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What is PDA?

PDA (Pathological Demand Avoidance) is widely understood to be a profile of autism. One of the most well-known features of PDA is demand avoidance, which is where a person finds it hard to manage everyday tasks or demands, even those they want or need to do.

Without understanding and support, PDA can have a profound impact on people’s lives. Our mission is to make life easier by building awareness and understanding of PDA, and providing information, training, and personalised support to everyone to needs it.

This animation – coproduced with PDAers – aims to explain what PDA feels like.

What we do

At the PDA Society, our mission is to improve the lives of PDA children, PDA adults and their families. We are working hard to build awareness and understanding around PDA and demand avoidance so that everyone can get the understanding and support they need to thrive.

Practical information

To help you learn more about PDA and make informed decisions.

Training and consultancy

For PDAers, families, professionals and workplaces.

Personalised support

Through our peer support service and support groups.

Research and guidance

To inform policy and professional
practice.

Awareness and advocacy

To increase understanding around the impact of PDA.

Working in partnership

To highlight the needs of PDAers and their families.

Our impact

PDA can have a profound effect on people’s lives, making everyday tasks impossible. It can also be harder to get an autism diagnosis or any meaningful support due to how PDA presents. Without the right support, many people find themselves unable to achieve their potential, trapped in lives that are restricted and deeply unhappy.

Our small team works tirelessly to raise awareness, create resources and deliver training to PDA adults, parents and professionals who support PDA autistic people. Following the principle of ‘nothing about us without us’, we support the creation of new research into PDA and create safe digital spaces to grow and consult with the PDA community.

Each year, over a million people access information about PDA on our website, and three thousand receive direct support from our team. We are one of the only places in the UK to access free, personalised support and information about PDA through our support service – which many people have told us was a lifeline for them.

In 2023-24, 96% of the people who responded to our survey after using our support service told us they found this helpful. 68% said their quality of life had improved.

Anika

“I am so grateful for the connection and the information shared. The reassurance of knowing my concerns and questions were explained and answered gave me valuable insight. Things became clearer – it was a light bulb moment! I will always be sharing my praise to others out there for the valuable service of PDA Society UK. Thank you for restoring my hope.”

Zara

“Having someone respond with lived experience of our issue was really powerful. It made us feel less alone. The suggestions were insightful – you really don’t get this level of understanding about PDA from other sources. I can’t stress highly enough how valuable this service is.”

Charlie

“I am so grateful for the PDA Society – it helped me when I was at my lowest and I felt so lost and didn’t know how to help my daughter. It gave me reassurance that I wasn’t alone and helped me to understand my daughter’s behaviours so much more.”

Make a donation

More than a quarter of PDA adults in our community research told us they don’t have anywhere to turn for support when they need it. For some people, this can mean the difference between managing everyday tasks like shopping, making a meal, getting to a work meeting – or not leaving the house at all.

Your donation can make a difference today. With your support, we can ensure people feel less alone by providing information, training and support that meets their needs.

As a small charity with no government funding we can only help people like Anika, Zara and Charlie thanks to the generosity of people like you.

Thank you for your support!