Mallow Library Autism Awareness Day – Saturday 22nd April

In celebration of Autism Awareness Month, #Mallow Library is very excited to be hosting a special day to cap off the month. Throughout the day there will be several activities all with the aim of being fun yet informative. Come along and join in with our Reading Café or autism friendly Lego sessions for kids, amongst other events that will run throughout the day.   

 

Time allowing we will do tours of the Library’s own sensory area including demos of our sensory Pod.

 

There will be light refreshments throughout the day.

 

Assistance dogs will be more than welcome.

 

 

10.00 – 11.00 – Conversation session with Author & Lecturer Diarmuid Heffernan of ASC and UCC.  Consisting of a brief introduction, followed by a discussion of his experiences of working with autistic people for the last 14 years.  Concluding with  an open forum where participants are invited to discuss their experiences of being autistic.

 

11.00 – 12.00 – CreAUT session for adolescents and adults with Diarmuid Heffernan and autistic artist Gala Tomasso.  The focus of this session is to allow creativity to flourish. The sessions are fun, and also foster a sense of connection and belonging.  They also allow autistic people to communicate in ways that transcend the verbal.  It will begin with a short introduction that will consist of a discussion on the links between autism, creativity and wellbeing. The rest of the session would involve visual, verbal and audio prompts to encourage expression.  All materials will be provided on the day. Participants can choose to show their work or not, there will not be any pressure either way. 

 

14.00 – Informal Q&A conversation with Mallow’s own Mike McGrath-Bryan, Irish Examiner and The Echo Digital Journalist and Mallow Library’s very own Dan Webb.

 

 

For more information contact Mallow Library on 022-21821 or mallow.library@corkcoco.ie

 

#AutismAwarenessMonth #SameChance #AutismAwareness

 

Please join us or spread the word with anyone who this may be of interest to.

 

Míle buíochas,

Ciara.