The 2nd April will see us celebrate world autism awareness day. This will be the ninth annual World Autism Awareness day. Every year, autism organisations around the world celebrate the day with unique fundraising and awareness events.
To help prepare for this day we wanted to share two videos which give wonderful accounts of what it is like to live on different sides of the autism spectrum.
The first video is by a woman called Amanda Baggs. Amanda presents as having profound autism and learning disabilities. However, her carers have found a communication device which she is able to use to put across all of her views. What she communicates in the video is not only insightful but beautiful and helps you realise the understanding and capabilities of all people with autism. The first half of the video is Amanda interacting with her environment. The second half of the video is an "interpretation" of her interactions where she eloquently describes her actions and her experience of living with autism. You can watch it by clicking here.
The second video is of a man called Dean Beadle who has Asperger's Syndrome. Dean is an acclaimed speaker and successful journalist. The vide is during a talk to autism Cymru's 4th annual conference in 2011. Dean describes growing up with autism and the limitations that others have put on him (and he on himself) throughout his life. He also talks about some of his achievements and how he has got over some of the hurdles that having autism has put in front of him. HIs talk is interesting and extremely witty! The video can be watched by clicking here. Dean has very kindly agreed to come and deliver a three hour training session for staff and parents on our team training day in June. This will be held across the road at the salvation army hall from 1pm until 3pm. If you would like to attend this event, get in touch with Pete Corkhill. Dean comes highly, highly recommended and we urge as many of you as possible to attend this event. We are sorry to those parents who have got in touch and asked us to start scheduling this sessions outside of normal office hours, but this just isn't possible with our shift rota. We hope that by giving you 3 months notice, those parents with work commitments might be able to arrange some time off to attend.
April will also see the play "a curious incident of the dog in the night time" come to Nottingham. The play tells the story of Christopher, a fifteen year old boy with autism with an exceptional brain, who is exceptionally gifted at mathematics, but finds great difficulty in every day life. The play is based on the award winning book by Mark Haddon where he tries to work out who killed a neighbours dog. We highly recommend anyone interested in autism to go to this play. It is exceptionally put together and delivers a fantastic portrayal of the award winning book. Tickets can be booked here.
Unit 1 Garden Gets a Makeover
We would like to apologise to all the young people who have been with us for the past week and unable to access the garden on unit 1. This is due to us having the turf stripped and re-laid with artificial grass.
We can say that the space is looking fantastic for the work that has been completed so far and we are really excited about being able to re-open the area for the young people. The size of the trees in unit 1 garden means that grass will not grow on the land meaning we have had to have this turf laid. The garden is due to be reopened by the end of this week. Thank you to P.G. Evans landscaping for completing the works to such a high standard.
We can also confirm that this area of Crocus Fields will be where the pod is installed as and when final payment is made. As it stands we will be completing the purchase of the pod on the 20th March, after which we can arrange for the groundwork's to begin.
One Final Call for Ideas
We will be finalising our business plan for the year ahead in addition to our proving outcomes goals. We would very much like some ideas from families and children at how we can improve and develop as a service. We have not yet had any families get in touch so can we urge you to get in touch with us.