enddiscrimination

 By Sarah Seymour,  President All Kids Have Special Needs.org

Our first ever advocacy event hosted by all kids have special needs was hosted in the wake of a number of stories of public discrimination against children with autism. This incidents occured in restaurants, a  campground, and most upsettingly in public schools. 

Parents of these children began speaking to eachother, and with the support of other parents we decided to not only choose a day to as a group talk more about our wish to end discrimination against children with autism and other special needs,  but to also challenge  other famillies to share their own personal stories with the  media of their choice.

August 7, 2008 was the first official write 4 right day. We organized  through facebook groups and were happy with the small, but determined  response.

This is an event which we will repeat at a future date. Writing  our stories is a great way for us to raise awareness about different disorders, to share  experiences with eachother, and to educate others.

People need to have things made  personal for them to care. Once they realise they know someone with a special need,  and it is personal, it is harder to discriminate against them. They are no longer faceless, they become  a person.

We need to also share the  good stories too. The media tends to want to show only the  negative,  but a good public interest story sells because it  makes people feel good. We need to capitalize on the great things about our children too and use this to help raise awareness so that when people think of disability, they also think of ability.

Stay tuned for the next Write 4 Right Date