Cuckfield business, Jimmy’s Barbers has been showing support for one of his young customers by filling his salon with blue balloons in aid of World Awareness Autism Week.
Mother of three, Kelly Lynch whose middle son, Cameron is on the autistic spectrum and is a regular customer at Jimmy’s said: “All of my sons go to Jimmy’s to get their hair cut, but because Cameron is on the spectrum Jimmy always goes above and beyond to accommodate him. He knows Cameron has got serious sensory issues and that having is hair cut is actually quite a big deal for him, so he’ll always move things around to make sure he cuts Cam’s hair.”
Kelly, who lives in Staplefield, has garnered a large following on Instagram since posting a picture of Cameron wearing a hoodie, with the words #Austismclub across the front. Soon after she first published the photo, she received an amazing response from other mums and families whose children also suffer from autism. “The idea to create the hooded jumpers was to prevent people making the wrong assumptions. When I’m out and about with Cameron and he’s portraying some unusual behaviour I very often feel the need to explain why he’s behaving in a certain way. So, I just thought, rather than telling everyone my child is autistic I’ll create something myself that will tell people.”
It was Jimmy who approached Kelly with the idea for Autism Week. “He said, why don’t we put a display in the window of my shop. We can put a few of your hoodies in too, to help promote the cause. It was Jimmy who created the wonderful balloon display. I’ve had so much positive feedback from parents who now follow my Instagram account and people that want to buy the #Autismclub hoodie.”
To find out more about Kelly’s new enterprise follow @lynch_mob_mumma and shop here for a lovely hoodie.