Hearts and Minds: AUTISM BUBBLE DAY FUN AT SUNDERLAND PRIMARY SCHOOL

Tuesday, 26 March 2013

AUTISM BUBBLE DAY FUN AT SUNDERLAND PRIMARY SCHOOL

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.

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 50^th 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.

In the UK, there are over half a million people with autism. According to ‘Autism and education: the reality for families today’, over 40 per cent of children with autism have been bullied at school.