'I am, how it feels to be me' Art Exhibition - January 2011

Sharon Malpass thought, after watching her daughter express herself through drawing, that it would be a great idea to organise a small Art Exhibition.

Sharon discussed the idea with a group of parents who all had girls on the autism spectrum and then approached the City of Salisbury who were very pleased to be able to support the wonderful exhibition, providing girls living in the north and north eastern suburbs with an opportunity to display their artistic expression.  

Steve Davidson from City of Salisbury preparing the paintings for hanging

This Exhibition, which was very proudly support by the City of Salisbury and sponsored by Rainbowland Autism Services has provided the girls involved with a very important opportunity to showcase their talents and to express who they are through art.  Children with autism don’t often get these special opportunities. Holding events like this is essential for growing confidence and self belief and to provide avenues for individuals to reach their potential in life. The Art Exhibition is also a wonderful opportunity to raise awareness about girls on the spectrum, which the community knows very little about. 

On Thursday 27th January, the Art Exhibition official opening was a huge success.  The event was attended by 

• Kelly Vincent – State Member of the Legislative Council
• Mark Butler – Federal Member for Port Adelaide
• Tony Zappia – Federal Member for Makin
• Frances Bedford – State Member for Florey
• Betty Gill - Councillor: City of Salisbury

A big congratulations to all the wonderful girls who submitted their art for this amazing and inspiring exhibition. 

Holly-anne, Kristie, Lucy, Jenna, Lily, Zoe, Charlotte, Isobel and Jessica.

This event was very proudly sponsored by Rainbowland Autism Serviceswww.rainbowlandautismservices.com

     

     Holly-anne receiving her certificate

Kristie receiving her certificate

Below you will find all the wonderful art work on display at The Mawson Centre, Mawson Lakes (South Australia). 

Holly-anne - aged 7 "The Inner Star"

Holly-anne - aged 7 "The Robot"

Holly-anne - aged 7 "Water"

Kristie - aged 12 "Michael Jackson"

Kristie - aged 12 "Miku"

Kristie - aged 12 "Miku"

Lucy - aged 9 "My Head"

Lucy - aged 9 "This is Me"

Jenna - aged 7 "Happy Land"

Jenna - aged 7 "Holidays"

Lily - aged 8 "I Love My Dog"

Lily - aged 8 "Mosquito"

Zoe - aged 7 "Egyptian"

Zoe - aged 7 "I Love Rainbows"

Charlotte - aged 7 "Favourite Activities"

Charlotte - aged 7 "Home"

Charlotte - aged 7 "Charlotte Playing"

Isobel - aged 7 "Butterfly Friends"

Isobel - aged 7 "The Little Mermaid"

Jessica - aged 7 "Being Happy"

Jessica - aged 7 "Me"

Rainbowland Autism Services Featured at Learn to be Buddies

This blog post was first published at www.learn2bebuddies.blogspot.com

Guest post by Allison Dix from Rainbowland Autism Services....

Our Family...


Our three children were all diagnosed as having an autism spectrum disorder in July 2007. Kristie, who was 8 at the time, was diagnosed with a Asperger’s Syndrome. Our twin sons, Jacob and Aaron, were diagnosed with autism one week shy of their 3rd birthday.

Rainbow Play Time

Shortly following the diagnosis, Shane and I vowed to help support families through the whole process as we intently believed that it didn’t have to be as difficult for others as it was for us. This vow lead to the inception of our family support group, Rainbowland Play Time in March 2009. With a focus on family inclusion and support, this group runs once a month on a Sunday, has no age limits and welcomes the entire family and their support networks to attend for a gold coin donation.


Rainbowland Play Time has been a gift not just to the families who attend, but to our family. We have made some wonderful friends and been witness to some fabulous milestones experienced by the children and their families. My favourite moments have been when children ride a bike for the first time at Play Time. The delight on the face of the child and their parents is so precious and makes it all so worthwhile.

Into the political arena...

Shane & I were fortunate enough to be selected for a meeting with the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, at the Federal Cabinet Meeting & Public Forum held on 28th July 2009. We raised issues pertaining to the inaccessibility of the newly implemented early intervention funding from the Helping Children with Autism initiative, the crisis and inequities for children with autism within the education systems around the country and the struggles faced by families. To our surprise, we were also granted an impromptu meeting with the Parliamentary Secretary for Disabilities and Children Services, Bill Shorten.

Rainbowland Autism Services...

Rainbowland Autism Services Inc. was incorporated in November 2009 and granted charity status. A board, comprising of 6 members was established. The incorporation of the organisation will ensure much greater opportunities for the families it supports.

Autism Rainbow Day...

After a family discussion in the kitchen regarding the lack of autism awareness within the community and how more awareness would greatly benefit families and society at large, Autism Rainbow Day was born. On 30th April this year, the inaugural Autism Rainbow Day was held, with 15,000 international members on the dedicated Facebook cause. The day was very uplifting and positive for those who participated and it was wonderful to see people greeting others with a “Happy Autism Rainbow Day”.


I have received some wonderful feedback from educators about how they now have a much greater appreciation of what autism is and how inspired they are when learning about the obstacles that need to be overcome for people on the spectrum to become functioning members of society. Our daughter’s Year 6 class teacher initiated meaningful discussions about autism throughout the week in the lead-up up to Autism Rainbow Day and Kristie’s life and achievements were celebrated by her peers. What has been really touching is how some young students from the school have since approached me in the court yard to talk about Autism Rainbow Day. I also got quite emotional when I saw pictures of the children wearing their special masks on the big screen at the school assembly. Autism Rainbow Day will be held on Friday 29th April in 2011.

A Tribute...



On 13th May this year, Tony Zappia – Federal Member for Makin paid tribute to the work we are doing through Rainbowland Play Time and Autism Rainbow Day. It was such an honour for us that he dedicated his entire Parliamentary Speech to our work.


In his speech, Tony says:

“In Australia autism is estimated to affect one in every 160 Australian children and around 30,000 Australian families. The estimated cost of autism to the Australian community is around $7 billion per annum. The social impacts on and costs to the children and those 30,000 families in the form of learning difficulties, limited social opportunities for the children and very high rates of parental depression and separation are immeasurable. There is no cure for autism but providing the right kind of early intervention can be very beneficial for children and, in turn, ultimately saves millions of dollars in costs later on.”

He then went on to say:


“Speech therapy, early intervention, occupational therapy and home modifications all help, but for the families they come at a cost, as does the destruction to the school life of the children, which raises an additional concern. Many schools are simply unprepared; they do not have the resources or the expertise to deal with children with autism. In that respect, autism-specific preschools such as that in Brisbane are a terrific start.”

To read the speech in full, visit our Facebook note or at: http://www.openaustralia.org/debates/?id=2010-05-13.156.1&s=speaker%3A10695#g156.2

Tony has been such a wonderful support to our organisation and is the Patron of Rainbowland Play Time. Through his work, he is also advocating for all families living with autism in Australia.

Our goal...

Rainbowland Autism Services strives to provide support services for the entire family. When you support the network of people who are the main influence in a child’s life, you are directly supporting the child. We also provide support to families of children with developmental delay. Too often these families don’t have access to support services in the absence of an ASD diagnosis. We continue to work assiduously in expanding our support services and generating awareness about autism at a global level through Autism Rainbow Day.

For more information, you can visit our website at http://www.rainbowlandautismservices.com/, or email us at rainbowlandautismservices @ gmail.com

.............

To find out more about having your charity, service or business spotlighted on the Learn to be Buddies Blog, contact us or visit http://www.learn2bebuddies.com.au/pages/becomeasponsor.html

VOTE 4 AUTISM in 2010

IT'S TIME FOR US TO MAKE A STAND & VOTE FOR AUTISM in 2010.

Rainbowland Autism Services and Autism Advisory Support Services have teamed up to start a facebook cause Vote 4 Autism.

AUSTRALIAN'S DESERVE IMMEDIATE ACTION FOR AUTISM!! We will be letting the major polical parties know how important the 'autism vote' is and how many people are affected by their decisions in this area. It is far reaching... not just the person themselves, but their parents, friends, relatives, therapists, health professionals, teachers, etc, etc.

You can help by joining the Facebook Cause or writing to your local member of Parliament.

Our children are worth investing in so that they have a chance at becoming a contributing member of society. With the current skills shortages and the situation worsening over time, it IS ESSENTIAL the Australian Government invest in autism or there will be generations of neglected people out of work and depedent on the Government to survive. Australia's economy can't afford for this to happen.

The main issue we will be focussing on is education. With funding for early intervention now in place and we applaud the Federal Government for this wonderful initiative, it is essential we focus on continuing support for our children. We believe that much of the early intervention funding could be wasted long term if support for children with ASD isn't provided throughout a child's school years. Children are making great progress with early intervention, only to regress when they get to school because the required support is not available. With recent studies from Melbourne's LaTrobe University stating that 1 in 100 children having an autism spectrum disorder, it is essential this education crisis is made a national priority. This is a very sad situation where way too many children are being denied the human right to an appropriate education. Our teachers also deserve much more support and education in this area.

We invite you to join the VOTE 4 AUTSIM Facebook cause and contribute your thoughts on this issue under the discussion topic (link found on right side of cause page) on the cause page.

This cause is run by Rainbowland Autism Services Inc. (RAS) & Autism Advisory Support Service (AASS)

Allison Dix, Director of Rainbowland Autism Services Inc.

Grace Fava, Director of Autism Advisory Support Services

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM RAINBOWLAND AUTISM SERVICES

December is a great time to reflect on what has been achieved throughout the year.  On reflection, it has been an amazing year for us.  We find ourselves in a position that wasn't anticipated, but is not taken for granted.

Below is a summary of our achievements:

  • Establishment of a weekend family support group called ‘Rainbow Land Play Time’ where the whole family can relax and enjoy each other’s company in a supportive environment;

• More than 5,000 global members of our Facebook ‘Rainbow Day – Global Autism Awareness Campaign’ cause;

• More than 1,000 global members of our Rainbowland Autism Services Facebook Fan Page;

• Establishment of various online support groups for families living with autism and various professionals;
• Advocated on behalf of the Australian autism community through official meetings with the Prime Minister - Kevin Rudd, the Parliamentary Secretary for Disabilities and Children’s Services – Bill Shorten and various Government Departments.
• Published articles in hard print and global e-newsletters, including an article called ‘The Gifts of Autism’ published in the Proteus Leadership Centres’ proteuslife magazine in November 2009. We have also had various stories printed about our work in the local newspaper.
• Development of blogs: www.rainbowlandautismservices.blogspot.com & www.rainbowlandplaytime.blogspot.com
• Incorporated our organisation in November 2009;
• We officially launched our global autism awareness campaign through the development and email distribution of our ‘Autism Awareness Information Sheet’. The information sheet was written for us by co-author of the Australian Autism Handbook, Seana Smith. Our Autism Awareness Information Sheet has been distributed world-wide.

Everyone at Rainbowland Autism Services would like to wish you a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful and joyous 2010.

HAPPY RAINBOWS,

Allison Dix

Director