Autism Association of WA 2026 Annual Report

Chief Executive Officer’s Report

Working alongside Autistic people, families and communities, we navigated a changing disability landscape. Regardless of the challenges, we remained focused on service excellence, strong advocacy, and creating greater opportunities for inclusion, connection and belonging. As such, the past twelve months were marked by supporting families, creating resilience, and achieving meaningful impact.

multidisciplinary diagnostic assessments for families facing financial barriers to accessing a timely diagnosis. With the support of our community partners, Telethon and Ngala, we also provided support to assist families while they navigate the diagnostic journey, ensuring they feel informed, connected and supported along the way. Therapy services continued to provide services to individuals in their homes, at school, in the local community, and across our community hubs. In the coming year, we look forward to welcoming families to our newly completed Joondalup Therapy Hub, designed specifically to support young Autistic children and their families.

Through our School Age Therapy services, we maintained strong partnerships with schools and the Department of Education to create learning environments where all children can thrive. Demand for therapy services across all age groups remained strong, although workforce shortages continued to constrain service growth. Through professional development and student placement programs, including the Positive Behaviour Support Academy and Provisional Psychology Academy, we strengthened the capacity of our Therapy and Clinical Services team and contributed to building a skilled future workforce. Following the launch

Despite the uncertainties, we remained committed to supporting families while advocating at both state and national levels to ensure the voices and experiences of the Autistic community are heard in shaping the future of disability services. During the year, we supported 7,244 service users across Therapy Services, Community Participation, Employment Support, Shared and Individual Living, Respite and Diagnostic Services. In addition, our Autism Advisor team undertook over 3,800 consultancies across Western Australia, while our Regional Outreach team provided education and support to families, community organisations, and schools in 16

regional areas, extending as far as the Cocos Islands. We continued to strengthen and expand our services, with growth across our Community Living, Employment, and Diagnostic services. We also expanded our Out of Home Care Program to provide safe, stable and supportive full-time care to young individuals who no longer live in the family home. To help meet growing demand for diagnostic support, we expanded access to Autism Assessments for families living in regional and remote areas of Western Australia. We partnered with the Wearne Charitable Trust to provide subsidised

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