Today is an important day for us at TalkTalk. But first, some background.
In 2002 we decided to adopt TreeHouse as our chosen charity. TreeHouse is a national autism education charity, which runs a school for children with autism in north London and campaigns nationally for early intervention and education to improve the lives of children with autism.
For us there was an obvious connection between what we do – as an internet and telephone communications company – and what TreeHouse does: working with children affected by a disability that hinders their ability to communicate with others.
I know many of us at TalkTalk have become personally involved in supporting the charity in the past few years. Today marks the next phase in our involvement and a major step forward in TreeHouse’s efforts to raise the profile of autism education nationally.
April 2nd has been designated World Autism Awareness Day by the United Nations, so it is fitting that today TreeHouse – supported by TalkTalk – has launched a brand new website: www.talkaboutautism.org.uk.
This site will provide a one-stop-shop for anyone wanting to find out more about autism – whether that be parents, grandparents or other family members affected by a child with autism, or professionals such as teachers and doctors.
Talkaboutautism.org.uk will be the place for people to go if they want reliable, expert information on autism, and will provide a nationwide online support network for families affected by the disability who want to share experiences, offer advice and provide companionship for each other.
Before creating this new site we spoke to lots of parents and we learned just how incredibly challenging having a child with autism is. Not only does it place huge financial, physical and emotional burdens on parents, it is also incredibly isolating. Many of the parents we spoke to told us how alone they felt – as if they were the only parent in the country with a child with autism.
We hope this website will help fill that void and give parents a chance to communicate with each other and give them a source of information they can come back to again and again.
We’re delighted to continue our association with TreeHouse and hope that our partnership-based approach reaps benefits for both sides. Certainly here at TalkTalk we feel more involved than is often the case when companies hand over a cheque and let the charity get on with things.
To me, a far better model is for the sponsor to work closely with the charity over a much longer period of time, forging a close relationship, and finding out how commercial skills can be put to the best use to achieve charitable ends. A project such as talkaboutautism.org.uk – which we’ve worked on closely in terms of the site’s design and marketing – has really engaged our workforce and hopefully maximised the benefit for the people TreeHouse is helping.
So please visit www.talkaboutautism.org.uk and let us know your feedback on the site. I hope you find it useful.
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