Cork Airport to provide free books to child passengers with autism
Cork Airport plans to build on existing autism initiatives to assist children and their families travelling through its terminal.
The airport will provide children and their families with autism-specific books about their journey through the airport. The initiative will begin this summer and it targets children with autism who have not travelled through an airport before.
"These books will work as a visual aid and go hand-in-hand with our Autism/Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) Travelling Through the Airport guidelines that are already in place, and which can be found on our website," said Niall MacCarthy, Managing Director at Cork Airport.
The books are part of the Suzie series by author Charlotte Olson.
They are intended to help children with autism cope with new situations.
The books will be available at Cork Airport in advance of the busy summer season.
News of the initiative comes as the airport has named the Shine Centre for Autism as its Charity of the Year for 2018.
Shine is a voluntary organisation and registered charity which has worked with children and adolescents with autism since its establishment in 2001.
"This is a charity that resonates with many families across the region and we are looking forward to supporting them through fundraising initiatives over the coming year," said Mr MacCarthy.
Along with fundraising events throughout the year, Cork Airport has Shine donation boxes located throughout the terminal and The Loop shop.
"With the rates of autism diagnosis still increasing, the support of Cork Airport will make a real difference in helping Shine to continue our work to provide programmes, services and support to the many children and families affected by autism across the region," said general manager of Shine, Kieran McAuliffe.
