Project TEA (MAR)

The sea as a space for fun and inclusion. It is with this objective that the ASD project (MAR) emerges, an initiative that aims to provide well-being, quality of life and sports and social inclusion of people within Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and their families. For eleven months, a group of 40 autists, in the age group from the age of four, will have free biweekly stand-up paddle classes at Mucuripe beach, in Fortaleza, accompanied by instructors of the water sport that is successful and has many practitioners in Ceará. Classes start on November 23, from 8 am to 10 am.The TEA project (MAR) is the result of a partnership between the Fortaleza Azul Association (FAZ), which brings together autistics and their families, with the Ceará SUP Club, specialized in the teaching and practice of stand up paddle, having been approved in the Law of Incentive to Sport of Ceará, of the Government of the State of Ceará, in a notice of the Secretariat of Sports and Youth, and counting on support from ENEL Ceará.For autistics, experiences with sports in general help in the process of inclusion, socialization and even as a therapeutic process, since they work on motor development. “We had experimental stand-up paddle classes throughout this year and we noticed how the children and teenagers liked the sport and got along well with the fact that they were at sea, on top of the board, and had a lot of fun. From this came the idea of thinking of a way to allow this experience to a greater number of people”, explains Renata Fernandes, administrative director of the Fortaleza Azul Association (FAZ), an entity that brings together more than 300 families of autistic people.The CDC (Center for Disease Prevention Control) network in the United States estimates that the prevalence of autism in children aged eight years is one child in 59. It is estimated that there are about 70 million people in this condition in the world and that, in Brazil, there are approximately two million people within Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).