CASTILLA-LEoN Autism federation

Castilla-Leon Autism Federation is a spanish non-profit organization that was created in 1998 with the aim of contributing to improve the quality of life of people with ASD and their families in Castilla y León. Thus, this federation is formed by 10 Associations which are distributed by all provinces of the Autonomous Community (Avila, Burgos, Leon, Palencia, Salamanca, Segovia, Soria, Valladolid and Zamora). Castilla-Leon Autism Federation i represents more than 1,000 people with ASD at all, about 3,000 people members of their family network, more than 350 workers and approximately 160 volunteers. Moreover, it is estimated that the impact of the actions of this organisation can reach more than 7.000 indirect beneficiaries due to the fact that the intervention covers all the stages of the life cycle of people with autism.

Castilla-Leon Autism Federation carries out its lines of action and programmes in partnership with international, national, regional and local entities. Close cooperation has been taken up in particular with Confederacion Autism Spain, CERMI Castilla y Leon and many Castilla y Leon government departments.

The goals of the entity are aligned with the objectives of sustainable development and are consistent with the principles of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UN, 2006), and the Spanish Strategy on Autism Spectrum Disorder ( Ministry of Health, Equality and Social Policy, 2015).

These purposes are:

1. To defend the rights and interests of persons with ASD and their families.

2. To be the spokesman of the entities in order to promote the fulfillment of the public administration's obligations.

3. To promote the creation and consolidation of social entities specialized in autism and to get a continual coordinated effort of all these.

4. To develop actions that contribute to the improvement of the quality of life of people with ASD (specialised training, social awareness, research linked to the needs of the social group…)

5. To carry out activities related to the principles and objectives of international cooperation for development in the field of autism.

Finally, this organization obtained its declaration as a public utility entity in 2010. Furthermore, since 2016, it has been ISO 9001 certified, which guarantees a quality management system. This system enables the efficient control of procedures and the search for continuous improvement.