By Derek Schlennstedt
Glen and Krystal Barnett’s 5-year-old son Rhys is growing up with autism and an anxiety disorder.
This means Rhys can become overwhelmed by noise and movement of highly stimulating environments like shopping centres, and when Rhys struggles to regulate his anxiety, he runs or has a tantrum.
While both Rhys and his family have learned to cope with many things, the family is now raising money so that Rhys can have his own therapy dog to help him through his daily struggles.
“It’s a constant mental battle for all of us, we’re always thinking about Rhys and what are the triggers,” Mr Barnett said.
For the Barnett’s a simple dash to the supermarket can result in a breakdown.
“It would appear to the untrained eye like a spoiled brat having a temper tantrum … sounds and bright lights are all big triggers for him,” said Mr Barnett.
“Rhys was diagnosed with autism when he was almost three-years-old and we’ve essentially been hermititzed; we’ve really had to close ourselves off, because it is such a stressful lifestyle.”
To help ease that stress and help Rhys with his daily internal challenges, the family have decided to fundraise for a companion dog to help ease Rhys’s anxiety and sensory overload.
“Essentially they’re like a guide dog in that they are trained to do specific tasks,” Mr Barnett said.
“In this case Rhys has autism, but he also has anxiety disorder, so the dogs are trained to literally sniff that.
“The dogs can tell us whether Rhys is struggling by nudging us and they’ll be a companion like a friend, but there’s no pressure there … even just by putting their head on his lap helps with emotional regulation.”
But, Companion dogs don’t come cheap, and at $9,000 the family have decided to fundraise by holding a performance called ‘What would love do,’ which ‘shines a light’ on what autism is.
Concentrating on the motto ‘different not less,’ the concert has a strong focus on Autism and removing the social stigma attached to it.
Mr Barnett said it wasn’t unusual to receive judgemental comments or looks from people when Rhys was having a meltdown in a public space.
“We’ve got 22 singers and six in a band and they’re all donating their time,” Mr Barnett said.
“All of the songs we’ve tried to pick are kind of leaning toward being your own person and saying it’s okay to be different.
“Just raising awareness about what autism is and what is isn’t and showing that you don’t have to do things the normal way to succeed.”
With all funds going towards raising money for the companion dog, The Barnett’s said that any money raised over their target goal will go towards the charity or be donated to another family who may be struggling to raise funds for a companion dog.
The concert will be held at The Alan Ross Centre at Billanook College, 197-199 Cardigan Road, Mooroolbark, on Friday, 3 August, 2018 at 8:00pm.
For more details and to book tickets go to; https://www.trybooking.com/book/event?eid=396003&
