A wave of autism awareness at Durban beach
Director of The Autism Project, Tam Bennett, said the event coincided with Autism Month, which focuses on raising awareness, providing opportunities to increase understanding and acceptance of people with autism.
POINT Beach was a hive of activity on Saturday as little surfers took to the water for the Wave Warrior event held at the Durban Beach Club. The fun surf competition was organised by The Autism Project, a centre based on the KZN north coast, that strives to provide support to families with children on the autism spectrum as well as for professionals and organisations working with autistic individuals.
Director of The Autism Project, Tam Bennett, said the event also coincided with Autism Month, which focuses on raising awareness, providing opportunities to increase understanding and acceptance of people with autism.
“The event from start to finish was amazing considering we had to postpone the event for a week due to inclement weather. We had around 20 children on the spectrum from all over Durban, some of whom we work with who participated. The feedback from the children and their parents was extremely positive and we even had a request to make it a monthly thing, but for now I think it will be annual event,” she said.
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Bennett also thanked all those involved in the project including local surfers – like Spider Murphy who helped create ‘a safe and supportive environment’.
“I think beyond raising awareness, the event was also about acceptance. One of the big slogans for this Autism Month was presume competence. In the autism world, presuming competence means that a person on the spectrum is intelligent and able to do anything that anybody else could do. Saturday’s event proved that our kids can do anything,” she said.
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Bennett also touched on the event being the first of its kind in Durban.
“There are some amazing special needs and adaptive surfing events happening in Durban but this is the first we are aware of that was autism-specific. So to be able to be the first was very exciting for us all,” she said.
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