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| George Washington Primary School pupils |
George
Washington Primary School has joined a nationwide campaign to raise
awareness of the challenges faced by autistic children, by launching the
innovative ‘Bubble
Day’ pack in Sunderland.
Autism-in-Mind
(AIM) – the Sunderland-based autism support group/organisation – has
produced the Bubble Day pack in collaboration with the Hearts &
Minds Challenge,
as part of a UK-wide ‘Bubble Day’ initiative to coincide with World
Autism Day (2 April).
Hearts & Minds Challenge – a charity which supports children and families living with autism – together with AIM, have
worked together on the awareness-raising initiative, which aims
to highlight in a fun and simple way how autistic children feel and how
they would like to be treated.
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| Paul Shattock, President of the World Autism Organisation, and the children of George Washington Primary School. |
Members
of the school celebrated the launch of ‘Bubble Day’ at an event on
Friday, 22 March at 11am. The President of the World Autism
Organisation, Paul Shattock,
attended the launch, where Jesse Ward – a renowned Bubbleologist in the
North East region – stood Paul inside a bubble.
The
World Autism Organisation is supporting the ‘Bubble Day’ initiative,
and has already had requests from autism groups in Spain and Pakistan to
have the Bubble Day
pack translated into their language.
The pack, produced and designed by AIM’s Terry Rutherford, will be on the agenda at the Irish Society for Autism’s 50th anniversary International Conference
on 3 and 4 April 2013 – an event held in association with the World Autism Organisation.
‘Bubble
Day’ is calling for schools, community groups and kids clubs across the
region to host their very own events before, on, or after 2 April 2013,
which also coincides
with World Autism Day. To date, more than 500 schools around the UK
have already signed up for ‘Bubble Day’.
Ian
McGrath, founder of the Hearts & Minds Challenge, said: “We’re
delighted that George Washington Primary School has got wholeheartedly
involved with ‘Bubble Day’.
The campaign is intended to help people understand the feelings and
behaviour of autistic children, who can often feel like they live within
their own bubble and struggle to communicate with the wider world.”
Carole
Rutherford, co-founder of Autism-in-Mind, said, “We often forget that
children with autism are above all else children. They have the same
wishes and desires
as other children, but often struggle to fit in socially, finding it
difficult to form and maintain friendships. We hope that ‘Bubble Day’
will help schools and community groups to understand that children with
autism often feel isolated, even within a group.”
Nationally,
the campaign is being backed by three of Heart & Mind’s dedicated
celebrity patrons, Paul Scholes, Mel Sykes and Keith Duffy.
Television
presenter, Mel Sykes, said: “The Hearts & Minds Challenge works
tirelessly to support children and families affected by autism. The
‘Bubble Day’ campaign
is yet another example of the charity’s commitment to raise awareness
across the UK and I urge everyone to get involved in spreading the
message far and wide.
To join in the fun simply log on to the Autism Bubble Website and download a FREE information pack.
Hearts and Minds can be found here:
