So, here we are, the last day of FASD Awareness Month 2023. It’s been a busy month as always here at National FASD, but one that we look forward to every year without fail. We, along with dozens of sister organisations in the FASD UK Alliance, do our best to use each September as a means to amplify our voices and those of the UK FASD community as a whole.
This month, our team has taken turns sharing #FASDGiveMe5 facts, we’ve held a #FASDGiveMe5 photo competition to encourage people to go out and raise awareness, we’ve gathered your #FASDHopes for the future, we’ve held a special #HearOurVocies event for FASD caregivers that provided us with so much to work with that we’re still going (stay tuned for more), delivered FASD training, as well as loads of other activities aimed at breaking out of the ‘FASD bubble’. Keep scrolling to learn all about it!
#FASDGiveMe5 Photo Competition Winner
Congratulations to Dominic! You’ve won a £30 Amazon voucher!
We asked people to send us pictures of them raising FASD awareness with our #FASDGiveMe5 graphic, and we got some great entries.
Our runners-up will also be receiving some FASD goodies as a thank you, and we’ll reach out to you soon.
Thank you to everyone who took part, you’re awesome!
#FASDHopes
We also asked you to send us your hopes for FASD in the UK for the next 5 years, and the next 20 years.
The 5 was to celebrate this year’s #FASDGiveMe5 theme, and the 20 was to mark the 20 years of progress since National FASD was founded in 2003.
We also got some brilliant submissions for that, and we’ll be releasing the result soon, so make sure you stay tuned to our social media!
Thank you again to everyone who took part!
#HearOurVoices - Tips & Resources to Effectively Advocate for Your Child
On the 14th September, we held a special free, virtual event for caregivers of people with FASD.
The aim of the event was to help give them the tools and advice they needed to more effectively advocate for the needs of their loved ones, their own needs, and how to present their family’s story to relevant professionals.
Loads of you signed up and took part, which was amazing. We had presentations from a series of experts, both through study and through lived experience, as well as a Q & A with Prof Raja Mukherjee MBE.
Attendees left with practical resources to take them forward, including a new printable booklet that can be filled out and handed to professionals, and their feedback is now being used to help us create a UK Caregivers’ FASD Wishlist, that can be shared with people such as teachers and doctors.
The booklet is still being worked on following some suggestions made during the event, and will be available on our website soon!
Stay tuned for when it’s released, or if you’d like to have a copy sent to you when it’s ready, please email us at training@nationalfasd.org.uk
The recording of this session will also be available to view soon!
Breaking out of the bubble
Outside of our efforts in social media, members of our team have been working to break out of the ‘FASD bubble’ by making waves up and down the UK.
On 6th September National FASD Chief Executive Sandy Butcher briefed the Council for Disabled Children’s members meeting about FASD and National FASD’s work;
- On the 8th September, Brian Roberts, our Director of Education and Wellbeing, was interviewed on UCB Radio’s Talking Point about FASD Awareness Day and some FASD myths.
- Also on the 8th September, Sandy and Rachel Jackson, a member of National FASD’s Adults and Young Adults with FASD Advisory Committee were featured on a podcast from the Association of Child and Adolescent Mental Health. Click here to listen. Click here to listen.
- On the 9th September, International FASD Awareness Day, Antser, a company using the latest tech to educate people about important health and social issues, released a new VR film about FASD. It was created in collaboration with National FASD and Cambridgeshire Virtual School, and voiced by Georgia, a young adult with FASD and a member of our Adults & Young Adults with FASD Advisory Committee.
- On the 11th September, Sandy, Rachel, and her mum Sharon spoke at a Hackney Council FASD Awareness raising event hosted by the Hackney Speaker Cllr Anya Sizer, also a mum to a child with FASD.
- On 12th September Sandy and her husband Martin Butcher and National FASD training project officer Alice Sewell took part in one of CoramBAAF’s Exploring Expertise webinars on FASD.
We’ve also delivered FASD training and consultation across the UK this month in various counties and local authorities:
- London
- Hampshire & Isle of Wight
- Cornwall
- Oxfordshire
- Lancashire
- Derbyshire
- Cheshire
Our #FASDGiveMe5 videos
Each week this FASD Awareness Month, we’ve had a different theme.
So, each week, we’ve shared videos from each of our staff members taking turns to share their #FASDGiveMe5 facts from that week’s theme.
Check them out and meet the team!
1. FASD Prevention
2. Supporting a loved one with FASD
3. Understanding FASD
4. FASD Research & Policy
20 Years of National FASD
2023 marks the 20th anniversary of National FASD! We were founded in 2003, and are now an 8-strong team of dedicated individuals from varied backgrounds working tirelessly to increase education and support around FASD in the UK, with the support and guidance of our Board of Trustees, Experts Committee, and Adults and Young Adults with FASD Advisory Committee.
We’re so proud of our achievements as an organisation, and of how much progress has been made for people with FASD and their loved ones in the UK. There’s still a long way to go, and a lot of work to be done, but we wanted to take the chance to celebrate by each sharing what we’re most proud of from the last 20 years of National FASD!
Losing Susan Fleisher
Sadly, this week we learned of the death of our founder, Susan Fleisher. Susan founded National FASD, then NOFAS-UK, in 2003. She was an adoptive mother to a child with FASD, and believed the UK could do better for its FASD population.
She worked hard to raise awareness, increase public education, and support people with FASD and their loved ones, before passing the reigns to our current Chief Executive, Sandy, in 2016.
We believe the progress National FASD has made, is making, and will continue to make is her legacy, as is the change that we are now seeing nationally in the UK.
While it’s a sad time, it’s somewhat fitting that she died during FASD Awareness Month. We’ll be sharing more about her life and her work in FASD soon.
"Some say living with FASD is like having to find one’s way around Liverpool with a map of Glasgow. I know many families whose children got the diagnosis too late [...] When parents, schools, doctors and social services know what they are dealing with we can begin to improve lives for children like my daughter and everyone affected. My daughter’s disability could have been prevented. Her life is my greatest lesson."
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