Welcome to Day 2 of On the Plus Side!
On the Plus Side is a series of short stories about real life positive or happy observations that I see every day. The purpose of these stories is to show the community that positive and happy events occur every day and to bring a smile to your face.
All SBD from this series will be donated to The Smith Family who support underprivileged children in their education. So upvote and resteem away!
I live near the beachside suburb of Mordialloc, south of Melbourne. This region has a lovely community feel about it. And being one of the local small business owners, you get to know many people in the community which has made me very aware of how important it is to build strong networks in your community and to provide services for those that need extra support in our local community.
Sensory Friendly Fun!
Every year, Mordialloc holds the Mordialloc Christmas Summer Carnival. The event runs over a number of days. There are lots of rides, stalls selling food and gifts, music, shows and so on.
These events are generally not suitable for children with disabilities that make it difficult for coping with sensory overload. By that I mean children with disabilities such as autism.
My wife volunteers for a family who has an autistic child. She spends time with the young lad, to help him develop is social skills. I also have a number of customers of my business who have autistic child. And I've been surprised to discover just how many people suffer from this disability in our community. There are even a couple of schools not far from my business who solely cater for children with disabilities like this.
So this year, the organisers of the Mordialloc Christmas Summer Carnival opened the carnival a day early, and made it sensory friendly. This meant that the music was kept to a minimum, there were no loud or abrupt noises, and everything about the event was made to be suitable for children with disabilities such as autism.
Holding events like this is fantastic for kids that normally cannot experience things like this at Christmas time. I know that this was an incredibly positive experience for the family who my wife does volunteer work with. I hope that this becomes a regular part of the festival. It's such a heart warming thing to see.
I’ve created the tag #plusside so if you want to read all positive and fun stories I write for this series simply check this tag.
