What issues are facing Autistic people during the war? How is Autism awareness in Russia and Ukraine? What can you do to help?

Aaron Bouma is a Canadian Autism advocate and military model woodworker near Woodstock New Brunswick. He is vice-chair of the panel for the National Autism Strategy, and played a key role in forming the York University Autism and Mental Health projects: Autism And Mental Health guide for autistic people.

In this episode of the Thoughty Auti Podcast, Thomas Henley talks to Aaron about his experiences supporting autistic families and individuals during the Ukraine War (2022), highlighting the issues they face and how the autistic community can aid them.

They initially converse about Aarons business 'Bouma Woodworks', where he creates small scale replicas of common military equipment/vehicles and seeks to educate the locals in the soon to be released military museum. Despite having skills in different areas, they talk about the impact martial arts have had on their life, and Thomas updates about the recovery process of his recent ACL/MCL surgery.

Getting into the meat of the episode, Aaron goes into the details of his work supporting Ukraine: Contacting autistic people/families, sharing links for refugee systems in Canada, monitoring open-sourced intelligence and fighting Russian disinformation in social media spaces. Major issues were highlighted such as: threats to life, sensory distress from shelling, big transitions, accessing medication, ARFID and those with high support needs.

Thomas asks about Autism awareness/acceptance in Ukraine and Russia; Aaron talks about how the Soviet sphere of influence impacted Ukraine, and all the governmental scale changes that were happening. Aaron talks about arrests, mortality and morbidity inflicted on LGBTQA+ individuals… and how this paints a bleak landscape for autism awareness/acceptance in Russia. Thomas agrees with this following an anonymous interview with an autistic LGBTQA+ Russian, and how their medications have been cut off.

They end by suggesting ways to support and aid autistic communities/people affected by the Ukrainian war. 

Facebook group mentioned: Ukraine Autism Help [https://www.facebook.com/groups/667774194546768/]

Aaron's Links:-

Donations: Save A Life UA [https://savelife.in.ua/en/donate-en/#donate-army-card-monthly] 

Instagram - Personal [https://www.instagram.com/generalbouma/] / Business [https://www.instagram.com/boumawoodworks/]

YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrBttdnpf_brCsXb5ErnQlw

Song Of The Day (Listen Here) - https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5UDIyN5TSYN4zMcRoQPrG8?si=9255ed3480d840b5

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Website - https://www.thomashenley.co.uk [https://www.thomashenley.co.uk/]

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