To mark Autism Awareness Month this April SuperValu & AsIAm have launched a national colouring competition as part of their “Say Yes to Autism Acceptance” campaign. Autistic people often face invisible barriers because of how the world works and the judgment and attitudes of others, they are used to hearing ‘No’. This World Autism Month SuperValu and AsIAm are encouraging people to say ‘Yes’ for a change: Yes to employment, Yes to education and Yes to community inclusion.
To support this, a guide on how to ‘’Say Yes to Autism Acceptance” is now available in all SuperValu stores and the colouring competition can be found at the back of the guide.
With Easter holidays in full swing the colouring competition is a great way to keep children occupied while also supporting autism acceptance. Once the Say Yes To Autism Colouring creation has been completed by children taking part, a picture or scan of the finished piece should be sent to [email protected]. All entrants will be in with the chance to win a fantastic colouring gift pack packed full of arts and craft fun. Winners will be selected from three categories Junior Infants- 2nd Class, 3rd Class- 6th Class and Post Primary school.
At least one in 65 people in Ireland is autistic and nearly 300,000 people have an immediate family member on the autism spectrum. Autistic people are as diverse as the society we live in and are already making contributions to communities across Ireland. World Autism Month is an opportunity to recognise and celebrate the autism community and create more inclusive communities by expanding knowledge, understanding and acceptance.
SuperValu is dedicated to making communities around Ireland more inclusive and is leading the way in autism-friendly shopping by continuously raising understanding and awareness of autism among its communities, customers and staff.
Ian Allen, Managing Director, SuperValu said “Our partnership with AsIAm is hugely important and we are so proud to be able to build on the impactful work done with AsIAm in stores and communities around Ireland. To continue our mission to make Ireland more inclusive the “Say Yes to Autism Acceptance” colouring competition will be running nationwide for the month of April. The competition aims to create awareness and understanding amongst children and parents and provide practical guidance to foster a culture of acceptance in the next generation so our communities can better support autistic people and their families now and in the future. We encourage children and families to pick up a guide in store, take part in the colouring competition and Say Yes To Autism Acceptance.”
Commenting on the campaign CEO of AsIAm Adam Harris said, “World Autism Month is an important milestone each year, aiming to create awareness and understanding so we can have a more inclusive society.
As we look to the future and as we emerge from this awful pandemic we do not want to go back to the “old normal”, rather we want a brighter, more inclusive society which is fair to autistic people. We have an amazing opportunity to create a society which is not merely aware of autism but rather truly accepts autistic people - valuing our contribution, meeting our needs and working together.”
