The Clonakilty Commitment - Training Week!

The Clonakilty Commitment – Training Week!

The town of Clonakilty in Co. Cork has undertaken a commitment to become fully Autism Friendly – a first for anywhere in Ireland. Over the last four months the AsIAm team have been working with the entire community to achieve official Autism Friendly Accreditation, kindly supported by SuperValu.

To do this the town as a whole must deliver:

Engagement and training 25% of businesses and voluntary organisations
Engagement and training of 50% of public services
Engagement and training of 50% of school communities
Engagement and training of 50% of healthcare professionals
Engagement of 3 employers
Reaching 25% of the town’s population

To this end, last week the team traveled to Clonakilty and facilitated training sessions for many different groups in the community – including business owners, medical staff and ambulance crew, teachers, retail and service employees, hospitality staff, local school pupils, and so on! We also brought our Autism Experience Exhibition to Clonakilty Parish Hall so people could experience a little part of life as an autistic person.

The town is very close to reaching these targets. This training week represented the last piece of the journey in reaching and educating as many of the community as possible. Throughout this process, the people of Clonakilty have been enthusiastic, friendly, and dedicated to the “Clonakilty Commitment”.

We’re putting the final touches in place for Clonakilty’s Autism Accreditation day on 9th October. In the meantime, here’s what we got up to last week…

Adam Harris, our CEO, delivering a school talk in Clonakilty.

Aisling Foran, our Training and Business Advisory Officer, training retail and business staff in autism and inclusion.

Julie Dorel of SuperValu and Adam Harris, AsIAm CEO. Credit: Anna Dodog

Julie Dorel, Adam Harris, Patricia O’Leary. Credit: Anna Dodog

Adam Harris (AsIAm CEO) and Aisling Foran (Training & Business Advisory Officer). Credit: Anna Dodog

Aisling Foran, Training and Business Advisory Officer

Eleanor Walsh, AsIAm Information Officer. Credit: Anna Dodog

A display of autism-related books at Clonakilty Library, the evening of our Living With Autism event.

Living With Autism, a community event at Clonakilty Library.

Múinteoir Padraig discusses his primary school’s Autism Classes in Clonakilty.Credit: Anna Dodog

Múinteoir Íde explains the tools used to structure a child’s day in her Early Intervention Class

Mary, a parent, shares her experience of raising a child on the autism spectrum in Cork. Credit: Anna Dodog

Elaine McGoldrick describes the impact Clonakilty’s Autism Friendly Town commitment will have on autistic people in the town like her. Credit: Anna Dodog

Adam Harris CEO explains the differing definitions of autism around the world in his speech at Clonakilty Library. Credit: Anna Dodog

Adam Harris explains autism to a group of hospitality staff and business owners.

@AsIAmIreland Many Thanks for a very informative talk on Autism. Clonakilty Ambulance crew.Enjoy Clonakilty. @WestCorkRR @corkcountyfire @AmbulanceNAS pic.twitter.com/bIurwwnnOq

— 😎 (@DeZmed) September 25, 2018

Great exhibition today – excited about positive changes we can make …. thanks for coming to Clon !! @AsIAmIreland https://t.co/AZGVVet58u

— CoderDojoClon (@CoderDojoClon) September 27, 2018

An engaging & informative evening at #ClonakiltyLibrary @AdamPHarris of @AsIAmIreland, with a host of other inspiring speakers, discussing #AutismAwareness & #Clonakilty‘s bid to become Ireland’s first ever fully-accredited Autism Friendly Town. @HealthyIreland @SuperValuIRL pic.twitter.com/rmC7AdkSIT

— Cork County Library (@corkcolibrary) September 28, 2018