Once-in-a-lifetime chance for familes living with autism to go to camp

Locally based charity looking to sponsor local families to autism camp worth more than $8000

To celebrate the 2 year anniversary of Autism Camp Australia we're offering 9 Northern Rivers based families the opportunity to attend a fully funded camp for autistic young people in September (value $8655 per family).

When Rachel Rowe, a proud autistic woman who had an idea to provide a camp to help improve the health and wellbeing of autistic young people and their families, she couldn’t imagine how it would blossom in just two years.

Through bushfires, floods and Covid the now national charity employs 120 people in three states, and now wants to give even more to families on the North Coast.

To celebrate their 2-year anniversary, Autism Camp Australia and local charity The James Frizelle Foundation have joined together to sponsor autistic young people who are either ineligible for, or only receive minimal funding from the NDIS, and their families, to attend a camp. ACA Helping Hands Program is a funded sponsor program for financially disadvantaged families of autistic young people. The program enables families who would otherwise be unable, to participate in camps.

To celebrate the 2 year anniversary of Autism Camp Australia we're offering 9 Northern Rivers based families the opportunity to attend a fully funded camp for autistic young people in September (value $8655 per family).

“It’s important to me that our camps are accessible to all autistic young people, so by the end of year two we want to be giving families who are unable to self-fund their attendance at camp an opportunity to come too,” she said.

“With the help of the James Frizelle Foundation we can now do that, and will be running a fully funded camp during September, for autistic young people aged 7-14, and their families.”

Autism Camp Australia’s unique, evidence-based approach is implemented by a diverse, outcomes-focused team and their neurodiversity manifesto sets a gold standard for inclusion in the workplace, with autistic and neurodivergent people leading the way at every level of our organisation. It’s an impressive and progressive commitment to embracing neurodivergence.

With 1 in 70 people in Australia now on the autism spectrum (and growing faster than any other disability) autism is the most common primary disability among NDIS participants aged 0-14 years (29 per cent) , and the second most common primary disability among all NDIS participants (28 per cent).

But with three major international studies finding the average life expectancy of autistic people at 36, 39 and 54, Ms Rowe said there is a lot of work to be done to support autistic young people and their families.

To celebrate the 2 year anniversary of Autism Camp Australia we're offering 9 Northern Rivers based families the opportunity to attend a fully funded camp for autistic young people in September (value $8655 per family).

“It can be a tough gig for neurodivergent young people. At camp, autistic young people are able to connect with their neurokin and are free to un-mask and just ‘be’, without shame, fear or stigma,” she said.

“At camp, we celebrate neurodiversity, embrace difference and nurture individuality. Autistic young people are encouraged to march to the beat of their own drum, and in the safe space we create, magic happens.

ACA camp participants are young people aged 7-14, diagnosed with ASD levels 1, 2, and 3 and their families.

To apply to attend the fully funded camp in Lake Ainsworth go to https://www.autismcampaustralia.org/aca-helping-hand-program. Applicants must reside in the Northern Rivers, be able to come to camp from September 19-24 and meet criteria outlined on the Helping Hand Program page. Applications close on Friday August 13.

For further information on the great work of Autism Camp Australia go to www.autismcampaustralia.org.