By William Delahunty
A criminology and forensic psychology student organised a fundraising event at a Leicester bar to aid the charity Ambitious about Autism.
University of Leicester student Emily Keating organised the quiz and bingo night at Firebug in Millstone Lane to help support the community and raised more than £300.
Emily received her diagnosis of autism four years ago and now believes that she can help spread awareness and dispel harmful stigmas.
She reached out to the charity for ways she could help and for any ideas on how she might be able to raise money, and as a result, with the help of friends, organised this event.
The event on January 27 started at 8pm and lasted two hours and went very smoothly, having been well planned out and delivered with genuine enthusiasm.
Emily encouraged many people who were neurodivergent or who themselves have autism to attend.
She is really passionate about this cause as she believes it to be a helpful charity that helps young people like herself reach their maximum potential.
Getting rid of the negative connotations of autism was a huge goal for the event, and in persisting in planning the event mainly by herself she sought to accomplish that target.
“At the end of the day we are just people and people should accept it more,” she said.
“We are still actually human beings.”
The £300 raised will be donated to the charity by Emily on behalf of all attendees and will help ensure that more people with autism are able to be supported.
Looking forward to the future, Emily is keen to continue building on this momentum.
While finishing her third year of criminology with forensic psychology at the University of Leicester, she hopes to balance more charity events and awareness campaigns.
“It would make me feel really accomplished if I’ve actually been able to do something personally myself to give back to the charity,” Emily said.
