To consider requests from Councilman Jim Shulman to address the Council to proclaim Nashville’s continued commitment to the Sister City Relationship with Belfast Nashville delegation; and
To consider a request from Mr. Jack Healy to address the Council in relation to Autism Awareness.
Minutes:
The Chief Executive reported that a request had been received within the required seven days’ notice period from Councilmen J. Shulman and Hastings to be permitted to address the Council to proclaim Nashville’s continued commitment to the Sister City Relationship with Belfast.
The Council agreed to accede to the request.
Councilmen Shulman and Hastings were welcomed to the meeting.
Councilman Shulman expressed his appreciation of the special Sister City Relationship between Belfast and Nashville. He reminded Members that Nashville had been a sister city of Belfast for over 20 years and the Belfast-Nashville relationship had grown over time to include friendship, music, art, heritage and education.
He informed the Council that Nashville was a loving community, a place that was growing and thriving, which reminded him of Belfast. He advised that this was his third visit to Belfast and he looked forward to learning from and listening to the people of Belfast. He highlighted that Belfast was an inspiration to the city of Nashville in its continued efforts to bring people together in peace.
He thanked the Council and its staff for arranging the successful visit and, to commemorate the visit, presented the Lord Mayor with a piece of artwork from Nashville to show their appreciation for the Sister City Relationship.
Councilmen Shulman and Hastings, together with the delegation from Nashville and Davidson County Council were thanked by the Lord Mayor for their attendance.
Autism Awareness
The Chief Executive reported that a request had been received within the required seven days’ notice period from Mr. Healy to address the Council in relation to autism awareness.
The Council agreed to accede to the request.
The Lord Mayor welcomed Mr. Healy to the meeting. Mr. Healy advised that he wished to raise awareness of the problems faced by the autism spectrum disorder (ASD) community and explained that, being a member of that community, he had experienced problems with social interaction and communication. He suggested that every individual was unique in many ways and that applied equally to those who were on the spectrum and those regarded as neuro typical. He advised that his parents and primary school teacher had worked hard to achieve a diagnosis for him and he believed that early diagnosis and intervention was important. In relation to diagnosis, he suggested that there was a disconnect between the educational welfare system and the NHS which needed to be addressed urgently. He explained that upon receiving a statement of educational needs many helpful aids and support were put in place that benefited him greatly, which included the allocation of a classroom assistant and additional time to undertake examinations. He advised that he was due to graduate from the Belfast Metropolitan College with a foundation Degree in Software Engineering.
He explained that he gets angry and frustrated when he experiences marginalisation and offensive comments from other people. He suggested that the Council and other legislative bodies could play a role in creating awareness, education and legislating to make the offensive phrases against the ASD community unacceptable.
He advised that he would like to gain employment, however, his enquiries to date suggest that this might be difficult to achieve. He stated that people on the spectrum had extraordinary skills and qualities that could be beneficial to an employer and he suggested that the Council could play a role in educating employers, together with encouraging and incentivising recruitment of the ASD community.
Mr. Healy was thanked by the Lord Mayor.