Syukur Alhamdulillah.. and Phew!

After all the continuous hard work for the past month, Learning Ladders Society finally had its official launching ceremony yesterday afternoon at Empire Theater where we were so very fortunate to have been graced with the attendance of Her Royal Highness Paduka Seri Pengiran Anak Isteri Pengiran Anak Sarah and other distinguished guests. You can read about the event in this Borneo Bulletin Article , this Media Permata Article and this Brunei Times Article and look through some beautiful photos here, here and here.

As you can imagine, all the members of our small society are still on cloud nine as just a few months ago, yesterday was nothing more than just a dream (which I bet a lot of other people thought so too). But nevertheless, the success of yesterday's event is a testament to the dedication, faith and sheer perseverance of Sharina and Linda in their quest to help families affected by ASD with the hope that all children with ASD should be able to be given the opportunity to strive towards an independent life. I hope that the Society has managed to show the importance of early intervention (as early as 2 years old) and how the earlier the child is diagnosed, the earlier he can start the recovery process and the better chances it will be for him to live an independent life in the future.

As stated in Sharina's opening speech and as something we cannot stress enough, Learning Ladders Society is only another option for autism parents out there to explore. We are not here to replace or compete with any other organisation that deals with children with ASD and developmental disabilities. With the rising numbers of children being affected by ASD, it is timely that another society be established to help complement existing providers and in fact, we hope that there will be other organisations set up offering other types of intervention therapies for children with ASD as we all know not all ASD children are alike, so one can benefit from a different type of therapy than another.

We were delighted to see the attendance of the relevant authorities and hope that a working relationship to help assist these children can be arranged soon.

We are over the moon grateful for all the sponsors that stepped up and contributed to the successful holding of the ceremony. I can understand some people will be slightly bewildered as to how a new society can host such a grand affair, but to explain, they were all sponsored in a majority way. Thanks to Empire Hotel for the venue, Syazana's Production House for the short movie and the giant screen (Love you Rachael!), Sunlit for all the posters, banners, leaflets, goodie bags, Jerome from Jen Studio for all the photos and all the other sponsors for their generous monetary contributions which without them, there was absolutely NO WAY we would have pulled off yesterday's event. If anything, the amount of sponsorship we got for a new society and within such a short period of time only goes to show how important our cause is and how convinced these sponsors were in wanting to help.

Lastly, I also have to personally give an emotional expression of appreciation to all the members of Learning Ladders. In particular to Sharina, Linda, Mimel, Naneh, Molly, Uzie, Ka Lella, Ann, Kerri, Jo, Suhaila and of course all the hubbies too. No words can describe how I feel towards you all but only to say that now, I can't imagine not having you in my life. I feel so blessed to be associated with a bunch of intelligent, diligent, loving, caring, compassionate, sometimes emotional (hehe sudahtah mengangis ani!), hilarious (esp you mel!) people but most of all, I am so grateful to have people I can talk to anytime, any day who will GET me. There is no doubt that autism has taken over our lives and as much as we want to put it aside sometimes, (because let's face it, not everybody can handle us talking about it), we have to accept that for now, during these intensive early years at least, it is too important and inherent in our very beings that we cannot possibly just toss it aside and not think about it and not expect others to care about it. And for that reason, I cannot underestimate the importance of having you beautiful souls around me simply because we understand and empathise with each other so well.

Now that we are officially established and hopefully more people are aware of our existence and purpose, we can only go on and continue fighting for our cause (We want our school!). Our family is not only looking forward to a brighter future for all of these children but along the way, I am also excited to share more tears and laughter with our newfound family. Love and hugs to you all!