This week is CWA Awareness Week, which runs from September 3-9.
The Country Women’s Association of NSW lobbies on various issues and this year is using its annual Awareness Week campaign to highlight the issue of neurodiversity and neurodivergent conditions including ADHD, autism, dyslexia and Tourette syndrome etc and is calling for urgent changes to improve diagnosis and treatment options around ADHD in regional areas.
The issue of neurodiversity was raised at the CWA of NSW’s annual State Conference in Bathurst in May, when a motion was supported asking ‘governments to investigate ways to reduce the costs of diagnosing and treating adult attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)’, with a number of branch members relating their own experiences of recent diagnosis and the challenges they had encountered.
During Awareness Week, CWA wants to highlight these issues and urge governments at all levels to look at how we can better support those with neurodivergent conditions. We also want to raise awareness in our communities about what neurodiversity is, the many people who live with neurodivergent conditions, and through greater awareness, build understanding of difference, and be more accepting of those differences.
Members of Grafton CWA are learning more about neurodiversity this week after the monthly meeting and are joining with the statewide campaign to increase awareness and research funding.
Grafton Branch meets on the 2nd Friday of each month in CWA rooms, cnr Duke and Pound Streets. Morning tea is at 9.30am, followed by the meeting at 10am. New members are always welcome. Craft mornings are also held on 2nd and 4th Mondays of each month, starting at 9.30am.
Anne McLellan