Like all other minorities who are fighting to be more visible, people with autism must be everywhere, believes Mathieu Gratton, founder of Le Monde de Benjamin and spokesperson for the Benny&Co Foundation, which is launching its Big Annual Collection on the occasion of the month autism.
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“Benny&Co is a Quebec family from Lanaudière, which, apart from making excellent chicken, decided, a dozen years ago, to start a foundation to help families with young people with special needs” , explained Mathieu Gratton on QUB radio on Monday.
In an interview with Sophie Durocher, the Foundation’s spokesperson indicated that the objective of the Big Collection, which takes place throughout the month of April, is to raise $180,000 to enable young people with specials to have fun at camp this summer and give their parent a break.
“When young people return to their parents, the parents are more rested, and they are better parents. That’s what respite is for. Pause. The two rest on each other. The youngster rests from his parent and the parent from his youngster,” he said.
Raising Autism Awareness for Employers
Mathieu Gratton, who founded Le Monde de Benjamin with his autistic son, also deplored the lack of action on the part of the Quebec government and the non-existence of a “collective respite program or system”.
According to him, “we never invest a penny (…) to say that these people exist” because “[elles] aren’t going to vote, so it’s easy to forget about them”.
Mr. Gratton said he was contacted by the government, following an open letter written last year to demand the creation of a national awareness campaign on the place of autistic people in the labor market.
“Minister Boulet said to me ‘yes it’s a good idea, we will organize ourselves so that it works’. They asked me to put together a document, to put together a budget,” he said, adding that in the end it only resulted in “a small check”.
Mathieu Gratton has produced three capsules which will be released at the beginning of May, in order to “raise awareness among employers and tell them: yes, it’s one more challenge to integrate it into your environment, but once it’s done (…) it brings human values to other employees, to customers, it ensures that we have an inclusive society, it brings a sociable side to these people who are often excluded, isolated and it also brings respite to families “.
“Like all other minorities who are fighting to be more visible, autistic people, according to their potential, must be everywhere, there is no possible exclusion in any environment,” he added.
The Benny&Co Foundation’s Big Collection takes place until the end of April. According to the National Autism Spectrum Disorders Surveillance System, one in 66 children in Canada between the ages of five and 17 has autism.
Reference-www.journaldequebec.com