Life is the first ever recipient of the Responsible and Responsive Award. The Award recognises the partnership between Life and the North East Autism Society (NEAS) and their online support to the autistic community during the Covid period. What started as a small Facebook group involving just 6 families, grew into to a mass online programme with an audience of over 13,000.

Life worked with colleagues from NEAS to create short videos showing accessible science demonstrations. As interest grew, this developed into a sustained programme of videos.

David Jones, Community Liaison Manager at Life, received the award at a ceremony attended by over 1500 people.

The partnership between Life and NEAS began in 2018 and was supported initially through the Inspiring Science Fund, an initiative of the UK Government. Life began working with a small group of 10 families and the science centre quickly became a hub for a support group for children and parents. Young people helped to shape the centre layout and the design of new exhibits. They helped in the planning and delivery of Relaxed Sunday Sessions and helped create a range of materials. In 2021, Life was presented with the Gold Award for Autism Acceptance.

John Phillipson, Chief Executive of NEAS said: “It’s brilliant to work with people who are committed to making a positive difference to the lives of autistic people. We could never have imagined where the journey would take us when we started out four years ago.”