There is a well known piece of writing by Emily Perl Kingsley called “Welcome to Holland” where the author draws a parallel between anticipating the arrival of a child and being faced with finding out your child has a disability to planning a holiday to Italy and getting off the plane in Holland. 

In it she quotes “Holland?!?” you say. “What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I’m supposed to be in Italy. All my life I’ve dreamed of going to Italy.” But there’s been a change in the flight plan. They’ve landed in Holland and there you must stay.”

Parents often say that finding out your child is Autistic is more like arriving in Bombay at midnight!

Google “Autism” and you will be bombarded with a barrage of horror stories from families, hear gurus talk of the latest medical wizardry that will “cure”, be charmed by diets and advice from supposed experts and researchers; but the real story was shared at a lunch hosted by Igniting Change at Working Dog Productions in Melbourne last month where founder of Learning for Life, Mary Muirhead introduced “Holland” and the world of Autism to an intimate group of Igniters.  

Learning for Life is an organisation that provides Applied Behavioural Analysis (ABA) to children on the Autism spectrum. ABA is an evidence-based, intensive education therapy for children with an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).  ABA helps children develop social, academic, self-help and behavioural skills needed to interact with others and to cope with the challenges of everyday life. ABA therapy takes the form of a highly structured program designed to meet the individual requirements of each child, while building the foundations for life-long learning.*

Research has demonstrated that 30-40 hours a week of intensive ABA therapy resulted in 47% of young children with ASD being indistinguishable from their peers …but it comes with a hefty price tag.  Some call it the Rolls-Royce of therapy, costing families anywhere from $50-$80K per year, but for 1 in 120 families in Australia faced with few alternatives, it seems the only way to offer your child any hope or way out of their world.  

For most families, the out-of-pocket expense simply puts the therapy completely out of reach - currently government only offer families $12K ($6K per anum) towards Autism specific therapies, however the story that was told by an incredibly brave and passionate mother at the lunch, was that thanks to the Learning for Life subsidised model, she was able to hear her five year old son speak for the first time, attend a mainstream school and play with other children … all thanks to ABA.

Learning for Life is truly Igniting Change.

They are giving a lifeline to children and families who at the time in their life where they are not sure how tomorrow will be any better than today, they give children hope and a place in our society.

The Autism story is real.  There are many people behind this label and the national impact of this story is only just starting to unfold and be noticed.

The person behind this label for me is my 4-year old, non-verbal, Autistic son, Remy, who can simply just “be” thanks to a Learning for Life ABA program.

Read Emily’s complete piece

See Learning for Life’s work   

Learn more about ABA *  

Igniting change by combining lives …

I never would have thought we would be igniting change by connecting six of our closest supporters with horses and Kinglake bushfire survivors, but that is exactly what we have been doing for the last couple of weeks. 

In early July when we heard the tragic news that over seven people had recently suicided in the Kinglake region, we acted. We visited this shattered community and learned more of the ongoing legacy of devastation from the bush fires, and stumbled upon an incredible project called Horses for Hope run by seasoned youth worker, Colin Emonson; a program that has been a lifeline to more than 200 people in Kinglake. Horses for Hope pair together traumatised horses with bush fire survivors and teach them how to heal and trust again together.  The results are miraculous and succeed where other attempts seem to have failed.

Unfortunately the funds they were relying on from the Victorian Bushfire Appeal have run out, and we could not believe it when we learnt that they had to close for lack of funding - Jackie was coincidentally visiting on their last day of operation. 

So we’ve done what we are best at, which is igniting change by combining extraordinary lives and the program will reopen in August for a minimum of two months.  But more funds are desperately needed, and the program still has so much more to give to the people of Kinglake Ranges area.

The images from the bush fires are imprinted on all our memories but when I start to contemplate how bush fire survivors are coping after their lives have been tipped upside down I can’t … as I write this the tears fall down and anger wells up – we all know grieving can go on for years so why is it that Horses for Hope’s funds have been cut when they have over 40 people desperate for their help?  As we say in our book Dying to know “grief has no measure” so again why funders should say people should have finished grieving after two years is nonsense.

Click here to take a look at their incredible story 

We last wrote about Necker Island and Richard Branson and this week I am writing about the incredible Jane Rowe who started work at the mail room of Virgin Records – small world!!

Jane founded the Mirabel Foundation - an awesome organisation working with children who have been orphaned or abandoned due to parental illicit drug misuse.

They are working with over 1,100 children this year and shockingly seeing an average four new children each week.  Their annual budget is $2.5 million yet the government only funds 14% of this … with a tiny team of 15 they raise over $2 million. Just amazing.  

But again I left feeling sad … Jane is spending too much of her time fundraising as opposed to working directly with the young people at Mirabel … we could never do enough for Jane and Mirabel.

Dreaming of Necker

It was daunting thinking about spending the better part of two days flying over to the British Virgin Islands. But at the same time, the anticipation of what awaited seemed to mollify any fears. For one reason or another - some lucky combination of good company and the promise of inspiration - meant that before we knew it, we had arrived.

And so it began. 

An interesting mix of people from different backgrounds and cultures, with different experiences, gathered on this idyllic island to listen and share and discuss ways of being involved, of doing good, of doing ‘better’. When I sat and listened I couldn’t help but feel a sense of shared values, of gratitude and appreciation and a willingness to confront difficult issues and consider positive solutions directed at the core.

Jean, CEO from Virgin Unite got the ball rolling in her uniquely warm and informal way and then we were treated to hear Ben and Jerry talk about their humble beginnings in Vermont and how they set about changing the system they didn’t like – one ice cream at a time! Lisa Lake spoke of the work she is doing at the Branson Centre of Entrepreneurship, guiding young entrepreneurs. Paul van Zyl moved us all with an insight into life in apartheid South Africa and the work he did in establishing the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and of his exciting new venture – Maiyet – a luxury brand empowering artisans from around the world. Ian Darling from Shark Island Productions gave us a taste of life as a film maker and the way he brings these many confronting and often left unspoken issues into the broader domain. Jochen Zeitz spoke about the pioneering work he has been leading with Puma and their environmental initiatives. Suzi Carp spoke of the power of collaboration and the incredible work that Jane Tewson and the Igniting Change team are doing. And then there was Bryan Stevenson…

I think it would be hard to write about the trip without describing the experience of listening to one of the most beautiful human beings I have ever met. Bryan rose to prominence through Ted Talks and is a human rights lawyer (amongst other things) who has been working on criminal justice in the US for some years. He spoke of identity and compassion and he spoke from the heart. I think Bryan embodies the very essence of what it means to be human – his love and care and humility and goodness radiate. We were all very blessed to meet him; indeed all of us are very lucky that there are people like him in this world.

So as I sit here writing and reflecting on the trip, on this leadership and entrepreneurship gathering, I feel an overriding sense of hope. It was such a positive experience. People, who despite a keen awareness of the difficulties in the world have such a positive way of looking at them and thinking of the best way to tackle them.

What sort of world do we want to see evolving and how can we act to create it? How can we use the power of business and markets to create meaningful and significant change? These are some of the things that Necker stirred for me.

To Richard and Joan for your generosity, to Jean, Virgin Unite and all the incredible Necker staff and to Jane and Suzi and Igniting Change, and to all the other Neckers – my sincerest, thank you.

Till next time,

Our World Inside Out

Last year I had one of those life changing moments … a friend introduced me to Simon Hong, the former Creative Director at Re: M&C Saatchi Brand & Design. I went to seek his personal advice about how I might find the ‘pub sentence’ to describe Igniting Change’s work. After a good hour of my talking about the range of work we are involved with, including the Youth Unit at Port Phillip Prison he wrote the following on a piece of paper …

I was gobsmacked and to be truthful, tears of joy feel down my face. Simon had unlocked a key to our work which is all about encouraging people to see the person, not the label. 

Before meeting Simon, I had come from talking with a group of homeless young people who inspired me with their ideas, their resilience and most of all compassion. Yet so many people have the attitude ‘it’s their own bloody fault’ … for me, no young person lives on the streets out of choice … they so often find themselves there for very good reason.

Since that meeting with Simon, Igniting Change has been on a journey with our latest initiative Our World Inside Out which has launched with a notebook for the heart as well as the mind.

Each word and thought bud was carefully thought through. We kept people close to the issues advising us at all times. For example;

which I just love because surely anyone who gives up is a hero - but when we tested it on both users and former users they didn’t like it … they do not feel in any way heroes and so, for our notebook we changed it to,

with the thought bud of, “people dealing with an addiction have many demons to battle, maybe not too dissimilar to yours. ADD something to your life by supporting and encouraging them to succeed”.

The notebook is only the start of our journey with Our World Inside Out. If you have your own ‘words-within-words’ to inspire people to see our world in a more positive, more inspirational way please share them with us.

P.S. Please email us at info@ignitingchange.org.au to purchase your own Our World Inside Out notebook

http://www.virgin.com/richard-branson/blog/arch

Leadership Gathering

Next week from 1st to 5th May, Igniting Change and Virgin Unite will be co-hosting a Leadership Gathering on Necker Island with Sir Richard Branson to discuss, learn and celebrate how entrepreneurship can drive positive change in the world.

There will be a range of extraordinary guest speakers including, Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield from Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream, Jochen Zeitz from Puma and Bryan Stevenson who is hot from Ted Talks where he talked so passionately about the hard truths about America’s Justice System.

You’ll be able to follow the conversations on Twitter via Virgin Unite’s #24092 and of course we’ll be blogging with updates.