Community embraces special needs awareness programme in UAE

Dubai: The annual Reaching u Family Fun Day, a event dedicated to children with special needs and their families, will be celebrating in a bigger way next year after a massive response from the community this year, organisers told Gulf News on Saturday.

"To be honest, this might be our last year in Jumeirah Beach Park. We’re going to double the size hopefully to Zabeel Park next year because we’ve outgrown the park," said Nick Watson, co-founder of u concept and Reaching u, which aims to raise awareness about children with special needs in the UAE.

Families with special needs children attended the event in numbers and the youngsters had a memorable outing interacting with people, participating in fun activities and games yesterday afternoon. The growing number of participants is a sign that more people are becoming aware of this special segment of the population, Watson said.

"Awareness is getting there. At the end of the day, we hope that when a child sees another child in a wheelchair and they ask their dads, "I saw a child in a wheelchair, what’s all that about?" that is part of spreading awareness," Watson said.

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