Child Identity & self-advocacy
Get involved
Co-design resources that help kids feel confident
You’re invited to step into the Great Time Machine Experiment. Send a message to your younger self and help kids understand who they are!
Have you ever wished you knew more about yourself when you were younger? When children feel confident in who they are and learn how to express themselves respectfully, they are more empowered to reach their goals. That’s why we’re inviting you to help us learn more about identity and self-advocacy.
Identity and self-advocacy
A healthy identity and self-advocacy skills are critical protective factors for all children – especially disabled and neurodivergent children who often face stigma, exclusion, and reduced autonomy. Supporting identity development and respectful self-advocacy builds confidence, wellbeing, and inclusion. This project aims to help children feel confident in who they are, express themselves respectfully, and contribute to communities that value diversity.
Improve life outcomes
We want to help children gain this knowledge from a young age, so they can start to come up with their own magic formula for life. With a healthy sense of self, and skills to speak up for themselves respectfully, children can feel more connected to self and their communities, experience better learning, mental health, and career outcomes.
What are we doing?
We are co-designing practical inclusive identity and self-advocacy resources for children and the adults who support them.
- Flexible digital modules.
- Individual, small group and classroom use.
- Led by educators, clinicians and adult mentors.
- Designed for broad accessibility and delivery in community at scale.
Co-design with direct impact
We are already bringing our co-design work to life. We partnered with Aspect South East Sydney School to deliver the first Aspect Self-Discovery Camp – a two-day experience for 16 autistic students. This event explored how children can be supported to understand their identity, express themselves confidently, and feel proud of who they are.
Who's Involved?
This project is delivered by Social Science Translated (SST), a neurodiverse team, and subsidiary of Autism CRC. Our participatory approach is ensuring we are grounded in lived experience, practical knowledge, and what matters most to children and their communities.
- Workshops with children to shape ideas and content.
- Parent and professional input surveys, discussions, and workshops.
- Iterative refinement based on lived experience and professional insights.
- Piloting in real-world settings for accessibility, engagement, and impact.
- Ongoing evaluation with self-report and observation.
“Too many neurodivergent children grow up feeling misunderstood. We’re changing that”
We are proudly delivering Peer Support and Capacity Building Grant projects from Australia’s NDIS to create resources for children with disability.
Once co-designed with children, families, and professionals, these accessible and scalable modules can be used for individuals, small groups, and classrooms — in person or digitally.
They will be led by mentors with lived experience, clinicians, or educators. Importantly, they will be grounded in lived experience, clinical insight, and research.
Stay up to date
Want to hear more? Sign up for regular email updates throughout the project and be the first to hear how the resources are evolving.
Identity Project Mailing List
Help us make a bigger impact
Help us support kids to respectfully say, “This is who I am, and this is what I need.” All you need to do is imagine you could talk to your younger self and tell us what you’d say!
You’re invited to step into the Great Time Machine Experiment.
By sharing your thoughts, you can help us make the resources impactful and easy to use.