I am going to trek up to Everest Base Camp with my trip starting from Kathmandu, Nepal, in April 2022. 

The goal of my trek is to raise funds to support the amazing work that all the staff at specialist school, Castlebar School, (located in Ealing) do to support and care for those children with multiple complex needs and severe learning disabilities including autism and other sensory impairments, and to raise awareness and public understanding around Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). All funds raised here will go directly to the school and I am fully self-funding this event.

I have no prior mountaineering or cross-country hiking experience so have been training in the past few months (harder than I ever have in my entire life!) to help me survive the challenging round trek for 12 days at high altitude. I will be reaching Everest Base Camp and summiting Kala Patthar (5545m above sea level) which is the highest point in my journey (London is 11m above sea level).

Castlebar School has a sensory room with equipment that are really dated and at the end of their life - it desperately need replacing. There is not enough funding for special schools, like Castlebar School, and there is a huge waiting list for getting a place. The school needs to raise £30k to fully refurbish this sensory room (excluding electrical wiring). It would have been 20 years since the room was fully refurbished and since then technology for specialist equipment has also moved on.

Please support this cause by helping to raise funds for the school. Whatever we can do to support them would be hugely appreciated.

It is schools like this that can help these children to progress and develop and learn to be independent in social and personal skills. Without specialist equipment and sensory rooms, therapies and opportunities to support and develop these children within the school are limited.

Sensory rooms are spaces designed to help individuals with autism feel calm, supported and focused. It can provide a calming experience
and a range of stimulating sensory inputs where children with autism often respond positively to certain types of sensory inputs. These rooms can be designed to help autistic individuals to manage sensory ‘assaults’ such as loud music, fluorescent lights and strong smells but also be a place of sanctuary for escaping sensory overload.

As part of this cause, I hope to change people’s misconceptions of what Autism is, whilst educating and busting myths around ASD.

In today’s society, there is a lack of understanding of ASD globally and so comes with social judgement and discrimination of autistic individuals. Having two boys being diagnosed on the autism spectrum, (ages 11 and 8), they couldn’t be more different. My husband, William and I have experienced the most stressful times, heart-breaking moments as well as the most rewarding experiences that come with being parents of autistic children.

Simple activities that a family would do regularly comes with high stress in ours. Something as simple as using a public toilet or going out to a quiet family meal can be a huge ordeal for the autistic child.

We’ve been cursed at for queuing outside a disabled toilet, judged by other parents with children in restaurants and outings, stared at during my
son’s many public meltdowns, told off for my son running into the road with on-coming traffic, told that our son is naughty by strangers and shouted at across the road by on-lookers. At the same time, we’ve experienced a lot of proud moments with my son’s musical abilities with winning awards and gold medals.

Whilst these are just our experiences and you may know someone with autism, there is still much to understand about this condition.
I’ve shared some information below if you would like to find out more.

Please help spread this cause to raise funds, to build public understanding of Autism and create a movement of support.

From the bottom of our hearts, Thank You. X

Did you know…?

• ASD is a hidden disability where you cannot physically see the condition. The official sunflower lanyard is a global symbol for people with non-visible disabilities.
• ASD is a developmental disability caused by differences in the brain therefore autistic people think and are wired differently to a neurotypical person.
• Autism is a very individual condition and not one person with Autism are the same because of where they sit in the spectrum
  (and this can change over time). However, some primary characteristics associated with ASD are:

1. Difficulty with social skills and social interaction with others (can get very anxious, may find it hard to make friends or prefer being on their own)
2. Difficulty with expressive and receptive communication (e.g. face huge challenges in saying how they feel and being recipient of information/ instructions)
3. Having restrictive and repetitive behaviours (e.g. repeating a phrase out of context or repeated physical movements (stimming) like flapping arms or carrying out Obsessive Compulsive Disorder behaviours)
4. Under or over reaction and sensitivity of one or more of the senses including: sight, touch, taste, smell, hearing (to mention only a few examples: may not be able to cope with large crowds, noise and chaos, certain foods or clothes textures)

• For the autistic person, anxiety and fear play a big part in the way they behave. Growing up can be a very scary experience and extremely difficult in a world where neurotypical people will not understand.
• An autistic person may not be able to give you eye contact because looking at you can be sensory overload and overwhelming whilst trying to process what you are saying at the same time. Please don’t force them to look at you and give time for them to process.
• When an autistic person shows a lack of empathy, they are not being rude, they find it difficult to understand what others are thinking or feeling.

Thank you for reading

I will be training to prepare myself physically and mentally for this event throughout the months of January to March 2022. Feel free to scroll further down to see updates on my preparation journey.

To follow my journey up in the mountains, please follow me on Instagram: @jotsui_chasingdreams

Or to follow our group journey with photos on our training, preparation and expedition, please follow our Instagram group: @ebctrek22

I/ we will try and post updates along our trek in April depending on signal availability up in the mountains!

Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving - they'll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they'll send your money directly to the charity. So it's the most efficient way to donate - saving time and cutting costs for the charity.