To improve the quality of life of persons with autism

Autism Europe Aisbl

Autism-Europe aisbl is an international association whose main objective is to advance the rights of persons with autism and their families and to help them improve their quality of life.

Autism-Europe plays a key role in raising public awareness, and in influencing the European decision-makers on all issues relating to autism, including the promotion of the rights of people with autism and other disabilities involving complex dependency needs.

Respect of fundamental rights

Persons with Autistic Spectrum Disorders, as well as other persons with disabilities, have fundamental rights that are enshrined in the International and European legislation. Autism-Europe aims at raising awareness of the various existing instruments. Autism Europe also advocates for the full recognition of their rights at European and national level in order to enhance the enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms by persons with ASD towards a full, participative citizenship.

Thus, human rights violations against them take place daily. The right not to be discriminated against in the enjoyment of human and fundamental rights, as a matter of fact, is also violated when persons whose situations are significantly different fail to be treated differently without reasonable justification. Notwithstanding their diversity and the complexity of their needs, persons with ASD should not be considered nor treated as a population that is not able to achieve goals such as independence, self-determination and dignity, but as human beings with unique, unlimited potential.

The old negative perspective emphasises disability, considers disabled persons as objects of assistance and provides facilities tailored to impairments. Autism-Europe promotes a shift in values away from the traditional, “medical” perspective towards a rights-based “social” model that sees persons with disabilities as active subjects with rights and not passive objects of assistance.
It implies that AE considers that persons with ASD do not face disadvantages because of their impairments but experience discrimination exclusion and life-long dependency in the way society fails to meet their needs, to remove barriers of assumption, stereotype and prejudice and to outlaw unfair treatment in daily lives.

This includes failing to provide persons with ASD the positive actions they need in order to have access to proper services and facilities ensuring early, life-long, effective education, vocational training, habilitation and health programmes. This shortage of proper facilities and services prevent them to have access to work, leisure, sport and cultural activities in the mainstream.

Charter of Rights

People with autism should share the same rights and privileges enjoyed by all of the European population where such are appropriate and in the best interests of the person with autism.

These rights should be enhanced, protected, and enforced by appropriate legislation in each state.

The United Nations declaration on the Rights of Mentally Retarded Persons (1971) and the Rights of Handicapped Persons (1975) and other relevant declarations on Human rights should be considered and in particular, for people with autism the following should be included.

Read the Charter

UN Convention on the rights of persons with disabilities

The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and its Optional Protocol was adopted on 13 December 2006 at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, and was opened for signature on 30 March 2007. There were 82 signatories to the Convention, 44 signatories to the Optional Protocol, and 1 ratification of the Convention. This is the highest number of signatories in history to a UN Convention on its opening day. It is the first comprehensive human rights treaty of the 21st century and is the first human rights convention to be open for signature by regional integration organizations. The Convention entered into force on 3 May 2008.Go to website

AE & Core International Human Rights Instruments

A document that summarizes the core international human rights instruments that are key to protect rights of people with Autism.

PDF (125 Ko)

AE and the Collective Complaint against France

In March 2004, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe made public the decision taken by the European Committee of Social Rights of 4 November 2003 whereby France was found to have failed to fulfil its educational obligations to persons with autism under the European Social Charter.

PDF (69 Ko)