Step it up for autism awareness event
Participants can run in their own neighbourhood at their own pace and just have fun.
THE cost of therapy is a constant challenge for many families who have autistic children.
The Blue and You Autism Awareness annual walk/run was started to raise funds for those families, but unfortunately the event was cancelled in April due to Covid-19.
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Instead, the NPO decided to host an autism awareness virtual run /walk which means people from around the country and world can participate in their own neighbourhoods.
The virtual run/walk takes place on Saturday, 1 August between 8am and 3pm.
Highway parents, Robyn and Gareth De Broize are on the NPO’s committee and have a nine-year-old daughter, Kenzie who has autism.
“My husband is a runner and starting an event such as this one seemed like a great idea. It has been well supported since it started in 2017,” said Robyn.
The loving and caring Hillcrest parents said they went to many doctors before receiving the correct diagnosis for their daughter.
“It was a long road. We were told that Kenzie was deaf and has epilepsy, until one pediatrician did a global development assessment on her and we finally got a correct diagnosis,” said Gareth.
The couple said they are very blessed as Kenzie is a high functioning child and goes to a mainstream school.
“We were fortunate to get her the Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) therapy at a young age which we can not say for many families. This walk is a way to get other children to get therapy and change their lives,” said Robyn.
“Raising a child with autism is very challenging. It includes lots of work and requires lots of patience and most of the children are non-verbal,” explained Gareth.
How to enter the virtual run /walk:
People can choose from 3km, 5km or 8km distances and register on line https://www.eventtiming.info/entryonline.php?id=233.
Participants can run in their own neighbourhood at their own pace.
People can run or walk with their dog, push a pram, have their families to join them.
Children can ride bikes, skateboards or even use rollerblades and just have fun. It works much the same way as other running events, but the difference is that you can run at any location, especially in the familiarity of your own neighbourhood at your own pace.
The organisers reminded people that it is still lockdown, so all participants are urged to adhere to the lockdown regulations set out by the government in order to keep themselves and others safe.
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