ACTIVATE - autistic youth in advocacy, policymaking, and civic engagement 

Written by Nik Paddison 

Please note: In the writing of this article, we have referred to autism in a singular sense for practical purposes. However, we fully acknowledge that autism is not a single diagnosis for all; it is a spectrum of differing abilities and unique attributes. Please keep this in mind when reading.

Who are you and what do you do?

My name is Tokyo Attard. I am the project officer here at the Maltese Government's Directorate for Disability Issues. I am overseeing the ACTIVATE project, which has become quite a passion for me. In terms of my background, I have always been cantered towards things to do with empowerment and creating change.

I have a background in activism, both social and environmental, fighting for things like queer rights, women's rights, and rights for disabled people. I was diagnosed with autism at the age of nine, but had the reality of the diagnosis hidden from me until I happened upon my own diagnosis papers nearly a decade later. This led to me growing up without the assistance or help that I needed.

This injustice set me back in terms of my education and development by years. But it is also what has fuelled my passion to support and lead this project to the best of my abilities. I hope that this project can help others like me to learn vital self-advocacy skills and community-building skills.

Thank you for sharing! Can you tell us about ACTIVATE and how you got involved with it?

I was directed by my husband to a job post by the Commissioner for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in Malta, that was looking to hire some project officers for this project called ACTIVATE. I applied and got the job. It took me about a couple of weeks, maybe even the first month, just to figure out my place in the project and get up to speed with everything – the project had already started before I was employed. 

ACTIVATE is an Erasmus+ Youth project designed to empower autistic young people by helping them build self-advocacy skills. We are a partnership of six organisations from Malta, Portugal, Czechia and Belgium.  

In general, the project is about raising awareness, connecting people and building stronger support networks for autistic young people.

Currently, we are about halfway through the project. The end goal is to create what we are calling ‘Autistic Advocacy Academies’ across Europe. These are spaces where young people can learn more about themselves, their rights and how to advocate for their needs effectively. We just finished the research phase a couple of months ago, and from that research we have managed to find out a lot about what these academies should look like. We are making the curriculum for them now.

In the meantime, we held the ‘Autism Awareness Month’ in April, during which we posted fun fact cards about famous autistic people in history to show people that there are so many people who did amazing things in life and have grown to be very successful and famous, even though they are autistic.

As part of the project, we held the first Maltese National Autism Conference in April 2025, which I had the privilege to host. It was very successful and gave a lot of attention to the project. As a result, more people are learning about the project, and we are getting a lot of feedback on its impact. For example, we received a lot of feedback from autistic young people, from families of autistic young people and workers in the field. All stated that the mere existence of this project gives them a lot of hope.

Can you explain more about the academy concept?

An academy will take place in each partner country, and the ultimate goal is to create a lasting change. For this to happen, we needed to establish a strong foundation of knowledge – which we gained from the research we conducted.

For example, we learned about the ways in which autistic young people like to learn, how many hours a day they can be engaged with, and how many sessions should be in a day. They gave information about offline and online engagement, with a preference towards blended learning opportunities. Many expressed the need for holistic approaches, such as providing information both visually and in text. They also shared opinions that the educators and the trainers of these academies should be autistic themselves and of a similar age range. The research is showing us that all these specific things can have a big impact on the way the young people will engage and learn.

So far, we have managed to come up with a framework for the academy experience. It outlines the basic pedagogical principles for the academy framework. We want to design the concept to be as inclusive and as effective as possible.

Ultimately, we would like to see such academies taking place everywhere. We also want to develop a digital campaign for Autism Awareness Month - in order to reach more people and inspire them. We want to form a European community of practice for autistic youth. This community of practice would facilitate knowledge exchange among autistic young people and other stakeholders, regionally, nationally and European-wide. We also want to enhance autism advocacy work.

But more than that, we want to see real measurable empowerment of the young people themselves. We want to see them feeling more confident, more connected, and more capable of influencing the systems around them. If we can help even just one young person feel like they have a voice that matters, then we consider that a major win.

How do you see this project linking with the European Youth Work Agenda? 

The European Youth Work Agenda in its eight priority areas calls for the development and expansion of the youth work offer. This is something that we are very much focused on in terms of the greater inclusion of autistic young people. Having the Agenda stating this is a huge support for the ACTIVATE project because what it talks about is exactly what this project is doing. We are making sure that autistic young people aren't just included but they are actively leading and co-creating the spaces that they are in. Furthermore, this entire project at its core is powered by our partners who all have autistic people working on ACTIVATE directly, myself included. That kind of empowerment is at the heart of both the European Youth Work Agenda and our project's aim and cause.

Where would you like to see autistic young people and youth work in Europe in the future? 

I would love to see youth work across Europe being more co-designed and co-led by young people and especially young autistic people. I cannot express enough the importance of including the voices of the marginalised communities.

I want youth work to embrace neurodiversity as a strength, not as a weakness. I not only want, but I need to see a Europe where autistic young people can feel confident and heard and respected, not just in the youth work spaces but also in education, in the workplace, and in everyday life. I want to see a Europe where autistic young people are leading change and not just benefiting from it. That is the kind of future that ACTIVATE is working towards.

When an autistic person gains these vital self-advocacy skills, they are able to stand up for their needs. They are able to put pressure on the systems that are tilted against them, and they are able to make changes to their own local context.

I also believe that advocacy and this kind of self-confidence is infectious. It's contagious. Me personally, as an activist, when I see someone who is an experienced activist being really passionate, advocating for someone, that makes me want to do the same thing. It makes me want to advocate for myself and other people, it is so inspiring!

If you want to contact the project and learn more about it, please write to activate@gov.mt 

Tokyo Attard

Tokyo Attard from Malta, is part of the team working on the project ACTIVATE, an Erasmus+ Youth, Key Action 2 project, that is addressing the underrepresentation of autistic young people in advocacy, policymaking, and civic engagement.