I feel extremely happy as I write the recap of the Accessibility webinar : Autism awareness special as it was my first accessibility webinar as a host for this year 2022 ! The main motto of this webinar was to create awareness related to Autism and how we as Local Guides can make the best use of Maps and its available features to help such individuals around us ! For this webinar , we invited a special guest speaker - Mr. Blagoje Vucinic who has around 20 years of experience in this field.
Our meet-up started with a brief introduction of the attendees followed by the introduction of our Guest speaker : Mr. Blagoje Vucinic also known as Mr. B who is currently working as ‘Autism Post Diagnosis Support Worker’ in the Special Educational Needs (SEN) Team within the Southwark Council in London and has been actively hosting webinars , meetings and writing articles related to Autism and other hidden disabilities for more than 20 years now ! Through his presentation he shared with us his knowledge related to Autism in simple terms and examples that we all could understand. We loved the way he referred to kids on the spectrum as his ‘little friends’ and showed how an inclusive person thinks and acts to make everyone feel welcome in the community and a part of it !
Below are some of the things we learned from Mr. B related to understanding Autism :
- Autism is a non-visible , lifelong genetic disorder in which the wiring in the brain differs and hence they have a unique perspective of looking at things. It is not a disease. People with Autism do not have a mental illness but more often have a difficulty in the areas of social communication and behavior. In certain severe cases, (it’s a huge spectrum and present since childhood) some of them might have difficulty in other areas too and may have limited and impair everyday functioning.
- Being a spectrum , the needs of every individual on the spectrum varies from case to case. Certain therapies can help cater to the needs of each individual to function more effectively in their day to day life.
- Having lack of social flexibility / adaptability , sensory needs and behavioral issues may sometimes make these kids/ adults feel insecure or anxious. So planning and helping understand their needs can help them. Here is a short film video by the National Autistic Society shared to us by Mr. B to understand Autism in simple terms :
He also gave some tips on how we can help understand autistic individuals and support them :
- Spread awareness , be aware and accept and love them the way they are and do not load them with the expectations of being something they are not (specially for the kids on the spectrum!)
- Adjust your expectations according to them, especially in terms of their communication/ interaction with you.
- Provide them with predictability or advance warning related to upcoming events when travelling or going out with them and take into consideration their sensory needs.
- Support or help them in challenging situations , have patience and be kind.
Post a mesmerizing session filled with knowledge, we had a QnA session with the attendees where lots of attendees asked questions related to Autism , shared how much awareness is their in their countries and how they have met someone with Autism and asked what can be done to help them. I was really happy to see so many eager attendees trying to understand and so eager to be helpful to the community ! We got to learn and understand so much! Post this session, I shared a presentation of Autism friendly ‘Google Maps’ features that we can use to help autistic individuals or their parents/carers. During this session I shared how we as Local Guides can support autistic individuals around us.
A big thank you to all the attendees who attended the webinar , asked so many interesting questions, shared their knowledge on the subject and were there to support and spread awareness related to Autism. Special thanks to Mr. B, who on a single request came , gave his precious time and shared his valuable knowledge related to Autism with us and answered all the questions with a smile on his face ! Also special thanks to @Jesi for recording the session and the One Accessibility Team members for your love and support , it really means a lot to me ! Missed the webinar? No worries, here is thefull recording of the webinar. and the link to our webinar photo album .
Be kind to everyone and happy guiding !
