ASP to hold Angels Walk for autism awareness

THE Autism Society Philippines (ASP) will organize an event called “Angels’ Walk” to raise awareness about autism in Davao City.

Uswaldo Parreñas, President of ASP-Davao Chapter, said during the Kapehan sa Dabaw session on Monday morning, April 15, 2024, at SM City Davao that the objective of the Angels’ Walk is to inform the public about their autism awareness program.

“This program is the flagship program for ASP. So we called it Angels’ Walk. We started this as early as 2007, and we want to create awareness among everyone because, you know, when you can see a child or a person with autism, they are just the same as everyone else, with no distinction. You only know through their communication and through their socialization. So with that, we want them to be accepted socially, and at the same time, we want them to be productive,” he said.

Imelda Rendon, ASP-Davao Chapter treasurer, said that this year, they are expecting around 800 to 1,000 people, including families, students, and people with autism, to attend the event.

Rendon also stated that on their part, their goal is to spread awareness so that people will know that when their son or child is diagnosed with autism, it’s “not the end of the world”, for there is hope.

“ASP acts as a support group for the families, and it’s our goal also to refer them to schools where their children can have therapies and of course, this time, more children are diagnosed with autism, so our goal is really for them to receive services,” she said.

She added that the government is providing support like the Department of Education (DepEd), wherein people with autism can receive special education.

“For the families who cannot afford to bring them to the private institutions, mayroon pong project ang DepEd to accept them. Our goal is to encourage the parents to send their children to schools (For the families who cannot afford to bring them to private institutions, DepEd has a project to accept them. Our goal is to encourage the parents to send their children to schools),” she said.

Uswaldo and Rendon encourage everyone to attend the Angels’ Walk on Sunday, April 21. Registration starts at 12 noon and the program will officially start at 1 p.m. at SM City Davao. /