Andi and his husband Darren are parents to two children by adoption. Their children are ages 6 and 3. You can currently hear Andi on the ‘My Two Dads Adoption Podcast’.

Andi is also the Safeguarding Lead for the Autism Allotments project.

Angus is a professional magician and member of The Magic Circle. He took part in Autism’s Got Talent 2016 as the first young magician on the show. He felt overwhelmed that day but was welcomed into the very special AKO family and loved every minute.

He is now very much at ease on stage, recently performing his own show, “Naughty or Neurodiverse”, for an entire run at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2024, where the charity so close to his heart got a mention at every single show!

Angus immediately felt a sense of belonging when he met Anna, her fantastic team, the other performers, and their families in 2016. He will be forever grateful to the charity.

He runs magic workshops for schools and companies for team building events and delivers talks about autism and ADHD to corporations and schools, where he shares the work of AKO.

Angus is honoured to become a charity champion for AKO and is passionate about raising awareness for autism and neurodiversity. He has remained close to Anna and the AKO family for the last 9 years, performing at various charity events and entertaining with close-up magic at the annual Autism Hero Awards. He is looking forward to adding magic to many more events for the charity.

I have worked in Welfare Rights for over 30 years, with experience in Councils, NHS, and charities, and now as a co-founder of a Community Interest Group called DAWN (Disability Advice and Welfare Network).

I am the author of the Autism Passport and co-producer of the Autism Education Leavers Passport. The Autism Passport has been translated into different languages and is a valuable resource for the autistic community, even in war-torn areas.

In my 50s, I was diagnosed as autistic, and I am also a parent to three autistic children.

Dawn Avery is part of the first charity champion couples and covers the Essex region.

Dawn wrote From a tear to here – an Autism family’s journey, which tells the story of her family’s pathway living with autism. All proceeds will go to Anna Kennedy Online!

After Jo’s daughter Lauren took part in Autism’s Got Talent in 2014, she quickly became very aware of how much AKO helped people and started helping out at various events and loved seeing the joy these experiences brought to people.

My greatest achievement within the charity was being responsible alongside Anna for the release of our first charity album. This was launched at London’s Hard Rock Cafe and the end result was amazing and one of the highs of my life.

When you see me you will always see my girl Lauren (patron of AKO) and my little girl Lucy (AKO’s mascot).

Keith is the other part of the Essex charity champion couple. Keith and Dawn’s son Aston was offered to be an Ambassador for Anna Kennedy Online, his Autistic & Proud fundraisers were then made for the charity.

We are always looking for other ideas to raise funds but more importantly autism awareness in the Essex area.

I am honoured to be selected as a Charity Champion for the Anna Kennedy Online Charity and have supported the Charity since 2018. I have attended charity events that mark amazing people within the community and celebrate talents of people living with Autism.

I am very happy to be welcomed into the AKO family as it’s made up of a very special group of people who are committed to opening doors for Autistic People.

I am Rich from Milton Keynes, I am a husband and father and I am on the autism spectrum. This has been only a recent diagnosis, coming in adult life after a few years of thinking that this could be the case.

I have two sons and my youngest son is also on the autism spectrum and I started to think about how he can be understood and how he can understand the world better.

I want to continue to support Anna Kennedy Online and help raise awareness, acceptance and support inclusion of autism in work and schools.