Africa’s only autistic cyclist, Young Phil Bertino would take his awareness creation a notch higher with an audacious attempt to ride from Accra to Tamale for his ‘2025 Autism Awareness Creation through the Cycling’ campaign.
The ride from Accra to Tamale is set for Wednesday, April 2 to Friday, April 4.
The campaign which has been running for the past six years would see the 18-year-old, joined by other professional cyclists to take up the over 600km challenge.
Dubbed “Empowering Autism through Action,” the cyclists, would engage residents and commuters with the intention to raise awareness and drum home the need for society to accept and support children living with autism.
Under the auspices of the Liztino Center for Children with Special Needs, the campaign would begin at the Accra Sports Stadium where organisers would engage the public before starting the journey.
The team would on Wednesday, ride from Accra through Nkawkaw to Konongo and make a stop in Kumasi before continuing the campaign from Kumasi to Tamale They are expected to arrive on Friday.
Speaking ahead of the campaign, the Founder of the Liztino Center and mother to Young Phil, Mrs Angel Bertino said, they decided to take up the challenge to engage more people on autism.
She explained that, over the past years, the cyclists succeeded in their campaign from Accra to other regions, including Central, Eastern, Volta and Western regions and determined to reach out to Ashanti and the Northern regions.
She said that the campaign would further drum home the need for society to do better in their support and interaction with autistic people.
“People still think autistic children are a burden to society but when supported, they can live an independent life and can excel in anything they do,” she stated.
Additionally, she said they have received some positive feedback from the public following previous awareness campaigns with thousands of people accepting their autistic children and supporting them to grow.
“Some have gone back to school with others learning some form of skill to become entrepreneurs as well as other areas,” she stated.
Most importantly, she said, they were relating better in society and had become independent rather than being burdens to their parents.
“This is a huge and longest journey and we need all on board to support and push the cyclist to raise the flag of Ghana,” she said.
She called on corporate entities and individuals to come on board, with special mention of Philanthropist and Businessman Ibrahim Mahama and others to come on board to support the noble course.
She expressed appreciation to past sponsors and the media for their support to the campaign and autism and disability as a whole.
