To celebrate Autism Awareness Week, Lifeways sets wellbeing challenge for people we support and colleagues

Did you know around 1 in 100 adults in the UK live with autism?

At Lifeways, many of the almost 5,000 individuals who are supported by our 11,000 colleagues are on the autistic spectrum. 

Once again this year, we’re unable to bring people together for Autism Awareness Week - led by the National Autistic Society - but we’re not letting that stop us! 

So to celebrate Autism Awareness Week 2021, we’re asking everyone to take part in the Lifeways Super Seven Challenge, based on the National Autistic Society’s own seven-themed challenge. Our Super Seven Challenges are based around health and wellbeing – and we’re asking everyone to try something new that they haven’t done before.

Here's the poster we've designed to launch the week!

We know that the Lifeways community will rise to the challenge of our online celebrations!

What is autism?

Autism is a lifelong developmental disability. It affects how people communicate and interact with the world. People on the autistic spectrum may have difficulties that can include social communication and interaction; over-or-under sensitivity to light, sound, taste and touch; and may live with extreme anxiety - as well as facing other challenges.

The coronavirus pandemic has been hard for many autistic people.  

As well as community services being closed, the ever-changing guidelines and restrictions have sometimes been confusing to understand and extremely difficult to implement for autistic people with high support needs. 

So a huge thank you to our colleagues, who’ve worked so hard during this time to support people in finding new and different things to do. Thank you.

We hope that this week, you’ll be able to come up with some new ideas, celebrate the role of autistic people in our society – and boost your own health and wellbeing at the same time!

Going forward

There’s also plenty more activity coming up around autism. Thursday, 1 April, marks the start of Autism Awareness Month – and the very next day, Friday 2 April, is World Autism Awareness Day. Stay tuned to hear more from us!

About Lifeways:

With 11,000 colleagues, Lifeways is the UK’s largest team of support professionals providing support to adults in the community. Our 1,500 supported living services and residential services support almost 5,000 adults with diverse and complex needs.