AUTISM AWARENESS YEAR 2002
The British Institute for Brain Injured Children ( known as “BIBIC”) and The DisabilitiesTrust are the two British charities which organised “Autism Awareness Year 2002” in the United Kingdom. The aim of this notable initiative is to increase public attention and understanding of Autism.
The two British charities now have some 300 organisations, large and small, working towards the goal of raising awareness of this debilitating condition. Events are being held all over the UK this year to further the cause and give some insight into this little understood but escalating condition. The conclusion of this thrust will be a feedback conference and a torch light procession in November.
A special website, www.autism/awareness.org.uk, has been set up for this important year, and there one can find much information on the partner organisations and events can be found. One can also read (by clicking “Charin's Story on the BIBIC web site)about the inspiration for how this noteworthy initiative came to fruition. One hundred fifty three Members of Parliament of all parties in the House of Commons backed the proprsals for the Autism Awareness Year 2002, and it remains to this day the most successful Motion Day connected with Autism in Parliament. The launching of this AAY 2002 by the two organising charities, and as ratified by the National Autistic Society (NAS) also included a host of other autism/related associations.
As part of the launch of the Autism Awareness Year 2002 programme, a conference on Autism was held on 14 February at the Kings Fund in London. The conference offered a platform for heath, education and social services to examine jointly ways in which to address the issues around service delivery in this country. Speaking at this inaugural Policy and Strategy conference for Autism Awareness Year was Jacqui Smith MP, Minister for Health.
Workshops were run in the afternoon addressing issues such as Causation, Ethnicity, The Education Code of Practice and Therapeutic Support. (It is estimated one in 110 children in the UK is affected with autism and that the numbers are increasing / see further the article on this in the site .)
One of the Autism Awareness 2002 organisers, the British Institute for Brain Injured Children (“BIBIC”), works with children with learning difficulties caused by neurological disorders. Typically, these would include conditions such as autism, cerebral palsy, Down’s syndrome, developmental delay, attention deficits disorder, dyspraxia etc. Its work includes training parents to work with their children in the home in furthering their development.
The second organiser, The Disabilities Trust, is a specialist division for helping adults with ASD. A key focus of the Trust is to provide an imaginative new concept of personal care and specialist housing for perople with severe physical disabilities, autism, and acquired brain injury. The Disabilities Trust has grown to become one of Europe’s largest providers of community based brain injury rehabilitation services. The brain injury division of the Trust is The Brain Injury Rehabilitation Trust (BIRT).
To learn more of other important work done by these organiser charities please visit their web sites :
www.bibic.org.uk
www.disabilities/trust.org.uk (and its sister site, www.birt.co.uk )