Who they are
The Nederlandse Vereniging voor Autisme — Dutch Autism Association — is the national advocacy and information organisation for autistic people and their families in the Netherlands. It is a membership-based vereniging and has existed for decades as the primary voice for autism in Dutch public and policy discussion.
Focus areas
- National advocacy and policy engagement on autism-related issues
- Public information and knowledge dissemination
- Support for autistic people, families, and professionals
- Collaboration with research institutes and care providers
- Co-stewardship of the Nederlands Autisme Register (NAR), together with Vrije Universiteit
Relationship to this wiki
NVA holds an important historical relationship with the knowledge that this wiki builds on.
NVA is the current steward of sensonate.nl. Since the platform’s April 2020 launch, the site has been maintained by NVA with ongoing support from the Autisme Fonds and the Academische Werkplaats Autisme. Most of the Dutch-language content that this wiki is ingesting was written, edited, or at least approved by NVA.
Notable outputs
- sensonate.nl (ongoing) — co-maintained with the Autisme Fonds and the Academische Werkplaats Autisme
- Nederlands Autisme Register (NAR) — longitudinal research cohort, co-run with Vrije Universiteit. Noted in the 2018 SGL synthesis as currently under-representing autistic people with intellectual disability, particularly at IQ <56. SGL started a campaign from within NVA to improve NAR coverage of this group.
- National policy positions on autism care, education, and employment
Key people (public roles only)
- Karol Henke — director 2019 onwards, until moving to lead Sensonate at Bruggenmakers
Open questions for a future curator
- How does NVA’s work relate to this wiki’s focus? Is there overlap, clean division of labour, or potential for collaboration?
Last reviewed
2026-04-12. Relationship structure to verify with Karol Henke in person before any public-facing wiki content asserts the institutional position.