April is designated Autism Awareness Month and Sagicor has been highlighting the work of organisations throughout the region in order to further the conversation, educate the public and increase financial support to these institutions, many of whom are led and managed by parents and specialists in autism care.
In Dominica, the company provided a donation to the Alpha Centre for the purchase of uniform shirts as well as a food basket and hosted a radio programme to raise awareness about autism and parenting on Kairi FM.
The Alpha Centre is the only institution in Dominica that is dedicated to educating children with moderate to severe learning disabilities which may include autism. Principal of the Alpha Centre, Brother Raymond Philogene was on hand to collect the donation and he expressed deep thanks for the support from Sagicor and emphasized that support from public and private organisations makes the continued work of the Alpha Centre possible.
Additionally, Sagicor supported the Hot Topics radio programme on Kairi FM on Wednesday 17th April. Vanessa Bruno host of Hot Topics facilitated a discussion titled Autism; Different Not Less and focused on what autism may look like, why early diagnosis is extremely helpful and what are some of the resources available in Dominica for parents with autism. Present for the discussion were Caya Harris, a team member at Sagicor General who is the mother of an autistic child, Christel Pascal, special education teacher of the Achievement Learning Centre and Neva Edwards, Social Worker.
You can listen to a playback of the programme on Facebook at Autism; Different Not Less
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