Starbucks reaches out to autism community

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Parents of autistic children initiated the 'A Friendly Talk on Autism' Campaign in Bahrain with the aim of creating awareness about autism and seeking support from the community.

Starbucks Zinj store hosted and participated in the discussion in an effort to educate Starbucks partners on how best to accommodate autistic children in the stores.

Parents in the group shared their experiences of living with autism and advised the staff on how to help care for and serve autistic children.

'We are truly privileged to have contributed to this wonderful initiative. Promoting knowledge on the best way to address the needs of autistic children among our partners is a small contribution that Starbucks can make to spread awareness on this rapidly increasing disorder. Statistics show that autism is increasing more than AIDS and this lays on us more responsibility to increase awareness about it,' commented Antoun Abou Jaoude, Marketing Manager, Starbucks Middle East Ltd.

'It is such an important issue to deal with. We have always heard comments from people expressing their dissatisfaction with our children's conduct and behaviour. It would make a big difference if these comments were 'Can I help?'' added a parent of an autistic child.

Autism is a lifelong disorder which can affect a person's communication and social interaction skills, to make him tend to be alone, away from others. The disorder manifests itself in the first two and half years of a child's life; symptoms include delayed verbal communication, no social skills, resorting more to isolation away from other children and odd behaviour.