Laura shares her story.
My son Stefan has XXXXY Syndrome. It is a rare chromosome condition and one of the things with it is very poor speech.
I was on Facebook when I noticed a posting if you collect 165 old phones you could get an iPad. Because it was on the Irish Autism Action Facebook Page I didn't think we would be able to join in. I contacted Jen to see if we could get one and you couldn't feel my delight and excitement when she said everyone could take part.
So our mission began, we needed to get 165 phones. I posted up on Facebook to get phones for Stefan so that he could communiate with us. The first week we received around 25 phones. I kept checking the bag wishing, hoping and praying that we would get more. I asked everybody and anybody that I knew if they would help us.
Two of my old friends, whom I hadn't seen for a while, were just fantastic. One of them collected 40 for me and the other friend had over 20. All of a sudden my phone bag was heaving! It started to look as if we could make this happen. Another friend of mine emailed her family in England as she was travelling over for the weekend to see them .She came home with another 20 phones. She was so good bringing them back with her as she had to explain at the airport why she had so many phones in her bag. As soon as she explained she said that they just checked the phones and then let her through.
I found once people knew that Stefan needed phones they were really happy to help. They said that it was great for once to be able to do something for Stefan. Two of his friends have special needs and their mothers also collected many phones for us.
One day we decided to count and put all Stefans phones into their bags. To our delight we had our 165 phoned with some over. We are going to give these phones to another family in our area who are collecting also.
We got our iPad on Wednesday and I emailed Jen straight away to get information and tips on getting apps for Stefan. I can't wait to have it all set up for him, we know will make our little man very, very happy!
Note from Jen:
We currently have 165 families registered to recycle mobile phones in exchange for a device. 17 iPads have been sent out with another 3 (so far) going to their new homes next week. If you have any old mobile phones around the house please consider sending them in to Irish Autism Action or to a family near you who is collecting. Email me on jen@autismireland.ie and I will put you in touch with the family nearest you.
You can register to join in by emailing geraldinp@bpi.ie or phone Geraldine on 01 4279790.
