The Scottish Government’s Different Minds campaign, designed to promote a clearer and deeper understanding of autism, launched today featuring local charity CEO Marion McLaughlin.
Marion, who has been the CEO of Autism Understanding Scotland since she founded it in 2021, also served as an advisor to the Government in the creation of the campaign.
Marion said: “It’s been thrilling to work with the government on the creation of Different Minds. When they asked if I wanted to feature, I jumped at the chance – it’s import actual autistic people feature in campaigns to give them authenticity.”
The campaign, which will be seen on social media and other places online, coincides with Autism Acceptance Week. The campaign also launches Autism and the Social Rulebook, an ebook created to raise understanding of the differences in communication styles between autistic and non-autistic people.
“Autistic people exist across every community, we work in every industry, we are present in all age groups, all ethnicities, all genders, and so this campaign is really necessary to get people thinking differently about how autistic people communicate,” Marion continued, “And although we have been successful in raising awareness and acceptance in recent years, we’ve got a long way to go as a society.”
Search for #DifferentMinds on social media to join the conversation about the value of autistic people in Scottish society.