Sky News bullying feature

It was a few weeks back, but we just wanted to show off the great feature on bullying on Sky News featuring ambassador Deb and her son, Charlie.

It's a fantastic piece, and Deb and Charlie were brilliant, I'm sure you'll agree!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I24nGNYH2dQ&feature=player_embedded

Dads in Scotland raise awareness

With Father Day (17 June) just around the corner, Ambassador dads in Scotland have been raising awareness of autism.   

Glyn Morris from Moray told us his experiences of caring for his 13 year old son Gregor who has autism

“Being a father of a child with autism can be challenging, but also incredibly rewarding. If another dad happens to drop into conversation that his child is on the spectrum, you suddenly feel an overwhelming connection. It’s like finding a long lost brother. Our children see the world very differently and every day we do our very best to support them and see the world through their eyes.

I would like all Moray fathers of children with autism to know that you are not alone. Many dads are experiencing similar challenges every day. Getting the right support at the right time can be a real struggle, but it is out there. 

At first, Gregor seemed to develop as expected. He was hitting all his milestones. He could say ‘Da’ – which is a fantastic moment for any father. Then suddenly, around 3, he started to regress. He lost his ability for speech and hasn’t said ‘Da’ since. 

At one stage he was getting up over 20 times in the night. Many people with autism rely on predictable routines to help make sense of the world, and Gregor would find changes in his routine distressing and disorientating. There would be 'meltdowns' in the car if we continued driving and didn’t turn off into a relation’s home as expected. Gregor also experiences huge sensory challenges and couldn't stand to walk on sand or even grass in bare feet. A simple thing like a visit to the hairdresser’s was torture. Loud noises were unbearably painful and disorientating.

These days, Gregor is a much happier, more laidback teenager. I couldn’t be prouder of the way Gregor works every day to overcome the challenges of his condition.  Some people with autism find socialising very challenging and disorientating, so we are very lucky that Gregor absolutely loves meeting new people and spending time with friends and family. His smiles and laughter are just infectious, and he has such a positive effect on everyone he meets.  He loves swimming, horse riding, car trips and anything with wheels attached. He has an extraordinary photographic memory and a fascination with numbers and jigsaws.

The right support at the right time at school, and calm perseverance at home, has made a huge, positive impact on Gregor’s quality of life.  So much credit has to go to my wife, Jennifer, who is not just a fantastic mum, but also the most patient and thoughtful person I know.

Gregor has very little speech, and mainly communicates by making vowel sounds. He has limited muscle control and movement and still needs constant care, but he has shown amazing progress.  He rarely wakes up in the night these days, and copes very well with changes and unpredictability when they are explained to him in advance.

Being a father of a child with autism does turn your world upside down but, I honestly, hand on my heart; feel incredibly privileged to be Gregor’s dad as he is such an amazing individual.” 

Ambassadors Kevin Foley, James Parker and Norman Gray also told their stories to the local papers.  

Raising awareness on WAAD

Monday 2 April saw people across the globe come together to celebrate World Autism Awareness Day (WAAD) and raise awareness of the condition. Among those tackling the subject on the airwaves and on the pages of newspapers, were many NAS Ambassadors and Champions.

Here's how you got involved - thanks everyone who took part!

Ambassadors go global

AAN Ambassador Robyn Steward and Jonathan Peckover, the eldest son of Ambassadors Sepi and David, joined a trans-atlantic panel discussion on the BBC World Service. The four-strong panel of adults with autism, including people from the US, discussed how autism affects their daily lives and gave advice for listeners in similar situations. It was a really positive discussion and really showed listeners what a valuable contribution people with autism can and do make to the global society. Well done Robyn and Jonathan! Listen here.

Daybreak appearance

AAN Ambassador, Sophie Walker, was filmed at home with her daughter, Grace, for a special WAAD feature for ITV Daybreak. Sophie talked about having a daughter with Asperger syndrome and how the condition can affect girls differently from boys. Sophie also talked about writing all about hers and Grace's experiences in a new book, which is out later this year. Watch Sophie on Daybreak (about 1 hour 45 minutes into the programme).

... Oh, and lets all keep our fingers crossed for Sophie, who takes on the London Marathon later this month!

Hitting the local radio waves

A whole load of Ambassadors and other awareness raisers got involved in their local area by taking part in discussions about autism and WAAD on their local radio stations. Ambassador, Jennifer Waddington took to the airwaves for an interview with BBC Radio WM and Ambassador, Victoria Thompson talked on BBC Radio Sussex and Surrey - both did a great job of describing autism and raising awareness for listeners. Why not listen to their interviews for yourself:

BBC Radio WM: Jennifer Waddington (about 1 hour 5 minutes into the programme)
BBC Radio Suseex & Surrey: Victoria Thompson (about 1 hour 52 minutes into the programme)

These are just a couple of the many discussions that took place on WAAD on local radio stations all across the UK.

Letters to editors

Lots and lots of people got involved by sending the template letter we prepared about WAAD to their local papers. So far we know that around 50 of you got involved by sending letters to your papers. There's been some great coverage and we are expecting to see more over the next few days.

Thanks again to everyone who took part on Monday and over the weekend, and a belated happy WAAD to you all!

Christmas awareness campaign success

A huge thank you to our ambassadors for sending a press release to their local newspapers about the challenges they and their families face at Christmas.

We've had some fantastic results from the press release and the response was truly outstanding at such an early stage in the life of the Autism Action Network.
Here are some examples of what has been achieved so far, and we're hoping to see even more coverage in the coming weeks:

Mid Sussex Leader
Kicking-off the coverage, Victoria's press release got her quoted in the newspaper, along with Autism Helpline manager Emma Delaney.

Heart FM Cambridgeshire and BBC Radio Cambridgeshire
A great double whammy for Geraldine, who went on air on two of Cambridge's biggest radio stations two days in a row to talk about autism and Christmas time.

BBC Three Counties Radio and South Bucks Star
Sarah went to the studio for an hour-long live discussion about autism and Christmas. There was a phone-in and Sarah did a great job providing insight into autism. Not content with her hour-long stint in the studio, Sarah went on to achieve some fantastic coverage in the South

Bucks Star too. Fab After Fifty
Hitting a national audience, Machita shared her experience with a journalist from this website aimed at women over the age of fifty. This was a great audience to reach with Christmas messages and also resulted in a fantastic plug for our Christmas fundraising campaign, FestiviTea.

Plymouth Herald
Marco got his press release featured in the Plymouth Herald and even went down to the paper's offices to get his photo taken next to the office Christmas tree for the story.

Tonbridge Courier
Jacquelyn arranged an interview with the newspaper, who sent down a photographer to take some photos of Jacquelyn and her daughter. Jacquelyn got her daughter involved by getting her to write down what she finds tough at Christmas, so that Jacquelyn could use her daughter’s thoughts in the interview - great idea.

KMFM
As a result of her efforts, Nicola secured a slot to talk about autism and Christmas time on Kent's local KMFM radio station. Great to have yet more of the airwaves dedicated to the important topic.

Literally Speaking
Louise decided to use the Christmas press release as a starting point to write an entry for her 'Literally Speaking' blog all about autism and bringing up her son. We thought the blog entry was really moving and a fantastic way of doing something a bit different to raise awareness

The National Autistic Society website
Thanks finally to Karen, who agreed to let us use her story for a news story on our website about Christmas. Our website is a key resource for people affected by autism and we're thrilled to be able to share Karen's story and point people towards the advice they want.

These results are a testament to the sheer number of ambassadors who took part in this awareness raising about Christmas. Press coverage is never guaranteed, so we also want to say a massive thanks to all of you who sent out the release but didn't get any coverage on this occasion. Hopefully these stories will encourage you to get involved again in the future.