Events

General Motor (GM) held on Sunday evening 11th November 2007 the GM Style Event Dubai gathering the world's most beautiful cars and stars. Proceeds from ticket sales and fund-raising on the night have been donated to the Dubai Autism Center.

Asalah said: “Staff at the DAC Centre work hard to provide children with Autism with the best possible start in life. I am pleased to be able to meet with the children and see just how much work everyone puts in to helping them reach their full potential”

The rally commenced from the Media City around Jumeirah area and ended at DAC where the riders were received by DAC children, along with their families. They later shuttled back to the Media City.

Another interesting event on the same day was ‘The piano-thon’. Musician Johnny, organiser of Dubai Music Festival, played the piano for 12 hours non-stop from 10am to 10pm at lbn Batuta Mall, China Court stage.

The events, organized by DAC, were part of the “Together Again” global awareness campaign for autism which is held in April each year. This was the first of its kind in the region.

Dubai Autism Centre, in collaboration with Annie’s Centre (a child and family health centre in Australia), conducted a workshop from March 3 to 7, 2007. The workshop was aimed at keeping pace with the development in the areas of Special Education.

The workshop focused on diagnosing autism disorders using the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS).
The workshop is the first of its kind in the Middle East and is considered the most comprehensive and highest standard of detecting autism.

The ADOS demands specialists with a high degree of efficiency and training. Dr Anne Chalfant, Director of Annie’s Centre and Clinical Psychologist, delivered the ADOS course for DAC’s therapy team.

The workshop included a group of practical cases from the DAC children to ensure the trainees acquired hands-on experience to enable them to apply ADOS with the highest professional competence.

Dubai Autism Center organized an art exhibition from Monday January 15 till January 30, 2007 at DUCTAC’s main Exhibition Hall at the Manu Chhabria Arts Center in Dubai titled ‘Imaginaire’ featuring  the work of Iranian-born Christophe Pillault, an autistic artist who despite being severely disabled, creating remarkable work full of motion and expression.

The Dubai Autism Centre hosted a conference for the public and medical professionals to share knowledge on new treatments in different methods.

The conference was held on Saturday January 27th, 2007 in cooperation with US-based Defeat Autism Now (DAN), and featured guest speakers, including Dr William Shaw, the Director of The Great Plains Laboratory for Health, Nutrition, and Metabolism who presented a general overview on biomedical approach as a treatment of Autism and PDD (Prevalent Development Disorders). One of the mothers had also shared her success story in recovering her son from Autism using biomedical treatments.

Under the Patronage of of HRH Princess Haya Bint Al Hussein, Wife of HH Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of UAE, Ruler of Dubai, Lebanese singer Majida Al Roumi held a concert on Thursday January 25th 2007 for the benefit of the Dubai Autism Centre.

Lebanese singer Majida Al Roumi visited the Dubai Autism Center on Wednesday January 24th, 2007 to be briefed about the provided services for the children with Autism. During the visit, Ms. Majida was keen to play and sing for DAC children, and didn’t hesitate to sit on the ground and embrace them. The children interacted and sang with her.

The Dubai Autism Centre honored the young UAE national, Jalal Jamal Bin Thaneyah, has successfully completed a 600-kilometer walk around the country to raise funds and awareness for the Dubai Autism Centre.

Bin Thaneyah, who is studying Business Administration, arrived to a cheerful welcome at the tallest flag mast in the world on Dubai Cornish after completing the three-week expedition that covered all the seven emirates.

Under the sponsorship of HE Dr. Hanif Hassan, an awareness campaign about Autism launched on Sunday December 10th, 2006 in the schools and kindergartens in Abu Dhabi. The campaign, organized in the collaboration with DAC, had covered three main stations for one week across Abu Dhabi, Dubai, and Sharjah. It targeted to provide the teachers and parents general ideas about Autism and its characteristics which could be detected in an early stage. DAC had prepared a scientific detailed questionnaire included 64 yes-no questions, by the result, one could decide if the child need to be checked by the doctor as a suspect case.

During the celebrating of Bally's opening of its flagship store on Wednesday Nov 22nd, 2006 at the Mall of the Emirates, Bally helped to raise more than Dh500,000 for the Dubai Autism Centre through a charity auction. The event, at the Burj Al Arab's Garden Marina, saw the sale of 20 works of art, created by DAC children. Worth mentioning, Bally, in a former time, had contributed Dh100,000 to DAC.