Creating a Mission Statement or Mandate
I sent a similar message to the non-profit group yesterday but I thought I'd post it here in case anyone would like to contribute who hasn't joined the non-profit board yet.
The first things we need to do are figure out the point of our group and then capture that in our mandate or mission statement.
When we first discussed forming the non-profit we talked about autistic adults and autistic seniors who are not currently supported, those who would be considered 'high functioning' or 'low support needs' although we also acknowledged those terms aren't valid as people can move from high to low depending on various factors.
Since then we have also discussed supporting all autistic people including children and also educating parents of autistic children (parents who are presumed to be non-autistic)
We need to determine who we'd like to serve, what their unmet needs are and how we could help fulfill those needs. The documentation I have looked at recommends not competing with existing non-profits for the same clients but instead joining them.
Once we know who our target group is we can develop our mission statement or mandate. I have a draft statement I made by adding to our existing mandate, just as a starting point for editing, rewriting, etc.
The overall mandate/mission of PEI Autistic Adults is to be a community of autistic adults and autistic seniors...to share, accept, and support each other with a bit of celebration and promotion of the positive aspects of autism. Through our non-profit, we contribute to autistic people having an equal opportunity to achieve and maintain the best possible well-being throughout their lifetime. Our focus will be on autistic people who are not currently supported by any other group.
I'm using the word well-being as it includes "having good mental health, high life satisfaction, a sense of meaning or purpose, and the ability to manage stress." But that might make it too vague. Also, It's a little clunky so I hope people will help rewrite it. And if the target group changes it will have to change too.
Comments would be great even if you're not in the non-profit group.
I just wanted to add a bit more to the mission statement and clarify what I was saying above.
The overall mandate/mission of PEI Autistic Adults is to be a community of autistic adults and autistic seniors...to share, accept, and support each other with a bit of celebration and promotion of the positive aspects of autism. With our non-profit, we will promote the acceptance and consideration of autistic people in all areas of society and contribute to autistic people having an equal opportunity to achieve and maintain the best possible well-being throughout their lifetime.
The first sentence is from our existing mandate and the second sentence covers awareness, acceptance, and advocacy from two angles - society's awareness & acceptance of us and our awareness & acceptance of ourselves. The first part would require programs promoting acceptance and consideration for the people who deal with groups of people in any capacity such as employers, medical services, police services, senior and assisted living facilities, etc., and educational advertising campaigns to deal with the stigma and lack of acceptance from the general public.
For "our awareness & acceptance of ourselves": autistic people frequently develop depression, anxiety, social anxiety and other conditions from trying to exist in a world that isn't designed for them. Few autistic people would be described as having good mental health, high life satisfaction, a sense of meaning or purpose, and the ability to manage stress, which we deserve like everyone else. Listening to the podcast Jane shared recently (the trouble with Temple) brought home to me that any therapy offered to an autistic individual seems to focus on creating an acceptable version of yourself so you can get a job or education instead of how to be the best version of yourself which is the type of therapy offered to non-autistic people. Particularly when the current programs to 'fix' autistic people so they can function better for the capitalist society can cause mental health issues. I believe people with well-being as described above will contribute positively to society in their own ways.
I recently saw this https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/prince-edward-island/pei-artists-well-being-1.6842720 regarding Creative P.E.I. receiving a three-year grant for $287,550 from the P.E.I. Alliance for Mental Well-Being to hire peer-support workers and create an accessible and affordable counselling service that caters specifically to Island artists. I would like us to create and get funding for something like that for autistic adults and autistic seniors on PEI. I think there would be a reciprocal benefit to the gov't because people with good mental health, high life satisfaction, a sense of meaning or purpose, and the ability to manage stress can get their own jobs, start their own businesses, be happy in retirement, develop fewer physical/mental health issues, and overall cost the gov't less money.
Hopefully, that clarifies things somewhat but I'd still really like some feedback, suggestions, editing, rewrites etc because this is just a draft out of my head and I know everyone else has much to contribute to it. Comments would be great even if you're not in the non-profit group.