AUTISTIC LINCS: Culture Of Crisis

Published: 10:30, 03 June 2019

| Updated: 10:31, 03 June 2019

Hello there! Callum Brazzo here, continuing to make Autistic Lincs.

It's been a jam-packed week with the SEND National Crisis taking centre-stage this past weekend and a slew of articles as per usual ranging from a new show coming to the Edinburgh Fringe festival and outstanding customer service at Clarks, to more local happenings with the Going Forward Music Festival 2019 tickets going on sale and the Walk For Autism Pride hosted by The David Snape Show.

The SEND Crisis is a shining example of when people unite for a common cause or a common injustice as is the systemic failures of so many children with special educational needs.

It is a reminder of what lots of autistic people already know and we have to constantly assess therapies used against us to correct us, to conform us and to box us into a tight narrative that does nothing but constricts our potential and suffocates our sense of identity.

Autistic children and children with special educational needs grow up. I believe, as do millions of other people in the SEND Crisis March, that we have to do some growing up of our own when it comes to how we handle the vulnerable and the marginalised people of our world.

And that is why the Going Forward Social Group in Spalding, which recently reached its three-year anniversary, has a firm place in my heart and in the pulse of South Holland's consortium of community projects and branches of support.

Its newest iteration of the annual Going Forward Music Festival 2019 has tickets available at a link listed below and I sincerely hope the physical turnout obtains its intended measure of success, however all is not dependent on one event.

It is three years' worth of success with the stories those affected by the group can tell and, putting everything firmly in perspective, they should be very proud of all they've done.

I am.

As we enter the month of June where autistic pride events enter the fray of consciousness and the Education Awards looming, I wonder if we are proud of our education system as it stands.

There are failures on a massive scale but it was a mere call to action and we damn well answered it in London and around the world.

But for those in need, we must stand up, speak out, fight with knowledge on a foundation of love, build bridges and platforms for our stories to be told and alter this culture of crisis.