Cycling from Darlington to Vienna for autism

January 30, 2008

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Last Updated: Tue 29 Jan, 11:19 pm UTC

By BikeRadar

A Ripon-based artist is gearing up to cycle from Darlington to Vienna

to increase awareness of autism and to raise money for the autism

unit at Darlington's Education Village.

Stead, who has the form of autism known as Asperger's Syndrome,

is aiming to cycle nearly 1,500 miles in May to increase awareness of

autism and generate money to build a sensory garden and outdoor play

area at the unit.

Stead, a nationally-renowned artist and owner of Stead Gallery

in Kirkgate, Ripon, is hoping to raise £10,000 for the cause.

Asperger's Syndrome is a strand of autism that affects how a person

makes sense of the world, processes information and relates to other

people.

Explaining the choice of Vienna as his destination he said: " Hans

Asperger, one of the first people to recognise the condition that

came to bear his name, was born just outside Vienna and developed

many of his theories at the university there so it seems like the

natural destination for this trip.

" I will be visiting the Education Village (along with any schools in

the Ripon area that wish to take part) throughout the intensive

training period, " he said, " and will keep in contact with everyone

back home during the trip by phone, through our blog -

Stead intends to link his experiences to the school curriculum,

highlighting such topics as nutrition, the importance of exercise to

health, geography, history, language and not least, his own

experience as an Aspergic adult.

" We plan to be on the road for three weeks averaging 75 miles per

day, " the artist added, " and probably the same amount of blister

pads! - riding through England, Holland and Germany and finally into

Austria. "

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