Sunday, 2 April 2017

Autism Awareness Month 2017




Hello – and thanks for coming along to my blog post to support autism awareness month. As you can see from the banner, this year’s theme is animals. I have two cats, and there is nothing like sitting with a cat in your lap, hearing it purr as you stroke its fur or scritch its ears. Animals can make such a difference to your life.

A couple of years ago, we decided to cut down on the number of things we bought each other for Christmas and birthday. Looking around for ideas, I discovered The Donkey Sanctuary. We had visited the headquarters in Sidmouth while on holiday and sponsoring a donkey seemed like a great idea.

This is a photograph of Henry, the donkey I have sponsored for two years and a link to his page. He lives at the Manchester Sanctuary.

You may ask what has this to do with autism. From the regular updates I receive, I discovered that The Donkey sanctuary does a lot of work with both adults and children with physical and learning disabilities through their assisted therapy work and offer a chance for people to work with specially chosen donkeys. It has been found the people on the autistic spectrum can benefit from working with these special animals. Here is a link to the story of a boy called Alexander and a donkey called William. I hope they won’t mind me including it here.

The Donkey Sanctuary are changing how they work with autistic children so they can continue to work with the donkeys as adults. The story above shows just how donkeys help and there are many other examples.

You can find more about the work the charity does here.

And more about the National Autistic society here
There are lots of authors taking part in this autism awareness month. You can find the master page of their blog posts on RJ Scott’s blog.

Finally, I’ve decided to have a little giveaway. I’ll put the names of anyone who comments on this post into random.org and you can choose from an ecopy of either of my new books, While You See a Chance out 1st May or My Highland Cowboy out 6th June.

Thank you for visiting my page.

Alexa Milne
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22 comments:

  1. Claudia2 April 2017 at 18:21

    Donkeys are one of the most sure footed animals so I can surely see the connection.

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  2. Anonymous2 April 2017 at 20:57

    I always learn so much from this hop every year!

    vitajex(at)Aol(Dot)com

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  3. Tanja3 April 2017 at 01:39

    Thank you for sharing this fact of the donkeys helping kids with autism. This is new to me.

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  4. ShirleyAnn3 April 2017 at 04:44

    Thank you for the post Alexa it is wonderful how animals can help children and adults with Autism.

    ShirleyAnn(at)speakman40(dot)freeserve(dot)co(dot)uk

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  5. booksandmore3 April 2017 at 05:14

    Thank you for the post, Alexa. I have a cat, and I agree with you, there is nothing like sitting with a cat in your lap, letting that smooth purring soothe you... I also love donkeys, they are sweet! Animals can do great things for people with any sort of health issues. They are like walking and breathing healers!

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  6. RJ3 April 2017 at 06:07

    Thank you for joining in Alexa... Loves... RJ XXXXXX

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  7. laurie3 April 2017 at 06:12

    thank you for your post. i have always known animals can be a big help. my dad when he was alive had Asperger and our husky x was his best friend and a buffer against the world

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  8. Charlie Cochrane3 April 2017 at 07:04

    Lovely post. However, I can't think of the Donkey Sanctuary without remembering that one of them stood on my toe there and jolly painful it was!

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  9. Jen3 April 2017 at 08:10

    Thank you for sharing about the Donkey Sanctuary. It's amazing how much animals can help people. I've read about using horses for therapy, but donkeys are a new one for me.

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  10. Anonymous3 April 2017 at 11:40

    Woah, donkeys! I actually didn't know there was such a thing as a Donkey Sanctuary but then again it's not everyday donkeys are mentioned. Thank you taking part in the hop and sharing this information with us.

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  11. Sheryl3 April 2017 at 13:54

    Really, donkeys? Both my girls are autistic and I love learning ways to help and support them. Thanks for sharing.

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  12. Lillian3 April 2017 at 15:41

    Great for the donkeys and the humans.

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  13. Sherri S.3 April 2017 at 23:03

    Not really a cat person, prefer dogs, mutts actually and rescues as to many are in pounds. They are my comfort.

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  14. Sexy Erotic Xciting4 April 2017 at 03:22

    What a great cause! Thanks for posting.
    Evelise

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  15. an89985 April 2017 at 05:06

    I have a physical disability and just lost my dog, He had to go to another home. I never felt better than when he was in my lap.

    My E-mail is clopez8998@gmail.com

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  16. Lisa5 April 2017 at 07:59

    Wow...donkeys!!! Never thought of those. My son and daughter are on the spectrum. That sounds like something they would enjoy.

    Wolphcall(at)bellsouth(dot)net

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  17. Liz/moth5 April 2017 at 10:37

    Nice article. We also live near Manchester and my grandson is autistic. We have supported the Donkey Sanctuary but it appears they are changing their way of working. They have cut down on the number of days for autistic and disabled riders to the bare minimum required to keep their council 'permission'. Friends are concerned about it and there are petitions so you could look out for those in the Gorton area. By the way, Blogger refuses to accept my log in from my website at https://jaymountney.wordpress.com/ so I just hope you get this comment! Not because I don't want to be in with a chance of getting a book - I really do!! But because we're all concerned about the new regime at the sanctuary.

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    Replies
    1. Alexa Milne5 April 2017 at 11:48

      Hi
      I saw they were changing things but thought it was to do with continuing working with people rather than just letting them ride. I'll have a look and I'm happy to sign a petition having read how much good has been done.

      Delete
    2. Liz/moth5 April 2017 at 14:34

      My daughter's friend has posted about it on FB: anne crofts the donkey sanctuary
      The actual petition is on change at:
      https://www.change.org/p/the-donkey-sanctuary-donkey-sanctuary-should-reinstate-7-sacked-volunteers-from-manchester?recruiter=52787403&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=autopublish&utm_term=mob-xs-share_petition-reason_msg

      Delete
  18. Suze7 April 2017 at 13:37

    Animals do seem to give comfort in lots of instances and this work sounds vital - will look at the petition.

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  19. Unknown18 April 2017 at 06:58

    Wow animals are simply amazing. Thank you

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  20. Alexa Milne4 May 2017 at 04:01

    And the winner out of the random selection is an8998. I will email you.

    ReplyDelete

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