Rituals joins 'Light it up Blue' campaign

People need to understand autism, that autistic children are not that different but have different ways of learning, and accept those differences without judgement.

Jeanne Sabga-Aboud, marketing coordinator for Global Brands Group of Companies, said as an occupational therapist working in TT for the past five years, she had been seeing an increasing number of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).

Four years ago Global Brands decided to use Rituals Coffee House as a portal to increase awareness by being part of the global Light it Up Blue campaign. Through the month of April, blue cups, blue donuts, and flyers on autism will be available at all Rituals locations.

“Global Brands has really been so supportive about this from day one. They are really all about raising that awareness because that conversation starter is the biggest thing. It’s one thing to understand it but accepting people is really important.

“Instead of just putting it on social media we asked ourselves how we could we do it visually to help families, help citizens understand. A lot of time people have this stigma around it but they don’t really know what autism looks like, but it’s a spectrum and every child is different... We have been using our cups as a way to increase awareness, understanding, and autism acceptance for Trinidad and Tobago.”

She said the blue cups were designed with puzzle pieces as they reflected the complexity of ASD. She said it was a way to get people to ask questions and start a conversation, while the flyers explained what autism was, gave statistics, and listed contact information for places people could go to for more information or help – including the autism society, support groups, and therapy resources.

“There are a lot of conditions in TT that have that lack of understanding and awareness but because of my field as an occupational therapist, I see more and more families each year that are being diagnosed with it, so I have a close relationship with autism.”

She said many children were diagnosed late because parents did not know the signs and symptoms of autism, or they did not know where to go so the children were not as developed as they could be. “The earlier they could get intervention the better for their development but it’s never too late.”

Sabga-Aboud admitted there was a lack of schools and places children with autism could go to get their education needs met. Therefore, she said Global Brands was hoping to donate $10,000 to raise awareness from sales during the month of April. She said the company was looking at possible recipients of the funds including a school that worked with children on the autism spectrum, support groups, and organisations that promoted awareness.

PHOTOS COURTESY RITUALS COFFEE HOUSE.