ATINUKE AWE admits in a phone call prior to doing an interview with the Voice that she is nervous.
Her four-year-old son is starting school later this year and she doesn’t feel the world is ready to embrace children with autism. It’s an ignorance she understands because she says she was once ignorant too.
Awe believes education is widely needed in order to help children like hers to navigate through the conventional schooling system and she wants to do her part in teaching.
Currently promoting a fundraising campaign she started to tackle the lack of Special educational needs and disability (SEND) representation in children’s books, she told the Voice despite it feeling like a mountain to climb, she was up for the task of changing perceptions, attitudes and mindsets where autism was concerned, through a series of books and learning tools entitled ‘Learning With Ez’.
“I am a little bit biased because I am a mother of two, I have a four-year-old son called Ezekiel, that’s who Learning With Ez is based off, and I have a two-year-old daughter called Eden and my son is autistic.
“He is off to school in September so for me alarm bells were ringing when we decided that we were going to send him to mainstream school.
“The best way to reach children so they understand is through books. Children learn so much through books and that lack of representation really upsets me and it’s something that I grapple with every day.”
Focussing on the solution she had in mind, Awe added: “I definitely would like to tackle the lack of SEN representation in books.
“I think it’s really important that we are having conversations as early as possible about difference, Neurodiversity, autism, ADHD, All these things that our children will see in the nurseries and their schools and beyond.
“It’s important that we are raising kids that are empathetic and understanding. We always scream about acceptance and understanding but how are we really trying to tackle that?
“It can be difficult to get some adults to understand about autism as there are a lot of misconceptions and myths through various stereotypes that we see in the media.
“We owe it to our children since we are raising the next generation.”
Speaking on how she saw her contribution to this space being big enough to make a difference, Awe enthused: “I am so passionate about this. My son got his diagnosis last year and I will be honest with you, my understanding of autism was limited.
“When he got his diagnosis I realised there was so much more there and I had so much that I needed to learn so that I can support my son. The time is now. There are so many myths and stereotypes that play a part in the way people think, but what a lot of people don’t actually know is that the prevalence of autism is higher in black children but I don’t think there is enough being said in the Black community.
“It’s still such a taboo subject so what I try to do with my Mum‘s and Tea platform is raise that alarm and share my own experiences of raising my autistic son.”
Nearing the end of her time period to attract the finance required to bring her idea to life, Awe said: “I’m currently 15 per cent of the way and I have less than two weeks to come up with the rest of the funds.
“I need £18,000 in total. This is a three in one project. We have the picture book, and two sets of visual aid flashcards.
“Daily routine cards and toilet training cards. There is currently a lack of visual aids to specifically support black children.
“All the pictorial references are either stick people or children from different backgrounds.
“These cards are not diagnosis specific, autistic people will benefit from them but also all young children will benefit from them.”
Check out more from Atinuke Awe here:
IG: @mumsandtea
Twitter:@mumsandtea
Comments Form