September is international FASD Awareness Month, which means it is time to put on your red shoes.
The ‘Red Shoes Rock’ campaign was started in 2013 by RJ Formanek, an adult with FASD who started wearing red shoes to stand out and spark conversations about his ‘invisible disability’.
Thirteen years later, and the Red Shoes Rock campaign is going stronger than ever, providing an important opportunity to elevate the voices of those with FASD and raise awareness that women who are trying for a baby and pregnant should not drink alcohol.
Each year, the FASD Hub Australia joins key organisations in Canberra for a Parliamentary event. The collaboration includes the Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education (FARE), the National Organisation for Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (NOFASD), the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (NACCHO) and FASD Research Australia NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence. Together, they engage with parliamentarians to raise awareness of FASD and highlight key issues affecting people with FASD, their families and their communities.
With FASD being the leading cause of preventable disability in Australia and an estimated prevalence of approximately 3.64%, equivalent to roughly one child per classroom, there remains much work to be done.
Taken from fasdhub.org.au