The European Parliament was host to an event organised by Autism-Europe on the 29 September 2015. The conference, entitled “Moving forward for the adoption of a European Strategy for Autism in Europe”, follows on from the Parliament’s adoption of a Written Declaration on autism, co-drafted by Autism-Europe.
MEP Nicola Caputo (first signatory of the written declaration), MEP Marek Plura (co-signatory and co-President of the disability intergroup) and MEP Miriam Dalli (co-signatory) co-chaired the conference, which was also attended by MEP Jordi Sebastiá (co-signatory).
The event welcomed over 70 representatives of autism organisations, researchers, practitioners, policy makers and other interested parties from all over Europe to discuss the grounds for a European strategy for autism.
The conference highlighted the importance of responding to the urgent needs of 5 million EU citizens affected by autism, considering that autism is a human rights and public health issue.