The Lithuanian autism association “Lietaus vaikii” invites you to celebrate autism month Life

This year, the Lithuanian autism association “Lietaus vaikii” joins the “Not invisible” initiative of the international association “Autism-Europe” and invites everyone to celebrate autism month and to depict the infinity sign as a symbol of support, and to upload such photos to social networks. Also, members of the public are invited to participate in the events, the conference and see the symbolic film “Rain Man” that is returning to the cinema screen for one time, according to the press release.

The evolution of the autism symbol

Over the years, not only the attitude towards autistic persons changes, but also the symbol of autism itself. The still commonly seen puzzle piece was first depicted around 1963. The puzzle is unique and was intended to show that autistic individuals have unique characteristics. However, over time, puzzle pieces began to be associated with negative aspects, that the lack of a piece reflects difficulties or unresolved issues.

in 1999 An Autism Awareness Ribbon was developed to reflect the complexity of the autism spectrum. The different colors and shapes of the puzzle pieces show that autism affects different groups of people and that no one person or family has the same experience of autism, and also symbolizes the diversity of people and families living with this diagnosis.

“Even later, the infinity sign was depicted as a symbol of autism. It shows that the spectrum is broad, complex and includes individuals with many different strengths and challenges, great potential and severe disabilities. It also comes in different variations, some using a gold infinity symbol and others using all the colors of the rainbow. The latter option represents diversity with endless variations and endless possibilities. During the decade of the association’s activity, we see this change very clearly. Currently, the autism symbol of infinity, depicted in rainbow colors, is the most widely used in the West,” shares Lina Sasnauskienė, head of the Lithuanian autism association “Lietaus vaikii”.

Raising Autism Awareness

According to L. Sasnauskienė, the most important thing is that attention is drawn to autistic persons, the more residents, businesses or public institutions join in and show support during autism month, the stronger the community of autistic persons can feel. In any case, the most significant thing is when we receive such support not once a year, but every day.

“I think we really managed to make the topic of autism visible not only in the autistic child’s environment, family, school, but also in a wider part of society. And this empowers autistic people themselves, they feel more encouraged and can share their experiences and challenges. Ten years ago – in 2014, at the press conference to celebrate our first Autism Awareness Day, our board member Tomas Eicher Lorka shared his experience as an autistic person for the first time. It was really a very powerful experience and the most fascinating thing is that it happened ten years ago. If today we appreciate that we have quite a lot of autistic persons sharing their experiences, as well as parents raising autistic children, then ten years ago there were only a few of them,” shares L.Sasnauskienė.

The Lithuanian Autism Association represents about 700 members throughout Lithuania. In commemorating autism month, we would like to draw attention to the work done by the association and the real impact created. Not always even community members know that this is the result achieved thanks to the association’s advocacy and representation.

“One of the most significant changes, representing the community, is that we managed to achieve that since 2015 the diagnosis of autism in adults has been legalized in Lithuania. Previously, until January 1, 2015, most people who turned 18 years old became schizophrenic or intellectually disabled. Equally important achievements are compensation for communication and sensory technical support tools, two action plans for helping autistic people have been signed and implemented, more autistic people can receive one of the social benefits, and the creation of a department for educational methodological support has been initiated,” says L. Sasnauskiene

Events in April

“In celebration of Autism Awareness Month, we invite everyone to represent the infinity sign in imaginative ways. Maybe you will all stop for a common infinity photo, maybe you will make an infinity sign with your fingers, or maybe you will draw it. The goal of this campaign is for as many kindergartens, schools, companies, state institutions and natural persons as possible to show support for autistic persons and spread the wave of the infinity sign as support for autism”, invites L. Sasnauskienė.

April 2 An event will be organized in the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania to celebrate the global autism awareness month. “The first part will present the photo exhibition ‘When you are there, I can’, which aims to reveal the connection between teacher support and the achievement of an autistic student. This is not only an inspiration for change, but also an important reminder of the role of a teacher in the autism community. The second part will consist of the discussion “The spectrum of success: why do autistic students succeed?”, in which educators will share their experiences of how they successfully help their students achieve big goals”, presents Kristina Košel-Patil, chairwoman of the Lithuanian autism association “Lietaus vaakii” board.

April 10 the remote National Autism Conference will take place. According to K. Košel-Patil, this year the speakers will delve into topics such as what is autism and social understanding, the development of diversity in education, understanding the causes of challenging behavior, creating sensory-friendly classrooms, opportunities for cooperation between parents and teachers of autistic students, and the use of alternative and augmentative communication. .

Another important event on April 18. support movie night – “Rain Man”, organized together with the sponsors “Multikino” cinema and PPC “Ozas”. support for parents whose children have just been diagnosed with autism”, says L. Sasnauskienė.

Autism Month will be crowned with a symbolic 8-kilometer community walk, reflecting the infinity sign. “Why is it important for us to march together?” All relationships need to be strengthened, they need to be invested in, the fact that people come, willingly register, they attribute themselves to the Lietau children community, they want to strengthen the relationship, they invest in it, because belonging to something is very important. It is also very important that new families who have just started their autism journey will walk alongside the old ones. And seeing that someone succeeded will inspire them to feel stronger, they will see that they too will be able to live their lives, that everything will come together”, says Sandra Lopetaitė, head of the association “Panevėžys Lietaus Vaikii”.

Based on Agnes Bykova’s article in “Lietaus vaiki” magazine.