We’ve supported TreeHouse, the national autism education charity, since 2002 and today we’re proud to announce our involvement in TreeHouse’s latest online campaign to raise money for children with autism.
The ‘Talkathon’, launched today, encourages people to spread five key facts about autism. These are:
- Autism affects 1 in 100 children in the UK
- Autism affects communication, imagination and social skills
- Over 40% of children with autism have been bullied at school
- Only half of teachers have been autism-trained
- 1 in 5 children has been excluded from school
Through Facebook, Twitter or just plain old email, ‘talkers’ can publicise these five facts to their friends and followers.
If you send your fact through your Facebook or Twitter account, you can include your profile photo with it and add your image to a photo collage of everyone who’s got involved.
And for everyone who sends a fact out to their nearest and dearest, TalkTalk will donate £1 to TreeHouse. Our aim is to raise £150,000 for the charity – so please get involved.
If you didn’t know any of TreeHouse’s facts, you’re not alone. Only 15% of adults are aware of the prevalence of autism amongst children, while a quarter of the general public believe children with autism are just “badly behaved”, rather than recognising that they might be suffering from a neurological condition.
Someone with personal experience of this is Keith Duffy, the Corrie and Boyzone star. You may have seen him on GMTV last week talking about his support for TreeHouse’s campaign and his experiences with his 10-year-old daughter Mia who has been diagnosed with autism.
Keith was publicising research from TreeHouse which found that 87% of parents of children with autism feel unsupported by their community. And over half (56%) admitted that they have been openly criticised by people in public for their child’s behaviour. In addition, one-third (32%) of parents said that their children have been excluded from a recreational club as a result of their autism.
Given the results of this survey it’s clear that we’ve got a long way to go to change attitudes and provide support both to children with autism and their families living with its effects. We hope the Talkathon campaign will make a real difference in raising awareness as much as raising money.
Autism is a condition that has attracted considerable media attention in recent years, but is still widely misunderstood. That’s why TreeHouse’s work is so important and why we’re proud to be able to support its work.
If you’re after some more information about the issues surrounding autism visit TreeHouse’s Talk about Autism online forum for advice and support.
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Lynn Goodfellow
I understand how people are critical as i have a nephew who has aspergers, me and others in my family used to think he was badly behaved, it was a new head teacher who after only being at the school 2 weeks had an idea, my nephew was 12 by then and in his last year at primary hes now 17 doing his higher exams and moving up to 6th year, hindsight is a great thing.
Lynn Rogers
I knew nothing about autism until my brother had first one and then a second autistic child. He is cycling from Lands end to John o’groats starting on the 1st July to raise money for his children’s treatment, and my sister-in-law is my hero for her never ending energy in running after her children all the time. Their eldest child Ella has digestion and bowel trouble too. Neither child speaks. Ella is learning scant sign language. I applaud any foundation that can help this widely misunderstood condition.
Karen Varga
Autism is a life-long condition – children with autism grow into adults with autism who are also excluded from society and their families still struggle. Please remember those people. Also it is not ‘imagination’ per se that is affected – it is ’social imagination’ many people on the autism spectrum (which is very wide and encompasses people of a variety of abilities) have good imaginations – but like factual things as they are more predictable.
Please keep up the campaigning as it is vitally important – but please don’t forget those who have passed the age of 18 who are on the autism spectrum – they must be included and supported, as often they receive much less help and support than children on the spectrum do.