ENERVATE AUTISM

Enervate Autism is founded by parents who have a lived experience with autism in Uganda. 

Our family’s challenges in accessing education, specialized care, and early intervention for our son are not limited to us but are faced by many families with children on the autism spectrum in Uganda. 

The provision for specialized services such as individual therapy being very costly, makes it unaffordable for many families.  Furthermore, the lack of inclusive and integrated education in schools for such children causes the systems in place to cast them aside, often labeling these children as difficult to care for.  As an alternative approach, some schools require parents to pay for teaching assistants which further increases the cost of education, making attending such schools less desirable and negatively impacting their enrollment. In a society where parents are ashamed to seek help for their children with neurological diversity, our options were very limited.  

Our vision began with forming a preschool in Kampala, Uganda - Acres of Fun, to inspire us to keep working towards improving education for children and families impacted by autism, and we hope to be an inspiration to others. We are deeply driven to continue to understand, through experience, the work needed to support the ongoing success of the preschool.  In collaboration with our multidisciplinary team, we have created a curriculum for the professional development of educators at the early childhood level.  Our goal is to manage and support neurological diversity in each classroom. 

We recognize the need to aid parents of preschoolers on the autism spectrum in understanding their children's needs in order to better support their development.  Through specialized education, we will train parents to better identify children that may be at risk for autism and avail early intervention.  We recognize the demand in our communities and are compelled to support more educators and schools to share in this responsibility.  Through engaging stakeholders and policymakers, we hope to expand the programs we have created to more schools across the country and the region.

Our Mission 

Enervate Autism was founded with the belief that every child, regardless of their abilities, deserves to grow and live a fulfilling life. Our overarching objective is to establish the necessary support system with comprehensive resources needed for children to thrive and reach their full potential.  We envision a society that is more accepting and inclusive of children on the autism spectrum.