The National Autistic Society

The National Autistic Society is a British autism charity.
==History==
The charity was established on January 23, 1962, from a meeting of parents in North London. Their immediate aim was to “establish a day and residential centre for autistic children.” Their second meeting was held on March 6, 1962. At their fourth meeting, when they had 42 subscribing members, they adopted a constitution, and elected a chairman, an Honorary treasurer and an Honorary secretary. was one of their co-founders.
Early publicity about the charity focused on a very negative view of autism.
The charity has established at least 15 schools in the UK. Their first school was established in 1965, and was visited by three of The Beatles.
In 1967, the first issue of their members magazine, “Communication” was published. They now have two quarterly magazines, named “Your Autism Magazine” and “Asperger United.”
In 1982, the charity was renamed from The Society for Autistic Children to The National Autistic Society.
In 1994, they opened their first Welsh office, NAS Cymru. In 1995, they opened their first Scottish office. In 2005, they opened their first office in Northern Ireland.
===Awards===
In 2009, the charity won the PRWeek “Public Affairs” award for the most effective use of PR to change or enlist political or public opinion. In the same year, they received the Charity Times “Campaigns Team of the Year” award for “innovation and results that achieve, or exceed, the aims of a campaign.” In 2011, NAS Scotland’s “We Exist” campaign won the Herald Society “Campaign of the Year” award.
===Logo===
In 1963, their first logo was developed by Gerald Gasson. The society decided on a puzzle piece symbol, “as this did not look like any other commercial or charitable one as far as they could discover.” The puzzle piece featured an image of a crying child, to represent that autism is “puzzling,” and the suffering of autistic people. The puzzle piece is highly controversial among autistic advocates. The logo was later changed to a pink and purple representation of two people.
In 2017, the logo was changed to one representing the letter “a” and a spectrum. This was announced with videos by , Mark Lever, and Jane Asher.
==Leadership==
The charity’s Chief Executive is Caroline Stevens, who joined in November 2019. Their Royal Patron is . The charity’s president is .
===List of Vice Presidents===
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*Dr Gillian Baird OBE
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*Colin Barrow CBE
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*Simon Cullum
*Professor John Dickinson
*David Downes
*Judy Lusty
*Dr Christopher Mason MBE
*Marianne and 
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===List of trustees===
Dr Carol Homden CBE is the chair of trustees.
*Judy Berkowicz
*Edward Caddle
*Dr Sophie Castell
*Felicity Chadwick-Histed
*Stephen Davies
*Roberta Doyle
*Amanda Forshaw
*Helen Howard
*Professor Sylvia Johnson
*Elisa Menardo
*Stewart Rapley
*David Reeves
*Helen Roberts
*Mike Stanton
==YouTube==
The channel uploaded its first video, Autism: National Autistic Society Anti-Bully campaign video, on October 2, 2008. This video is based on true accounts, which are presented in the video.
IndieAndy was a content creator for the charity.
==References==
Category:British YouTubers
Category:Users who joined in 2008