Volunteering and Youth Voice | Impact Case Study

From dropping out at 15 to leading youth voice at 18

How a neuro-affirming volunteering pathway turned a young person the education system had lost into a confident advocate, project lead, and future social-policy professional.

In brief

Isla left school at 15 after years of struggling in an environment that did not support her neurodivergence, and received no further support. After joining Autistic Girls Network as a volunteer, she progressed onto our Youth Advisory Board and into a volunteer Support Assistant role. She now supports a national project connecting our in-person groups for autistic young people, is building a youth-voice newsletter shaped by young people themselves, and starts a sociology degree this September with the goal of working in social policy. Her words: volunteering with AGN has been “revolutionary” and “life-changing.”

The need we address

Autistic girls and gender-diverse young people are routinely missed, misread, and let down by the systems meant to support them. Many mask their distress for years, are told they are simply “anxious” or “manipulative,” and eventually reach crisis. When they fall out of education, support too often falls away with them, leaving capable young people isolated at exactly the point they most need connection and purpose.

Isla’s experience is typical of the young people we exist for. She is an 18-year-old AuDHDer, a physically disabled young adult carer with lived experience of mental illness.

As she put it:

At the age of 15, I dropped out of school due to having struggled for a very long time in an environment that wasn’t supportive of my neurodivergence. After leaving school and not receiving any support, I threw myself into voluntary work and it was revolutionary for me.

What we did

AGN offered Isla a genuinely neuro-affirming volunteering pathway, not a one-off task but a route to grow. We welcomed her onto our Youth Advisory Board, then into the role of Support Assistant, trusting her with real responsibility and amplifying her work through our national platform and reach.

We backed her ideas rather than slotting her into ours. Isla is now supporting a project to connect AGN’s in-person support groups for autistic young people aged 13 to 18, and creating a newsletter that lets groups share what they have been doing and that puts youth voice at its centre. Crucially, the project is designed to be continually shaped by young people themselves.

The difference, in her words, was being met as she is:

I have felt listened to, respected, and valued. I feel that my struggles are recognised and accommodated without a fight, and my strengths are celebrated. I don’t feel pressure to fit myself into a neurotypical mould, and this allows me to flourish.

Outcomes

Confidence

Moved from leaving education without support to supporting a national project and taking on a key volunteer role within the charity.

Community

Found belonging and purpose, and is now building that same sense of connection for other isolated autistic young people.

Youth voice

Creating a newsletter hub that amplifies marginalised young people’s voices and is shaped by young people themselves.

Progression

Starts a sociology degree this September, with the aim of working in social policy and advocating for vulnerable young people.

Real experience

Gained meaningful work experience and skills through a supported, accommodating environment rather than a conventional setting.

Volunteering makes you more confident and gives you a community and a purpose. It has changed my life and I know it can do the same for you.

Isla (she/they), AGN Youth Advisory Board and Support Assistant

Why this matters for funders

Isla’s story is not a happy accident. It is what a neurodivergent-led, neuro-affirming model produces when it is properly resourced. The same approach that re-engaged Isla is the approach that, across AGN, helps non-speaking young people find their voice, helps isolated young people make their first friendships, and helps families move from crisis to advocacy.

Investment in AGN does three things at once. It transforms the trajectory of individual young people the system has written off. It builds youth-led infrastructure, such as Isla’s newsletter, that strengthens our national network of groups and reaches more families. And it develops the next generation of neurodivergent advocates and professionals, like Isla, who will go on to change the very systems that failed them. We currently run 20 face-to-face groups around the country and have the demand and the model to run many more. Funding is the constraint, not capability.