By Hina Kiyani
ISLAMABAD: Various organisations will conduct events on Saturday to raise awareness on autism and commemorate its acceptance in society on April 2, which is celebrated as World Autism Day.
ICT Administration has joined hands with Islamabad Cycling Association for a cycling event planned by the latter in the evening at Beverly Centre. Other partners to this athletic activity include Islamabad Territory Police, Islamabad Running Club and Zam Zam Autism Centre among others. While talking to APP, representative ICA Haroon shared, “The one-day function will feature stalls of artwork and baked goodies made by the students from the Zam Zam Autism Centre ” adding that the idea is to show people how they can be integrated into regular activities.
Team will also conduct a “Balance Bike Competition” for kids 5 years and under. This cycle race will commence from 5 p.m. at the same venue, where the participants can be registered.
Happiness Bazaar will hold its monthly cause-driven retail gala on Saturday here to spread awareness regarding Autism, besides some pre-Ramzan retail therapy for families.
This time the event will see around 100 home-spun brands, majority of which run by women, setting up their pop-ups at PNCA lawn to showcase their crafts from 4 p.m to 10 p.m.
Founder THB Zaira Rizvi told APP, “For the first time, we have a child entrepreneur on board. To honour world autism day and remove the stereotypes regarding this neurodiversity, ARCRWP team recommended a student of theirs.”
The kidpreneur -a passionate baker is a young child on the autism spectrum and will display his work at the upcoming festivity. On a trial basis, he participated in the fair arranged by the school where his products sold out and gained appreciation from the visitors.
“He is a student of the school run by the autism society school, Masha’Allah he has joined mainstream school recently” she added.
“The parents observed he is interested in cooking, and they wanted to inculcate entrepreneurship skills.” Zaira shared.
Around 40,000 children have been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder in Pakistan, according to Pakistan Autism Society. However, the amount could be more than this as currently there is no standardised assessment and support available in the country.
