Federação Portuguesa de Autismo

Extended name: FPDA – Federação Portuguesa de Autismo
Country: Portugal
Website: https://fpda.pt/
Reference person: Isabel Cottinelli Telmo
Email of the reference person: fpda@fpda.pt

FPDA – Federação Portuguesa de Autismo, non-profit NGOPD (Non-Governmental Organization for People with Disabilities) registered nº48 under the Portuguese law. It includes 13 NGOs all over the country including Azores and Madeira. FPDA was founded in 2003, replacing a NGO founded 1971. The member associations of FPDA are independent non-profit NGOs working together in projects, campaigns and other activities. Their objectives, values and principles: Inclusion, Non-discrimination, Solidarity, Association, and Partnership. They support about 3.000 persons with autism and their families, promoting services.

About Federação Portuguesa de Autismo

The mission of FPDA is to fight for the rights of people with autism and their families and represent its member associations near national and international organizations.

Objectives: to support research on the autistic spectrum disorders; to promote the education and training of the persons with autism to their full inclusion in society; to give support and training to families; to improve the quality of life of persons with autism through the access to a proper diagnosis, early intervention, inclusive schooling and education all through their lives and to promote employment and access to an adequate housing. To reach these objectives FPDA organizes services and promotes national and international projects of common interest to its associated members. FPDA has partnerships with Universities and is a member of the Council of Administration of Autism-Europe, Vice-president (18 years).

The President of FPDA, representing the federation, is a member of the Commission to accompany and evaluate the Inclusion in the Portuguese Schools (Ministry of Education), a member of the City Council of Lisbon for the Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities and a member of the Observatory for Disability and Human Rights. FPDA follows the Charter for People with autism approved by the European Parliament (1996) and also the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities.

FPDA is accredited through ISO 9001:2015.

Staff

Isabel Cottinelli Telmo
Isabel Cottinelli Telmo

Role: President of FPDA
Country: Portugal
Mail: i.cottinelli@sapo.pt

Isabel Cottinelli Telmo, PhD in Architecture, University of Lisbon, Master of Arts in Education, Boston University. University professor: Module on Autism (post-graduation courses) in University of Azores (Portugal) and in Master Courses in University of Porto, Escola Superior de Educação (Instituto Politécnico de Setúbal). Lectures in New York University, France (Ministry of Education), UK, Italy, Spain and Portugal. President of FPDA- Federação Portuguesa de Autismo (from 2003). Coordination of ERASMUS + Granted project IVEA (2018). Past President of APPDA-Lisboa (1984-2012). Vice-president of Autism-Europe for 18 years having coordinated European projects in the scope of Helios, HORIZON, Lifelong Learning, Prince, Daphne, Socrates-Grundtvig, Progress. Research projects in Education: Last project in partnership with Institute for Social and Political Studies (ESE) – A study that involved 2.500 families of children and adolescents with autism: Quality of life of the families with children and adolescents with ASD; Diagnosis and Social and Economic Impacts (2014)
Publications:Research articles and books. Editor of Link Magazine (18 years) and Autism: Research and Practice (Sage publications) for 2 years.Decoration by the President of Portuguese Republic and Medal of Merit by City Council of Lisboa
Isabel speaks Portuguese, English and French.

Teresa Morgado
Teresa Morgado

Role: Educational Psychologist
Country: Portugal
Mail: Fpda.projetos@gmail.com

Teresa Morgado, Educational Psychologist, ISPA – Instituto Superior de Psicologia Aplicada, Lisbon. Internship in Early Intervention, in CEACF – Centro de Estudo e Apoio À Criança e Família.
Worked for Associação Pais-em-Rede, an NGOPD, doing counselling and training (social and professional inclusion) with young adults with disabilities and their parents. Teresa joined the FPDA-Federação Portuguesa de Autismo em 2018 to work mainly in the Portuguese and European projects for the Employment of people with autism.
She organised the courses for young people with autism alongside with the partners of IVEA project (Innovative Vocational Education for Autism); helped to find the appropriate internship for each youngster and supported them during Covid-19 lockdown and after that. Teresa also advised the parents and trained stakeholders’ human resources. Teresa speaks Portuguese and English.

Ricardo Manuel De Oliveira Niza
Ricardo Manuel De Oliveira Niza

Role: Educational Psychologist
Country: Portugal
Mail: ricardoniza@gmail.com

Ricardo joined FPDA in 2019. He collaborates in several national and international ongoing projects, namely 3 projects from the National Institute for Rehabilitation, Portugal, as well as the Erasmus+ projects, IVEA- Innovative Vocational Education for Autism and IPA2 – Improving school transitions.
Previously Ricardo worked for the National Autistic Society at Sybil Elgar School (London), supporting young autistic adults on a 1 to 1 and group basis. He worked for Barnardo’s Scotland (Inverness), at Northern Lights therapeutic unit, where he was responsible for the intervention strategies with young residents on the Autistic Spectrum. He worked for Casa Pia public institution (Lisbon) at S. Marçal residential home, as a manager, supporting deaf children and young adults with special educational needs.
He holds a Master in Social Psychology by Instituto Superior de Psicologia Aplicada (Lisbon), a Postgraduate Qualification in Clinical and Health Psychology and a Postgraduate Qualification in Sports Psychology and Physical Activity. He is PECS and Makaton trained (in the UK).
Ricardo speaks Portuguese, English, Spanish and LGP (Portuguese sign language).

Sandra Nunes
Sandra Nunes

Role: Media Coordinator
Country: Portugal
Mail:

Graduated in Psychomotor Rehabilitation, Faculty of Human Motricity, University of Lisbon. Curricular internship in the field of intellectual and developmental difficulties, in Quinta Essência Institution.
Since 2008-area of Child Development -intervention in Specific Learning Difficulties and Disorders of the Spectrum of Autism. She worked for APPDA-Lisboa in the Resource Center for Inclusion (CRI) in schools with students on Autism Spectrum Disorder and at the Center for Occupational Activities with young people and adults with Autism (2016 – 2019). Sandra joined FPDA-Federação Portuguesa de Autismo team in 2019. She is working in Portuguese and European projects of FPDA and is in charge of all the media platforms of the Federation.
Sandra also took care of the online Courses IPA + (Inclusive People with Autism in Europe) and after request they are in its 3rd edition.
Sandra speaks Portuguese and English .

Lucília Lampreia
Lucília Lampreia

Role: Administration
Country: Portugal
Mail: fpda@fpda.pt</p

Lucília has been working in FPDA- Federação Portuguesa de Autismo since 2016 and she is the administrative responsible for the management of the technical files of FPDA national and international projects. She prepares all the documents for the accountant and organizes the logistics of all the Seminars and Workshops. Lucilia organizes the information from the site and phone calls and prepares the answers for people in the Spectrum of Autism and their families and other interested people. In 2010 Lucília started to work in APPDA-Lisboa, a federate member of FPDA, as a mother of a young person with autism and a volunteer. She became a member of the Board of Directors in 2016 and left in 2019 to go to FPDA. Previously she had been a volunteer in a Juvenile Library in Beja, her home town. She attended short time courses in balance sheet accountant and analysis accounting.