Enfield’s bid to become a more accessible and inclusive town for its autistic community
The Enfield Autism Friendly Town initiative will be officially launched by AsIAm founder and CEO Adam Harris at an event in St Mary's NS on Saturday, 8th June at 2.30pm.
A group of volunteers came together last October to work with AsIAm to help Enfield become a more accessible and inclusive town for its autistic community and have been working on the initiative since then, culminating in the upcoming launch.
Ciara Halvey, chairperson of the Enfield Autism Friendly Town group told how after her son Finn was identified autistic at age of two, she found herself searching for as much information as possible about Autism. She explained that she came across the AsIAm Autism Friendly town initiative and after seeing its success in nearby Maynooth, decided to register Enfield in the initiative.
"We formed our committee last October and have been growing ever since. Our main objective is working towards Enfield becoming an accessible, accepting and inclusive community. We hope to achieve this by appropriately educating the community on what autism is and positively address the stigma and barriers that exist for autistic people daily," said Ciara.
Ciara explained that the "core" of their work to achieve this is the recruitment of 'champions'. A champion is a local business, clubs or organisation who undergoes autism training and commits themselves to making changes in their business to support Autistic people.
"This might mean having fidget items available for use to help self regulation, or creating a quiet space or a visual guide to meet the need of predictability and reduce anxiety," she added.
One of their most recent Champions, Malachy's barbershop, is offering sensory haircuts but also work experience to autistic students. Ciara said is hugely significant in their attempts to address the stark statistic of 80 per cent of autistic people being under employed or unemployed.
Since the committee was formed seven months ago, they have had seasonal events including their successful St Patrick's Day 'relaxed parade space'.
"Here we had children and adults enjoy the festivities of the parade in a safe enclosed space, allowing for plenty of movement to meet their needs," explained Ciara.
They have also set up a social group which they hope to expand on to to include more age groups and also hope to establish a support group for family carers/ siblings in the area.
The committee is very excited to have AsIAm founder Adam Harris attend for their official launch and is encouraging the community to come out and support this event and learn more about ways they can support Enfield in becoming an AsIAm Autism Friendly Town.
The launch takes place in St Mary's NS, Enfield on Saturday, 8th June at 2.30pm.