Transition Year Webinar on Autism

On Monday October 12th our class 4.2 took part in an Autism Awareness Webinar run by Hannah O’Dwyer. Hannah is a member of As I Am- Ireland’s National Autism Charity. We learnt about the traits of an autistic person, how autism can affect people's day to day lives, stimming and many other facts about autism.

This webinar was very informative and made us more aware of people who have autism in our community. The class really enjoyed taking part in the quizzes and in the question and answer session that took place during the webinar.

Clonakilty is an autism friendly town so this webinar helped develop our knowledge of autism and change our closed minded and stereotypical views. We now realise how difficult life can be for someone with autism.We learnt that things that neuro-typical people find easy can be a huge challenge to people with autism.

The main message of the webinar was that we need to be more considerate and mindful towards people with autism while treating them equally. People with autism are still people and therefore we should treat them the same.

Irish Society for Autism

Founded in 1963, is the longest established dedicated organisation for people with Autism in Ireland.

CLONAKILTY AUTISM FRIENDLY TOWN

Did you know?

Clonakilty is Ireland’s First Autism Friendly town in Ireland.  In order to acquire this designation Clonakilty had to go through a robust accreditation process. It had to engage and train 25% of businesses and voluntary organisations, train 50% of public services, 50% of school communities, 50% of healthcare professionals, 3 employers and reach and engage 25% of the town’s population and develop a three-year Autism Friendly town plan.

What makes Clonakilty Autism Friendly?

The Autism Friendly organisations in Clonakilty are accredited “Autism Friendly Champions”.  These organisations will display a sticker on the entrance of their premises to sign post they are champions. They will also display the Service Dog Friendly sticker to signal that they welcome service dogs on their premises.

The Autism Friendly Champions have done the following to receive their accreditation:
•    Followed autism friendly staff training
•    Developed a social story to help prepare the visit to the organisation

Thanks to Leah O Boyle Rafferty and Valeria Menovska for the above article and to Nooran Alrubaye for the photos taken on the day.