In December of 2017 my son Donnacha was diagnoised with Autism. This was no suprise to us as we’d always suspected it. However the offical news was no easier to take. It was a long gruelling process to get a disgnosis & i found very little support available locally. I love Donnacha with all my heart but it can be very tough at times. With this in mind myself & Andrea Craig set up an Autism Support Group in Downpatrick. We wanted other familes facing the same daily struggles as us to have somewhere to turn. No one should face this alone.

We want to promote Autism Awareness & Autism Acceptance in the Downpatrick area. We want to organise activities to allow parents to relax & educate them through training to make their journey a little easier.

Top of our agenda is making life better for our children. We want to organise activities to promote social skills, mental health & encourage them to have fun. We want them to have all the same opportunities as their peers.

In order to do this we need your help. Climbing Slieve Donard will be a challenge but it will be small in terms of the challenges our children face every day.

Autism - “Different not less”