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Dóchas Coffee Morning in honour of World Autism Awareness Day 2019

Pictured at the Dóchas Centre’s coffee morning to celebrate World Autism Awareness Day 2019 are Dóchas staff and volunteers. Back (L-R) are Ger Purcell, Deidre Power, Sheila Lowney, Pauline Meaney, Sarah Moore, Brenda Sheehan and Alan Meaney. Front (L-R) are Shane Quinn, Laura Carmello, Solange Ndip, Aoife O’Leary, Anne O’Connor, Stevan Delaney and Jennifer Hogan. Picture: Orla McLaughlin/ilovelimerick.

Dóchas Coffee Morning in honour of World Autism Awareness Day 2019

By ilovelimerick correspondent Chloe Reidy

Dóchas hosted a coffee morning for World Autism Awareness Day 2019 on Tuesday, April 2. Dóchas had a range of events running throughout the day at their facility, which is located at 14 Parnell Street in Limerick. Baked goods and hot drinks were supplied by Dóchas workers and also by families who are members of Dóchas. Dóchas is an information and awareness service for autism in the Mid-West region of Ireland, who also run social clubs for children with autism.


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World Autism Awareness Day 2019 is an international day for awareness to be raised for those with autism. Dóchas celebrated World Autism Awareness Day 2019 with a coffee morning from 11 am to 2 pm. Dóchas had hair stylists and nail technicians, who were donated by Bellissimo in Limerick, and make-up artists, also kindly donated from Charlotte Tilbury in Brown Thomas in Limerick, who were on hand to pamper mothers of autistic children.

Deirdre Power, Centre Manager of Dóchas, was present at the coffee morning. Deirdre became centre manager after joining the organisation back in December of 2018. She spoke about some of the activities taking place at Dóchas on World Autism Awareness Day 2019 and about their sponsors, “Today was really about a bit of fun and a bit of awareness raising. In honour of World Autism Day, Guineys have done their window up, and are donating 10% of their profits from today to Dóchas. At Supervalu in Castletroy, we have an information stand with two parents out there, who will be talking to people about autism, the events today at Dóchas and about what we do in the centre. Planters Restaurant in the Parkway wore our t-shirts today and hung up balloons, all to raise awareness for World Autism Day. Amber on the Kilmallock Road and the Elm Court Service station in Ballyneety also have our orange balloons and t-shirts to raise awareness.”

“Today really was about the raising of awareness around autism, and inviting people into our centre and making it a bit more accessible and open. We had a lot of people in today who hadn’t even known that we existed, who have children with autism and who will hopefully become members in the near future,” added Deirdre.

Dóchas Mid West Autism Support (Hope for People with Autism) was set up in 1997 by a group of parents of children with Autism who came together to make a change, which has grown in strength.

Dóchas is not a service provider. Their role is to ensure that the best and most appropriate support, practical help and knowledge is made available to families of all people with autism. They are responsible for the set-up of Red Hill School in Patrickswell, and various respites. 70 families are supported by Dóchas, and the organisation hopes to help even more.

Contact the Dóchas office on 061 405923 or [email protected]

For more information on Dóchas, go here.

For more stories on Dóchas, go here.

Pictures: Orla McLaughlin/ilovelimerick

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