Portrait of Leonardo Da Vinci from the 1880’s, DepositPhotos.
Leonardo DaVinci said there are three classes of people: those who see, those who see when they are shown, those who do not see.
My friend Tracy Hutchinson Wallace of Autism Spirit and I disagree about Awareness being an important tenet in transformation. As allies when we are away from the battlefield though, we converse, share and learn from each other.
I think the reason many persons do not buy into Awareness in its current incarnation here in Trinidad and Tobago is because it has been twisted and presented into a fast food type of affair. Buy into it today, satisfy your hunger or need to feel good and then move on until you need to feel good again but move on to another brand of fast food.
There are no questions asked about the future well being of the affected parties and what can be done to actively engage in the process of shifting the environment. Well, I don’t subscribe to it either. What I do subscribe to is awareness leading to recognition, acceptance and action.
Awareness is really an ongoing process of campaigning. It is actually recognised as an act of ongoing campaigning for change. Chris Rose says in What Makes People Tick: The Three Hidden Worlds of Settlers, Prospectors and Pioneers that “Campaigning is a conversation with society, persuading people to take an unusual interest in supporting a move that would not normally happen. It is the science and art of changing what is possible. It means setting up and sustaining processes that are not normal or business as usual.”
Transformation is not an overnight process and it can take years. Awareness and education as we at Cause An Effect have been engaging in, is an ongoing process of building allies both in and out of the Government and Corporations, reaching eyes and ears, touching hearts and minds and planting seeds of consciousness to encourage meaningful action resulting in real changes. Changes that show recognition of the affected party’s humanity by acknowledging, respecting and meeting their needs.
It requires a great deal of strategy and more importantly, tenacity and audacity. The audacity to continue engaging and believing even when it feels as if all is lost or as if you are in a desert enduring your forty days and forty nights, where you smell the earth and your hopelessness makes you feel as if death is near with no fireflies in sight as a beacon of hope.
Autism Spirit’s co-founders Tracy Hutchinson Wallace and Michelle Foreman are currently asking us ALL to be their allies in their attempt to encourage much needed changes in the education system for Children with Disabilities and Special Needs.
We ask you to join with them by signing and sharing this petition to the Ministry of Education to implement much needed changes to the system to ensure a brighter future for Autistics and all children with disabilities. Let us help them to get those numbers up and your collective voices heard.
Ciao!
Laura Escayg
Add comment