**NEWS RELEASE**

A new flag is flying in front of City Hall in anticipation of the 11th Annual World Autism Awareness Day, taking place Monday, April 2 – kicking off a month-long autism awareness campaign. During the campaign, North Eastern Ontario Family and Children’s Services (NEOFACS) will promote an understanding of Autism Spectrum Disorder and what therapies are available. Along with Golden Avenue, and supported by Autism Ontario, a family play day will again be hosted this year at Golden Avenue Public School, by invitation only.

It is estimated that 1 in 68 Canadian children are affected by Autism Spectrum Disorder, and the spectrum is vast. 
“If you’ve met one person with Autism, you’ve met one person with Autism.” – Dr. Stephen Shore

“Autism is one word attempting to describe millions of different stories,” explained Timmins resident and well-renowned Autism advocate Stuart Duncan – AutismFather.

We had the opportunity to speak to Mr. Duncan following the proclamation about his successes and his upcoming attempt to break a Guinness World Record. In 2013, the local man decided to develop a Minecraft server for children with Autism and their families to play safely, without the risk of cyberbullies, called Autcraft (he explains it way better in this TED Talk: https://www.ted.com/…/stuart_duncan_how_i_use_minecraft_to_…) The success and popularity of the server has grown into something much more than he expected, and has aided many people with Autism to remove fear, anxiety and self-doubt from their lives. “It’s important to realize no matter who you are or where you live, you can do wonderful things.” In order to raise more awareness, as well as funds for the Autcraft server and Autism Ontario, Stuart will be attempting to break a world record by playing Minecraft for 36 hours, fueled by food and energy drinks from Mom’s fries. The challenge will begin at midnight on April 2, and people are encouraged to stop in and cheer him on during Best Buy Canada (Timmins)‘ regular business hours. For those who can’t make it out, the entire 36 hours will be live-streamed at twitch.tv/autismfather – and donations can be made via that link as well.