative including an updated vision and mission, new tagline and a range of core copy variations for use across comms tactics and channels.

This sat alongside a new tone-of-voice guide for forward-thinking organisations to adopt to talk about autism in an inclusive way.

We then supported the roll-out. Getting the narrative right was important, but bringing diverse audiences with us on the journey was just as vital.

The work was very well received with one autistic young person saying: “This new way of talking about autism will make neurotypical people think differently and neurodiverse people feel included.”

We’ve since supported the charity with policy-change campaigns to push for better support for SEND pupils in schools.