"Picnic in Blue", through the eyes of Bikers for Humanity
That’s how it was, when our volunteers got on their motorbikes and headed to “Lumea lui Arthur”, determined to bring a wave of happiness to neurodivergent children. Together, we created unforgettable memories – we played, painted and laughed non-stop.
Each child became part of our family, and their smiles were the most beautiful reward. Looking at pictures, you can hardly tell which is the biker and which is the child. Every moment of joy reminds us how important it is to be together.
Congratulations again, “Lumea lui Arthur”, for the dedication with which you do these things, and in Bikers for Humanity you will always find a reliable partner.
Together we are Bikers for Humanity!💙
"Lumea lui Arthur" and Bikers For Humanity celebrate neurodiversity at "Picnic In Blue"
“Lumea lui Arthur” and Bikers For Humanity invite you to the “Picnic In Blue”, an event designed to raise awareness of the issues facing children with developmental delays. It will take place on Saturday in Cernica, and will be an opportunity for both children and parents to learn, have fun and be part of a beautiful community, eager to understand each other’s points of view. We spoke to Ana Turtureanu, founder of “Lumea lui Arthur”, about neurodiversity, the trials such children go through and the importance of this topic in society.
“Picnic in Blue” is an event dedicated to raising awareness and acceptance of neurodiversity for children and their families. Organized by “Lumea lui Arthur”, a non-profit association that develops educational and therapeutic programs for children with developmental disabilities, the event offers a safe and fun space at Extreme Park Cernica, in nature, where participants can socialize and enjoy various interactive activities.
“Lumea lui Arthur”, together with Bikers For Humanity, have brought together partners such as clinics and organizations dedicated to supporting children’s health, and offers a variety of workshops, from animal activities to music and art therapy. The event runs from 11:00AM to 3:00PM, with 30-minute sessions bringing participants from all over the world to the event.
First of all, you help families, in fact, who are raising children with developmental problems, you call them. What is developmental difficulty?
Developmental delays, we call them. It means any kind of problem that the child has, so that he or she is prevented from socializing, from fitting in, from speaking, from behaving and being like everybody else. Here we can talk about diagnoses such as autism, which we work with very often, ADHD, Down's or any other kind of diagnosis on the mental retardation side. We don't work with severe motor delays, just simple, so to speak. I mean, anything that's, let's say, deficient abilities.
How do children, but also parents, who find themselves in situations like this cope with it? I’m talking about their self-esteem, their self-image, their feelings towards neurotipycal people?
We, in scientific terms, call people without developmental delays neurotypicals. Let's take in order what you asked me. For the parent, in general, the first period that they find themselves in, after they hit a question mark from internal sources or a red flag raised by those around them, let's say, is a period of denial. Because when you're a parent, the only thing you want in your universe is for it to have a problem, whatever it is. And then it's normal to be in denial. After that comes a period where they generally blame themselves because, for example, one of the causes associated with developmental delays, at least now, after this pandemic wave, is excessive screen time. Studies are now emerging that confirm the negative effects of electronics on children. Parents who have had to or who didn't realize how harmful it is automatically blame themselves. It also very much depends on the degree of damage to the child.
But yes, most have low self-confidence. They realize they're different.
At what age do they start realizing they’re different?
It depends. I repeat, it depends again on the degree of impairment. But the obvious problems, which you can see with the naked eye, start somewhere from the age of 2 upwards. Even from 2 years old. There can be children who, from the age of 2, because they can't speak or integrate or play, start to feel different, start to close themselves off in their own world, to search. That's why it's very often said about children with autism that they are in their own world, that they can't hear you and they can't see you. They do this because they begin to block out external stimuli. They have some stimulating movements or behaviors that help them self-regulate and create a sense of well-being so they can cope with the world around them.
In layman’s terms, what kind of therapy do you offer to children and how does parent counseling work?
We have developed our own programs. They are our methods based, in general, on many educational and therapeutic methods that we have resonated with.
There's the psychology component, but it's not just the psychotherapy or classical psychology parts, there's the behavioral analysis part. I'm an internationally accredited behavior analyst. In Romania, until this year, there was no such training.
I was part of the commission that brought the law on behavior analysts to Romania. It is about to be published in the Official Gazette. We are close to the point of being 100% legal. And precisely because this concept has not existed in the law until now, we couldn't even say that we were doing this.
But we did it because that's what has been done out there for decades, with very well-documented scientific evidence showing that the recovery of a child with autism working on behavioral analytic methods does work or changes the condition that they started with. We cannot speak of recovery in all cases, but we can also speak of recovery in the case of a child with autism. So "Lumea lui Arthur" develops its own programs. It's a method that has taken the best of all the techniques, therapies and educational methods that we know. I hope that in the years to come all this madness will have a name in Romania. Right now it's such a gray area.
Let’s talk a bit about the “Picnic In Blue” event. What’s happening in Cernica this weekend?
"Lumea lui Arthur" and Bikers for Humanity will be in Cernica. This year we have nine more guests joining us. The event is dedicated to children and families. We wanted it to be an event to raise awareness and acceptance of neurodiversity, so that children who have these difficulties have a space where they can feel very free, non-judgmental. Everything will be free. We've planned fun, interactive activities, workshops, each guest has prepared little surprises, and if we have time, we'll be waiting for them with a Ureca workshop, the latest program we invented, based on the "We knew" method. They are basically learning from experience.
I have one more question. I think it’s important to point out, for the readers who I hope will come to the event. How hard is it to raise awareness on issues like this? In Romania, mental health is not considered a priority. As you said, parents are in a state of denial and it’s very hard to get the right information to them.
Yes, interesting question. Romania is about 100 years behind, unfortunately. Therapies have reached a very high level compared to the rest of Europe, at least, but not only. On the other hand, this part of raising awareness, educating society, integration, access to schools and kindergartens is extremely difficult. It is only done with pressure and threats from parents, because it is their right. On the other hand, they don't have a system adapted to their needs. Children are taken into mainstream education, but they don't cope, it's not what they need.
From my point of view, it's wasted time. We're slowly getting there. Things have changed compared to 20 or so years ago, when I started, when you didn't see them on the streets, you didn't see them at activities like this, at events.
In the last 4-5 years, this idea of neurodiversity is starting to resonate in Romania and there are more and more events that have this as their mission. And we are starting to see them. That's why we are getting used to being aware, to learning.
"Picnic in Blue is also an opportunity for other parents. My kids will be there, my friends' kids will be there, not having any problems and knowing that this is what it's all about - playing, integrating, talking, not shying away from them. We often discover how cool and wonderful they are and that it's not that hard.
There are also difficult situations, but I have always told parents that it is up to us to teach and educate our children. Yes, it is difficult for us to do that because we do not know how to do it ourselves. We didn't have that in our upbringing.
