A team of autism awareness advocates recently reached out to Convaid with a request for a Convaid Carrot 3 special needs car seat. Among this group were individuals from the Center for Autism and Related Disorders, ACT Today! (Autism Care and Treatment Today!) and show host, Shannon Penrod, of Autism Live, who shared one mother’s plea.
Mom Kimberly writes: “I have been avoiding car rides with my autistic son because they can be life-threatening as his behaviors can become so severe. During one of our recent car rides my son Kaedon was punching himself and hitting himself repeatedly until he began to bleed. He already has bruises, so my heart is completely ripped apart during these moments. He has figured out how to slide his way out of two other car seats and even reaches over to unbuckle the main seat belt.”
One in 68 children in the United States is diagnosed to fit within the Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and autism guidelines for diagnoses. It affects 3 million individuals in the United States and tens of millions of people worldwide.
Kimberly continues, “When he struggles free of his car seat, he places himself on the floor kicking and screaming while my other children panic as I try to find the nearest exit on the Interstate. You can only sit so long on the side of a highway before that becomes dangerous, too.”
She concludes her plea for a special needs car seat, “I am beyond depression and running out of hope, so in my search I found you,” in her application for an ACT Today! grant, specifically requesting a Convaid Carrot 3 car seat.
In tandem with ACT Today!, Ms. Penrod reached out to Convaid to inquire about the donation of a Carrot 3 car seat so that Kimberly’s son, Kaedon, could safely travel to and from ABA therapy, speech therapy and other appointments.
As the Convaid Marketing Department and Ms. Penrod worked out details of the donation and the presentation at the company’s East Coast offices, a short distance from Kimberly and Kaedon’s home in North Carolina, another kind of alliance was formed – one centered on education and awareness building of options available to families living with autism.
On Monday, December 19, 2016 at 11 am PST, Ms. Penrod went live with a one-hour show on Living with Autism and Safe Transportation, where Convaid’s child restraint specialist, Sally Mallory, PT, ATP, CPST discussed transportation safety and solutions along with a detailed on-air presentation on the operation of the Convaid Carrot 3 car seat and other intricacies of special needs transportation.
The following day, Tuesday, December 20, 2016 at 4:30 pm EST, the Convaid and R82 team presented the Carrot 3 car seat to Kimberly and Kaedon at the company’s R82 office located at 12801 E. Independence Blvd., Matthews, NC 28106. The family received its special needs car seat, and attendees were given an overview about special needs car seat safety by North Carolina native and Convaid and R82 Business Development Representative, Curtis Philyaw.
After Philyaw presented the Carrot 3 car seat to Kimberly and Kaedon, he installed it in Kimberly’s car and discussed the car seat’s benefits, installation procedure, and its safety features.
“On behalf of ACT Today!, Center for Autism and Related Disorders, Autism Live and our many affiliated autism organizations, I would like to recognize Convaid as a superior corporate citizen in the sector of special needs advocacy and education. We look forward to a long association with Convaid in its expansion of planned giving and educational outreach. I look forward to having Sally Mallory on-air this Monday, again on January 19, 2017 and throughout the year, bringing a wealth of information to our families living with autism,” said Ms. Penrod.
“Thank you for your generous support of ACT Today!. We are honored to play a small part in Convaid’s decision to add autism to their program of planned giving. Keeping individuals with autism safe is a priority at ACT Today!. We receive hundreds of grant applications for safety equipment and it is financially impossible for us to fulfill every one of those requests. We are so grateful that Convaid was able to step in and help us fulfill this grant request for Kaedon. We know that this donation will be life-changing for this family,” said Amy Zhang, Programs & Operations Manager, ACT Today!.
“We are continually seeking to serve families living with special needs. With the increasing prevalence of autism diagnoses, Convaid and R82 continue to provide a growing line of products that help families enjoy more full, active and safer lives and increased mobility,” said Director, Marketing, Nanneke Dinklo.
The donation is part of Convaid and R82’s program of planned giving to communities-of-interest such as Autism Spectrum Disorder, Cerebral Palsy, Down Syndrome, Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, Spinal Muscular Atrophy, Spina Bifida, Osteogenesis Imperfecta, Traumatic Brain Injury, Cystic Fibrosis, Mitochondrial Disease, Metabolic Diseases, and Sensory Processing Disorders, among others.
Convaid and R82 pediatric products are typically prescribed to individuals living with mild to moderate involvement of these conditions.
[Source: Convaid]
