Charity targets future MSPs

The charity has launched a campaign called I’m One to raise awareness of the condition among candidates in the Scottish Parliament Election. It hopes autistic people and their families in the Borders will join in by organising coffee mornings with their candidates.

Jenny Paterson, director of The National Autistic Society Scotland, said: “One in 100 people are autistic. We want autistic people in the Borders to meet their local candidates, say ‘I’m One’ and tell them what life is like in the constituency they want to represent.

“Our candidate coffee mornings are designed to be informal and easy to organise.”

Vickie Sutherland organised a coffee morning last year. She said: “I hadn’t organised anything for politicians before, but I thought that having a coffee morning would be a good opportunity to start building relationships with decision-makers in our area.”

To find out more about campaign, and for advice on holding your own candidate coffee morning, please visit autism.org.uk/get-involved/campaign/scotland.