International FASD Awareness Month is held globally every year throughout September.
FASD Awareness Day is held on September the ninth – 09/09 highlights the importance of staying alcohol-free during the full nine months of pregnancy. People all over the world wear red shoes to start conversations about FASD, and buildings and landmarks around the globe light up red to support for our community.
* Scroll down for a list of landmarks lighting up around Aotearoa NZ!
The aim of the FASD Awareness Day is to raise awareness of FASD – for complex reasons, Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder has lower visibility in the public perception, even though it’s the most prevalent preventable neurological disability globally.
Notes:
• FASD-CAN supports whānau who are already caring for a person with FASD.
• Our friends at Nurture the Future Within have specific messaging around preventing FASD – they have a suite of beautiful Aotearoa-specific resources for an alcohol-free pregnancy.
FASD: it takes a community.
Ka whai wāhi ngā tangata katoa / everyone plays a part.
The goal is to highlight the power of collective support in creating a society where people with FASD and their families can thrive.
Our graphic (see below) of interweaving threads represents the multiple services and people who play have a role in this outcome. The theme goes beyond framing FASD as an individual issue, because the impacts of FASD matter to the whole community.
Please head to our Events page to register for these and our other events, training and webinars.
• Webinar: FASD-CAN Navigators – FASD Support in Action
MORNING event | 9 September, 9.00am | ONLINE
• FASD Awareness Day "It Takes a Community: Everyone Plays a Part"
EVENING event | 9 September, 5.30pm | Western Springs, Tāmaki Makaurau
Please note: If you can't make this event in person, you can help shape FASD-CAN’s future direction via our online form here. Everyone who contributes will go into the draw for a $300 supermarket voucher!
• FASD Awareness Day Pizza get-together
EVENING event | Canopy Bridge waterfront, 6pm | Whangārei
• FASD Awareness Day – Kirikiriroa / Hamilton (tbc)
MORNING event | Waiora CDB (Health NZ) 8.50am | Hamilton
We've created a range of 1080x 1350 tiles with some 'handwritten' lines we have changed out to reflect different areas of support.
We also have a blank tile which you can personalise with your own words if you wish.
You're welcome to add your own logo to ours in the coloured strip at the bottom of each tile.
Download full-sized, individual tiles by clicking on each one below.
• It takes a community of people with different skills to support a person with FASD and their whānau / families – because FASD affects us all. Why? Because if the right supports are not in place early, a person with FASD can:
• experience difficulties at school
• have challenges with getting a job
• have issues with substance use
• become homeless
• end up in the justice system
• add to suicide statistics.
These outcomes negatively affect everyone: their families, our communities and our society.
• Everyone can play a part in supporting alcohol-free pregnancies. Note that fathers abstaining from alcohol before conception can also ensure a healthy pēpi / baby – and it's a great way to support their partner (find out more here).
• Each person with FASD is unique and each has both strengths and challenges. Everyone plays a part to tautoko / support them with aroha to help them succeed and thrive in their daily lives.
Download our FASD Quiz and show it at your workplace, at home, in your staff room or practice rooms. It's a great myth-busting eye-opener with lots of facts about FASD.
It's in pdf format, so it's easy to flick through on a laptop.
• Share our social media tiles, beginning late August or early September.
• Think about hosting an event – as small or as big as you like! You could get a group of whānau / other caregivers to gather at one of our monuments lighting up for Awareness Day:
• Whangārei – Canopy Bridge, Laurie Hall Park tree, Cameron Street Mall, Forum North carpark
• Hamilton – Victoria bridge (note: from September 7-20)
• Rotorua – Clock tower, Civic building tower and Govt Gardens Arches
• New Plymouth – clock tower
• Whanganui – opera house and war memorial
• Foxton – water tower
• Wellington – Cable Car tunnel, some artworks, lights and possibly Queens Wharf sails on waterfront, and Inglewood toilets on Taranaki Street
• Nelson – clock tower, cathedral, upper Trafalgar St pedestrian area
• Christchurch Botanical Gardens – New Brighton Pier, Bridge of Remembrance, Scott Plaza, Victoria Square Fountain, Vaka 'A Hina sculpture, the Fanfare sculpture (northern motorway)
• Dunedin – Toitū
• Invercargill – Queens Park fountain, gates, band rotunda
NOTE: If you do host an event, whether small or large, let us know by emailing [email protected]
• Get your team at work to wear red shoes on 09/09 to raise awareness of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder! Red shoes are a symbol of FASD Awareness. This tradition was begun by Miles Himmelreich (an adult with FASD and a globally recognised advocate), who wore them to begin conversations about it to raise public awareness.
• Get a group together and become more FASD-informed by:
• There is no safe amount and no safe type of alcohol to drink when pregnant.
• Between 2-5% of babies in Aotearoa are born with FASD – more than the number of people with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), cerebral palsy, and Down syndrome combined. There are over 60K rangatahi / young people under 18 with FASD in Aotearoa.
• Wherever there is alcohol there is FASD – and you don't have to drink a lot. Around 50% of pregnancies are unplanned in Aotearoa, so many women can still be consuming alcohol socially for weeks before they realise they are pregnant. This can be enough to cause FASD.
• If you are not ready for a baby, use reliable contraception.
