Sketch-A-Space contest raises awareness — deadline this Friday!
by Beth
Wow! The Care2 Healthy Living blog published a post about our Easter Seals Sketch-A-Space contest! This is no small thing – with over 17 million members, Care2 promotes itself as the “largest online community for healthy and green living, human rights and animal welfare.”
The Care2 post about us is called Easter Seals and Google Team Up for Autism Awareness and features quotes from Tom Wyman, Google’s manager of business development, and our own Patricia Wright, National Director of Autism Services at Easter Seals. In the Care2 post, Tom stresses the importance of access to services for people with autism who are looking for jobs:
“Easter Seals’ Sketch-A-Space contest aims to raise autism awareness and increase community understanding that individuals with autism can be successful in the working world when they have access to the supports they need and find the right job match,” says Tom Wyman, manager of business development, Google. “We hope it will encourage employers to consider individuals with autism and other disabilities and provide an avenue for creative expression.”
That’s what we’re hoping, too! SketchUp is Google’s 3D modeling software, and it is popular among people who have autism, many of whom are visually and spatially gifted and especially adept at creating 3D models. You don’t have to have autism to enter the Sketch-A-Space contest, though: people who have someone in their lives with autism can enter, too, as well as those interested in learning more about autism.
We’re calling on you to use the free Google SketchUp 3D modeling software to design a space that represents your dream job, career interests, or plans for future employment.
Entries will be accepted until the new January 13th deadline, and a panel of judges consisting of three experts in architecture and design, along with last year’s Sketch-a-Space winner, JP Saikali, a college student living with autism, will pick the top three entries. Easter Seals will feature those picks online and the public will vote on the grand prize Sketch-A-Space winner. What a great opportunity to celebrate the unique contributions people with autism make to our nation’s workforce, and while you’re at it, who knows, maybe you’ll win the grand prize: $3,000!