Jorgen was planning to attend this year's Autism ride, I say was as we all know what's next, Due to the corona virus he is on lock-down at his home in Norway, unable to travel. After a few messages to each other he told me briefly about why he wanted to join the ride out, I asked him if it was ok to share so he kindly wrote a few words for me, Thanks Jorgen.... Paul
Why I ride...
In 2005 my son Oliver was born with a very rare brain disorder called lisencephally, for those that haven't heard of this Life expectancy is about 10 years. unfortunately in January 2017 He passed away.
As you can imagine spending as much time with Oliver was very important to me. Later after he passed away I worked in care homes & it gave me opportunities to meet lots of others kids, young adults who were autistic or with other diagnoses.
I now support one adult with Asperger's syndrome (now classed as Autism) each year giving him the opportunity for a holiday, we usually take a road trip to the USA (in a car as I can't have him on a bike), Thus far we have completed 30 states.
This is something I do just because I love to see the joy he gets from the routine of the trip & the freedom of being out of the care home,
I take one month off unpaid from work every year to do this. Not everyone is so lucky to have the possibility to do something like this due to the cost but it is important to me.
I have been thinking of finding a way to help other people do something similar with more trips for kids & young adults, maybe a weekend to the zoo or something like that...
Jorgen.