We are Jon and Kim Southall, parents of 6 year old twin boys Dylan (left) and Ethan (right). In 2010 Dylan was diagnosed with autism and developmental delay. Dylan’s diagnosis didn’t come as a shock as we had our suspicions from before his second birthday. Dylan’s autism affects him and our family on a daily basis, there is no cure. What we do have though is knowledge of the disability, understanding and heaps of patience. Organisations such as the National Autistic Society have helped us greatly when we’ve needed advice, information and support. Dylan is a huge inspiration to us and is evidence that with hard work, encouragement and love they can achieve things we never imagined possible. Our hopes for the future is that Dylan can grow up in a world that understands autism and with support he can go on to live an independent life without limits.
We are very honoured & humbled to be nominated for The Sentinel Our Heroes Awards 2012 as Charity Champion/Volunteer.
The nomination came as a huge shock after only setting up Autism Aware UK in february 2012, we attended the awards ceromony on the 20/9/12 at the Moat House Hotel in Stoke on Trent where we were presented with a runners up certificate in our catorgory by england world cup winning goalkeeper Gordon Banks!
It truly was a phenomenal evening surrounded by inspirational people & celebrities from Stoke on Trent, it was the proudest moment of our lives.
We held our first annual charity ball at Alton Towers on 9th november 2012. The evening was a huge succes and with 150 guests attending and we raised £2,809 on the night.
Our second charity ball is on the 15th November 2013
During 2012 we raised £14,046 for autism charities with the help of family, friends & the support our social network followers.
Our goal for 2013 is to turn Autism Aware UK into a registered charity and continue to raise autism awareness and funds which will be used to help people people with autism.
Ask us anything via: Twitter @Autism_Aware_UK or Facebook www.facebook.com/AutismAwareUK
Email: AutismAwareUk@hotmail.co.uk
