ROME - From supermarkets, railway stations, airports, shopping centers: create a physical and emotional welcome path for autistic children and young people and their families, thanks to the help of trained personnel.
This is the goal of the national campaign "dueapriletuttigiorni - ConTatto Blu", launched by La Stella di Daniele Onlus, on the occasion of the World Day for Awareness on Autism which is celebrated on April 2.
The project aims to raise awareness in the community to support families with children and teenagers with autism spectrum disorders who are faced with a sense of helplessness and strong discomfort in everyday situations, such as going to a pizzeria, entering a shop or do the shopping.
Testimonial of the initiative will be the presenter and journalist Eleonora Daniele.
The campaign will take place in two steps.
The first, explains Laura Rossi, president of La Stella di Daniele Onlus, "will involve a supermarket chain, with which the awareness raising action will begin, to which three requests will be made: to lower the music, the light, the voice, thus raising the awareness of staff and customers themselves, to create a Blue moment of special welcome for autistic children or teens ".
The Association will train the staff of the structures and the people who want to participate.
The second step involves raising the awareness of institutions, health centers, associations, companies, so that a Blue Contact is created in their structures: a physical and emotional welcome path inside shops, pharmacies, stations, airports, with staff sensitive to the problem. autism that can accommodate and support children and families.
For example, "in a train station the staff will be able to indicate a comfort zone to stay away from the chaos while waiting for a train to depart, making the boy and his parents feel welcomed, the same in a shopping center where trained staff - concludes Rossi - will be able to assist a mom or dad while shopping or running errands ".
"The mission of the project is to present these young people to the community for what they are, with their frailties but also with their great peculiarities, in order to interact with them correctly - explains Antonella Elena Rossi, psycho-pedagogist and scientific director of La Stella di Daniele Onlus -. We can understand and help them, giving them confidence in the surrounding world; for this reason it is essential to raise awareness, inform and train ".
Personalities from the world of culture, journalism, cinema, music and sport will also be involved in the campaign, through the request to create videos and radio spots.
First Partner of the initiative the Pleiadi Group, young scientists attentive to the well-being of children and society.