The United Nations General Assembly unanimously declared April 2 as World Autism Awareness Day.
ZAPOPAN, Jalisco; March 29, 2023. Universidad Panamericana through the Strategic Social Project of the Social Engagement department, COLABORE, prepared an activation to raise awareness and highlight the need to help improve the conditions of children and adults living with autism spectrum disorders (ASD).
World Autism Awareness Day
The activation, called Multi sensorial, invited the entire university community to participate.
Participants were asked to read a QR code that contained a video of 3 to 5 minutes duration and where a topic with a certain degree of difficulty was exposed, making it clear that at the end they would have to answer some questions about the video. While the video was playing, the participant would have to perform a dexterity challenge, such as origami, puzzles, 3D Tetris, etc. While other means of distraction were used to prevent the participant from being able to have peace of mind to watch the video, the instruction was for the participant to finish the challenge before the end of the video.
Our objective is to raise awareness about some of the peculiarities of people with autism in the areas of communication, socialization, use of objects, thought processes and sensory integration, although like everyone else, each person with autism is different and presents particular skills and challenges, said Ana Karina Flores, Coordinator of Social Commitment.
Hace Foundation A.C.
To enrich the event, an alliance was generated with Fundación Hace A.C., a non-profit association dedicated to promoting knowledge, integration and understanding of the autism spectrum condition.
Fundación Hace A.C. mounted an exhibition of the objects made through the company LABORA, with the intention of making known the philosophy of the company that seeks the circular economy, as well as the products made by people with autism who work there.
At this stand it was also possible to purchase items and thus support the inclusion of people with disabilities in the labor market.
We had a very good response since, in addition to the more than 100 participants in the activity, some students and collaborators came to know and clear some doubts they had about Autism and Asperger's, added Ms. Flores.
With this, it became clear the need to continue creating this type of spaces where the university community can coexist and learn more about these issues and thus promote the culture of inclusion of people with disabilities.
We invite you this Sunday, April 2, to wear blue to commemorate World Autism Awareness Day.
