Foundational Homes, Delivering Sustainable Support Solutions
Autistic Haus is an innovative charity creating accessible, supported homes specifically for autistic adults, on evidence-based design principles.
Independently supplementing national support framework and providing a world-first housing model designed to optimise support delivery and outcomes for autistic adults.
Evidence Based | Autistic Led | Sustainability Values
About Our Founder
Absence leads by example, out loud.
Their story starts in a system with no answers, and ends with them building the one that should have existed all along. Absence was medicated for depression before they were even a teenager, alongside undiagnosed autism. It was the 90s. The traits were obvious. Specialists were told. Still, nothing was offered.
By 16, with no support ever reaching them, they had left school.
One thing cut through it all: time spent with their Nan, a boardinghouse mother at their school. She showed Absence what shared living could look like when it was done properly: the right resources, real oversight, and genuine warmth.
That memory became a seed.
Left to find their own way, Absence left home at 16 and found real friendship for the first time among other insecurely housed young people. It was survival before it was safety, and the years that followed nearly broke them.
In their early twenties, a thread led Absence into a room with renowned autism specialist Dr Tony Attwood.
Everything changed. He made sure they finally received the support they should have had over a decade earlier. Absence didn't waste it.
What followed was more than ten years of deliberate, relentless progress, built around one conviction:
Meet autistic people's needs first, without conditions, and outcomes will follow.
Dr Attwood once described Absence as “one of the ones I admire the most.” High praise, and hard-earned.
With the right support, including treatment for autistic catatonia and unreliable speech, Absence experienced a remarkable transformation in both their health and sense of purpose.
Through their own experiences, they discovered a talent for translating complex autism research into practical solutions that improve everyday life.
After studying Business in Design, Absence developed two initiatives: Autistic HAUS, a pilot housing model designed for the autistic community, and the Autistic Accessibility Design Manual, which provides the research and evidence behind it.
The inspiration for these projects reaches back generations. Absence's Quaker ancestors built asylums that challenged the conventions of their time, prioritising nature, accessibility and human dignity.
Following those same principles, Absence began by testing their approach on themselves.
The results were significant: a sustained 25kg weight loss, improved health stability and the capacity to take on the demanding process of registering a charity.
They then applied these principles through a reciprocal care arrangement with another autistic person whose needs and presentation were almost the opposite of their own. This approach also produced positive outcomes, including healthy weight gain and improved self-regulation.
These experiences reinforced a simple philosophy:
Find what works. Then give it back to the community.
For more than a decade, Absence has turned the solutions they developed through personal experience into pathways that support other autistic people and their families. But as two growing crises began to collide, their vision became more urgent.
Accessing NDIS support was becoming increasingly difficult, while Australia's housing crisis was pushing disabled and marginalised people further away from safe, affordable and sustainable homes. Rather than treating these as separate problems, Absence set out to develop a model that could address both.
The goal is simple: to ensure others don't have to endure the same struggles just to have their needs recognised, their voices heard and their dignity respected.
A Different Approach to Autistic Housing
Inclusive Living
A village designed to accommodate the full spectrum of autistic needs, abilities and support levels
Accessible Housing
Safe, sustainable homes regardless of access to NDIS or other support systems
Independence & Support
Bridging the gap between institutional care and independent living
Research-Led Design
Combining scientific evidence with real-world autistic experiences
Community Ownership
Putting autistic people at the center of decisions, not just including them in the process
Co-Designed Solutions
Built alongside autistic people, rather than imposing solutions on them