Ploughing green fields

Kevin Whelan is enjoying the challenges of life as the Chief Executive of Irish Autism Action, a charity which he describes as a 'green field' in which he hopes he can leave a lasting legacy through the way Ireland approaches the condition.Kevin, a born and bred Mullingar man, got the opportunity to set up the head office of Irish Autism Action in his home town as the capital proved to be too expensive as a base camp.Since taking over as CEO five years ago, Kevin and his team, which works across the 32 counties, have managed to heighten awareness of a condition that was brushed under the carpet as recently as 15 years ago.Kevin previously worked in a series of senior administrative posts across England and Ireland after a gaining an MBA from Athlone IT and is now intent on making sure that the charity will leave a lasting impression on how the country deals with the so-called 'spectrum' condition.'What that basically means is that children can be diagnosed with "classic" autism, meaning that they are totally shut inside themselves, or they might have a very mild version which means that would be classed as an outsider, the typical child playing on their own in the corner sort of thing.'One call I always remember is from a parent who told me that she was very worried about her son, because he did exactly that and was always set apart from the other kids. Two weeks later she phoned and said "Kevin, it"s okay, he has two friends and they have been to the house and everything" and so she wasn"t worried any more. A short while after that she phoned again and said, "I was wrong, there is definitely a problem, all three of them are playing in different corners on their own".'Some of those who accompanied Kevin on a recent trip to a orphanage in Russia were shocked at how little people knew about autism and the "keep it behind closed doors" attitude to the condition.Kevin on the other hand was quick to remind people that the same attitude prevailed in Ireland not so very long ago.'Even 15 to 20 years ago children with autism were still put in care homes out of sight and that was often the advice of the medical profession,' he said.'The trip to Russia came about after I had read an article in the Sunday Independent about a group of charities who were working under the name United for Children. On of those charities was To Russia with Love and I contacted them and asked them if we could come along and provide some help with diagnosis of and advice on autism. They said yes and so did Hamley"s in Dundrum when we asked them to cover the costs of the trip by sponsoring us and so we brought the Hamley"s bear to the small village of Byransk.'Keith Duffy who is our patron came with us for a week. His little girl is autistic and I have to say that he has been fantastic to us. I have been in the room with him when he has turned down work to attend charity events.'We found that people at the orphanage and in the village of Bryansk were very receptive to us and we also met with local officials who welcomed us as well.'The same goodwill exists in Ireland and that is how we have been able to do what we have done over the last number of years; with the help and generosity of the Irish and of course in particular the people of Mullingar and the support they have shown for the golf classic in 2006 and 2007.'Kevin"s mammoth task of raising funds and awareness for Irish Autism Action is set to sky-rocket to a totally different level as the charity is supporting a parent-led group who are out to discover something that no one currently knows: how many autistic children are there in Ireland.'This project is key to moving forward because once we have the figures then we can calculate the cost of providing services and present it to the government,' he said.'There is no point in saying that the incidence of autism is 1 in 150 in the US and 1 in 166 in the UK when you are trying to get people"s attention in Ireland.'The example that I always use is on cystic fibrosis: if research had not been done on the statistics then we would never have known that Ireland has the highest number of cases in the world.'I believe that the State should do the research but also believe that we can"t wait for that to happen. It"s the same with the diagnosis. When we started the clinic in Dublin the average wait was a year and a half despite the fact that evidence shows that early intervention is essential in making progress with the condition.'From start to finish the diagnosis at our clinic takes two months and that can give parents up to 16 of progress and development with their child that they wouldn"t have otherwise had.'After diagnosis parents then need to look at pre-school education and then have to find a place in a school.'Irish Autism Action supports all of these things and we have a dedicated information officer to help out with things such as how to get grants and benefits and where to go and who to speak to. All of these practicalities can present parents with problems after a diagnosis is made.'A real achievement would be if we were to make checks for autism mandatory for all two-year-olds which is something that could easily be done in a routine GP appointment.'What we are talking about is simple developmental checks, social skills, eye contact - all of which could be looked at quickly and easily. And what we really want is for all of our services to be provided within the state"s framework. Some institutions are already doing excellent work but we must realise that there will always be a child who will need extra attention and one to one care.'This year"s golf classic will take place on May 22 for inquiries or for more information about Irish Austism Action contact Colette Charles on 044-9331609 or call into Irish Autism Action, 41 Newlands, Mullingar.