Mbabane – Families, friends and supporters laced up their boots and took to the trails for the Autism Challenge Hiking event, a community walk organised to raise awareness about autism and push closer to completing the Autism Eswatini Care Centre.
The event brought together emaSwati from different walks of life in a show of solidarity with children and individuals on the autism spectrum and the families who support them every day.
Autism Eswatini Executive Director Tryphinah A.W. Mvubu has previously spoken about the need for compassion over judgment when it comes to disability. 
“No one applies to be born with a disability; not the child, nor the parent. So let us choose to respond with love, not judgment. Let us embrace one another with understanding and compassion,” Mvubu said.
The Care Centre, once completed, will provide children and individuals on the autism spectrum with a space to learn, communicate, express themselves and develop practical life skills in an environment built around their needs.
Autism Eswatini said many children and individuals with autism possess unique and extraordinary abilities, from creativity and deep focus to remarkable memory and problem-solving skills, and that what they need most is not judgment but support, and not exclusion but opportunity.
The organisation called on emaSwati to see ability before disability and to choose patience over ignorance and kindness over stigma as the country works toward building a more inclusive society where every child belongs, every voice matters and every life is valued.
