AN AWARD-WINNING autism advocate is speaking out about her condition in support of a Christchurch charity.

Joely Williams, 26, has teamed up with Autism Wessex to raise awareness of its Accept My Autism Campaign inviting people with the condition to share their thoughts on what others can do to create a community that is open and accepting.

In 2016 Joely won the World Community Achievement Award and was honoured with a World Ambassador Award at the ANCA World Autism Festival in Vancouver, Canada for her work.

She said: "“Acceptance is striving to understand; acceptance is not forcing autistic people to hide their autism, or mask it to fit in, to be 'normal'. It’s moving past fears and perceptions of what autism is, always challenging views and learning from as many different perspectives as possible because every person is different.

"Ultimately, autism acceptance says that the tragedy would be trying to make me be any other way than unashamedly myself. Different is not less.”

Autism Wessex is the regional charity that provides specialist support to anyone affected by autism across Dorset, Hampshire, Wiltshire and Somerset.

Siún Cranny, CEO of Autism Wessex, said; “Joely is an inspirational young woman.

"We hope that by sharing her journey and her thoughts on autism acceptance that we can encourage people to think differently about what it means to have autism.

"We’d love for people to get involved in our Accept My Autism campaign this April by sharing thoughts on what we can all do to make our communities more open and accepting of autism."

Visit autismwessex.org.uk/acceptmyautism to find out more about getting involved in Autism Wessex’s Accept My Autism campaign this April.