150km in May for PDA

Hello! Throughout the month of May, Katie and I are taking part in...

"Stepping Up for PDA in May: the PDA Society's 1.5 million steps for PDA fundraiser."

 

Between us, we hope to run 150km during May, a total of around 150,000 steps, which will go towards the PDA Society's 1.5 million steps target. (No prizes for correctly guessing which of the two of us will run the furthest...!)

 

Autism is dimensional: it varies a lot from one person to another. Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA) is a little known and often misunderstood profile of the autistic spectrum. The PDA Society's work has been very important for our family because Johnny is autistic with a PDA profile.

 

Being PDA-autistic affects how Johnny understands and interacts with the world around him. He is funny, outgoing, and has a fantastic memory and eye for detail. But life can be really hard for him due to his need for predictability and routine; his anxiety; his sensory processing challenges; his difficulties with social understanding; and his need for autonomy and control, leading to avoidance of everyday demands and expectations.

 

The PDA Society has been instrumental in helping us better understand Johnny's type of autism and how best to help him. Their website, online workshops and resources have been immensely helpful over the past few years. Please consider donating to our fundraising efforts and help us reach our £500 target for the PDA Society!

 

To find out more about PDA, please visit: https://www.pdasociety.org.uk/
or
https://www.pdasociety.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/What-is-PDA-info-sheet.pdf

 

Here's what the PDA Society says about where the money raised will be going:

"Research is the theme for this year’s #PDAday - research is key because 70% of people say lack of understanding about PDA is a barrier to getting help, and research will lead to better understanding, improved practice and better outcomes for PDA individuals and their families. Promoting high quality research, informed by what matters most to the PDA community, is one of our 5 year goals and we have lots of exciting plans to make this happen. This will include a consultation survey asking the PDA community to tell us their top unanswered questions about PDA that will inform a national call to action for more PDA research, and a research conference in 2023.

 

To hit our target, we’ll be walking, running, climbing the steps in our house … you name it we’ll be doing it! As our #ActuallyAutistic Chief Executive Helen Evans shares: “I’m walking my steps for everyone’s right to have their PDA profile recognised and accepted. I can’t wait to smash our 1.5 million target and maybe even get a bit fitter whilst doing it!”.