Alistair de Gaetano is Administrator within the Maltese Government’s Directorate for Disability Issues (DDI), and Chairperson of Malta's Autism Advisory Council. He worked on setting up both the Directorate and the Council, and eventually on developing key legislation, strategies, policy, and actions to reform and strengthen the Maltese disability and autism sectors.
Alistair represented Malta at a number of high-level meetings and negotiations, including at the UN and EU levels. He was Vice-Chair of the Social Questions Working Party on the European Accessibility Act, during the country’s 2017 EU Presidency.
He is a warranted lawyer, having studied in Malta, Maastricht and Dublin, where he was awarded a PhD by Trinity College, after defending a dissertation on the denial of rights to autistic people.
Alistair was previously involved in disability and autism-related activism and outreach, including as a co-founder of EUCAP, the European Council of Autistic People. He was also most recently a member of the Scientific Committee for the 2025 Autism-Europe Congress.
