Being a Dinosaur has never been more popular than now, as Fighting For Autism Europe, has its own mascot - SAM Dinosaur.



We asked a friend of ours, the extremely talented Courtney Sproule, if she could draw a picture of a mascot that represented the young superheroes of the spectrum along with a Tyrannosaurus Rex as their friend. We were blown away by what she sent us and you can see a colour-in version of her drawing on the resources page here.


Courtney is an incredibly gifted artist with Autism.



We were in a bit of a quandary as to what the name of the Tyrannosaurus should be, so we asked all the Fighting for Autism Ambassadors for ideas and out of the many, many imaginative entries, the winner was chosen by Mixed Martial Artist, Serena "Southpaw Outlaw" De Jesus, but it turned out the person who inspired the winning entry, had the perfect name and that was Sam.
Sam Hardy is the awesome son of Fighting For Autism ambassador Gareth Hardy. Sam was diagnosed with non verbal autism, but is trying so hard to find his voice. He is a whizz kid with his tablet and uses the picture exchange communication system, Sam is happy and intuitive and a joy to be around.
So we thought Sam could also be:



S. A. M - Supporting Autism through Martial arts and boxing.



This left one task to do, which was to get Sam to meet SAM, so that's what we did. Our Very Important Prehistoric friend is now at his forever home with his new friend, a rather amazing young gentleman who will continue #shiningthroughthespectrum with a #daretobedifferent spring in his step.



Since then, the Supporting Autism through Martial Arts & boxing initiative, has gone from strength to strength, with regular competitions and presentations seeing children and clubs vying for a chance to win their very own SAM Dinosaur and SAM being taken into clubs and schools all over, enabling wonderful discussions to be had about Autism, dispelling myths and learning how to support those on the spectrum through understanding and friendship.