Tuesday, 5 April 2022

World Autism Month

Mr RICHARDSON (Mordialloc) (12:47): I want to take this opportunity to acknowledge World Autism Month, which happens throughout the month of April, and also to give a big shout-out to the legends at Amaze for their #HoodieUp campaign, an extraordinary show of support, raising recognition for autistic people across our local community. It was great to join many across that community yesterday for the day of action to #HoodieUp. A lot of people asked, ‘Why hoodies?’. Hoodies are really important for autistic people experiencing sensory sensitivities and who become overloaded by stimuli in their environment. Wearing a hoodie is a safe way to block out some of those bright lights and busy environments and can help them to feel calm and less overwhelmed.

We see this with all of the sensory work that goes on in our local communities across our schools. It goes with the Victorian government’s massive support of inclusion across our schools—a $1.6 billion disability inclusion package that is being rolled out over the next five years to change the outcomes of our kids and make sure that every child, regardless of their circumstances, gets the very best education. It goes hand in glove with our amazing autism strategy, our education plan to make sure we celebrate, we enhance and we support our autistic kids across our communities as well. Amaze are champions of advocacy across our schools and across our communities for our kids and our educators, for inclusion and for our families, and we give them a big shout-out and thank them for their advocacy and support of our communities at this time.