Media Release: SWAN’s new ‘Include Me’ project
MEDIA RELEASE
For immediate release: 7 November 2025
Calmer care: SWAN’s Include Me teaches mainstream supports and services how to welcome neurodivergent people
In the hospital waiting room, the lights are too bright, the room is too crowded, and the reception desk is a blur of motion. For many neurodivergent people, that’s where the visit to the emergency department ends. South West Autism Network (SWAN) is launching Include Me, a disability-led program that teaches professionals how to make services easier to use – starting with the places where stress hits first, like schools, justice environments and healthcare waiting rooms. The work is funded through the Australian Government’s Inclusion & Accessibility Fund and runs over two years to mid-2027.
SWAN Chief Executive Officer Nick Avery says it’s about putting evidence-based accessibility into everyday practice. “When someone walks into outpatients, reception and triage should feel calm and clear. We want to help professional staff everywhere understand how to make simple, practical changes that make it easier for neurodivergent people to learn, work, stay, be seen or get care.”
Project manager Samantha Connor AM says the training is practical and led by people with lived experience. “We’re educating professionals about what really helps – clear information at the front desk, information in advance, fewer visual distractions where people need to focus, and time to process questions.” Guidance is informed by the UK PAS 6463 neurodiversity design standard, which points to simple, evidence-based measures such as reducing ‘visual noise’, choosing the right lights, colours and surfaces, and easing transitions between bright and dim areas so people aren’t hit with sensory shock.
Over the life of the project SWAN will work with services across health, education, justice, emergency and community settings in Western Australia, with national access to resources online. The team will build a tiered recognition pathway – Bronze, Silver and Gold – so clinics and agencies can show progress against clear, practical standards, while keeping the focus on real world experience.
As part of the training, Include Me helps services create short social stories and video tours so people can see what to expect before they arrive – from the car park to the reception desk – via a simple QR code on an appointment reminder. It’s a small step that can lower anxiety enough for a person to stay and be seen.
SWAN is a south west WA-based Disabled People’s Organisation with deep regional roots; more than half of its Board and staff are people with disability, and it has been running peer-led training and community program since 2009. That leadership is built into Include Me from the start.
SWAN staff plan to engage around 30 services, train about 100 staff, publish new pre-visit tools and support schools, workplaces, businesses, clinics and agencies to achieve Bronze, Silver and Gold recognition, checked by pre- and post-training surveys and lived experience evaluation.
Nick Avery says that it’s more important than ever to make sure that autistic and neurodivergent people can access the support they need from mainstream services.
“With hundreds of people being removed from the NDIS every week, there are a lot of gaps for people with disability,” she says.
“This funding initiative is critically important to make sure that autistic and neurodivergent people can be part of everyday life in the same way as other Australians.”
For inquiries about the program, contact SWAN at info@swanautism.org.au.
Funding acknowledgement:
Inclusion and Accessibility Fund – an Australian Government initiative.
Media enquiries:
Samantha Connor AM, Project Manager – Include Me | sam@swanautism.org.au
Nick Avery, Chief Executive Officer, SWAN | 0476 315 694 | nick@swanautism.org.au
About SWAN: South West Autism Network Inc. is a disability-led organisation based in WA’s South West. SWAN delivers advocacy services, peer-led support, training and codesigned projects.
