Autism Awareness Campaign in Sri Lanka (Autism Sri Lanka)

Autism Awareness Campaign in the United Kingdom
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Ivan Corea presents an Autism Awareness Ribbon to HRH Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales

Ivan and Charika Corea of the Autism Awareness Campaign in the United Kingdom have called on Her Majesty's Government to provide more public services for the 520,000 autistic community in 2003, the European Year of the Disabled.

Ivan and Charika Corea initiated 2002 as Autism Awareness Year, it came about as a result of their anguish to access services for their son, Charin - it is the largest ever movement for autism - 800 organisations came on board as partners of the year - it was an outstanding success in terms of raising the profile of Britain's autistic community and about the condition.

However there is a great deal of unfinished business. Parents, carers and autistic people desperately need public services. 

Ivan and Charika Corea are calling for an end to the postcode lottery to access basic education, health, specialist speech therapy and respite care for parents, carers and autistic people in the United Kingdom.

'The time for action on autism - is now,' said Ivan Corea.

  Our son Charin was born in the East End of London in the UK in 1996. When this bundle of joy was placed in my arms I could only offer a prayer of thanks to God for this wonderful gift of life.

  Charin seemed to develop normally.He smiled at three weeks, babbled at 9 months, walked at one year. He loved looking at books, enjoyed listening to music and he started doing complex puzzles at a very early age.

  Suddenly it all went horribly wrong. At twenty months he stopped babbling.

It was extraordinary. A few months before it was as if he was on the verge of talking - here we were with a baby who went into his shell and slammed the door on the outside world. I must add that the MMR vaccination was given when he was eleven months.

  We took Charin to the paediatrician who diagnosed pervasive developmental disorder which refers to a whole group of disorders characterised by delays in the development of multiple basic functions including socialisation and communication.

  Symptoms of PDD include severe communication problems such as understanding language; difficulty to relating to people, objects and events, unusual play with toys and other objects; difficulty with changes in routine or familiar surroundings and repetitive body movements or patterns.

  Autism, the experts suggest, is a brain disorder characterised by impaired social interaction and communication skills and limited activities and interests is the most characteristic and best studied PDD.

Other types of PDD are Asperger's syndrome, Rett's Syndrome,childhood disintegrative disorders and others.

Autism is a neuro- developmental  disorder - all of us have neurones in our brains to process thought,they need to fire in the correct order - in the brains of an autistic child or adult they don't fire at all or they just misfire. That is why you cannot give an autistic child complex commands - everything has to be kept well and truly simple.

  We are calling for more independent research on the causes of autism. Parents, carers and autists still don't know what really causes autism - is it the MMR, is it genetic - a hundred and one questions come up when you think about autism.We see our son Charin as a wonderful gift from God. He is indeed a very special person who brings us joy - we give thanks to God for his life.

  We welcome the work carried out by Her Majesty's Government. The DOH and the DFES have issued guidelines to educational and health professionals to mark 2002 Autism Awareness Year. Autism will feature in the National Service Frameworks for Children.

  Prime Minister Tony Blair is the first British Prime Minister in living history ever to talk about autism in public - in the House of Commons and outside the Palace of Westminster. He has personally supported our campaign. So has Iain Duncan Smith, the Leader of the Opposition, Charles Kennedy the Leader of the Liberal Democrats and hundreds of parliamentarians of all parties.

We are calling for more public services in 2003 to help all autistic children and adults in the UK.

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2002 was Autism Awareness Year in the United Kingdom, it was initiated by Ivan and Charika Corea

 
" Autism spectrum disorder covers a range and severity of difficulties that can often be difficult to understand, but this year has gone some considerable way towards addressing that...."
 
                                                            

Rt.Hon.Tony Blair MP

Prime Minister of Great Britain

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British Prime Minister Tony Blair fully supports the Autism Awareness Campaign

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Leader of the Opposition Michael Howard supports the campaign

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Leader of the Liberal Democrats, Charles Kennedy backs the campaign.

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British Parliamentarians back the Autism Awareness Campaign

Backing from UK Parliament

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Linda Perham MP

Parliamentarians of all parties in the Palace of Westminster fully supports the Autism Awareness Campaign in the UK. Recently parliamentarians of all parties signed an early day motion in the House of Commons calling for more funding and  for more public services.
 
The highly influential parliamentarian Linda Perham MP launched a historic debate on Autism in 2002 Autism Awareness Year in the House of Commons. Several MPs tabled and continue to put down questions on Autism in the House of Commons and in the House of Lords.

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2003 EYPD

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Click on the EU flag for the European Union Website

 
2003 is the European Year for People with Disabilities. The European Union have been supporting the Autism Awareness Campaign in the UK. Many European MEPs in the European Parliament have been backing our campaign.

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Nirj Deva MEP recently offered his full support to the Campaign (Click on picture)

Please see the Community News section on the http://www.eypd2003.org
website for more news about the Autism Awareness Campaign in the UK.
 
News of the campaign was also included in the EYPD Newsletter.