Happy New Year to all of you!
In planning my 10 tips for making the world a better and happier place in 2022, something must have gone wrong. Tip #8 was planned to be posted on Dec 27th…but WordPress must have been asleep that day. One of my loyal followers and friend, Reynard from Germany, sent me a message letting me know he missed tip #8. So, as my New Year’s gift and thanks to Reynard…here is tip #8.
Tip #8: A monthly autism awareness activity
In a couple of months, we will all be celebrating World Autism Awareness Day (on April 2nd). Some organisations extend this event to an awareness week or even an awareness month. Increasing the well-being of autistic people requires creating a more autism friendly world and calling upon other people to participate in this project. But why would we do that only in April?
Do not limit your New Year’s Resolutions for an autism-friendly 2022 to one day, one week or one month. Several little actions probably have a bigger effect than one big autism celebration fireworks in April.
Commit yourself to one autism awareness activity each month of 2022. No, you don’t have to organize a big event every month. Small actions can already make a difference.
Post something positive about autism on your social media or post a tip for autism friendliness, debunk a myth about autism, share your experiences with autism with your neighbours or friends, donate a book or leaflet about autism to the local sports club, go to your local library and suggest some good books about autism to add to their collection, ask your local politicians how they will make the community more autism friendly…
There are many ways to raise autism awareness. If you are from Belgium or The Netherlands: convince a person or organization to apply for the autism friendly logo and to join the growing club of people and organizations who committed themselves to helping build an autism friendly society.