About us

We are a team of passionate students from the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine (LKCMedicine) at Nanyang Technological University (Singapore), collaborating closely with St. Andrew’s Autism Centre (SAAC) to engage students, clients and communities in our efforts.

We are a group of students from the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine (LKCMedicine) at Nanyang Technological University (Singapore), who are committed to serve those with autism and understand autism beyond the stigma and misconception.

Project ANGEL@LKC was started in 2016, as a local Community Involvement Project (CIP), by 12 students of LKCMedicine. We were brought together by our shared desire to make a difference in the lives of people with autism. We started this project, knowing that more could be done for these individuals whom face difficulties integrating into society.

Our partner, St. Andrew’s Autism Centre is a non-profit, integrated centre for the education, training and care of persons with autism and their families. Since we began in 2016, we at Project ANGEL@LKC have been hard at work reaching out to clients, students and faculty, spreading the message of love without condition.

Our aims are: firstly, to allow medical students to seek a broader and more personal understanding of autism; secondly, to spread autism awareness, understanding and acceptance; and finally, to support fundraising efforts.

learn more about SAAC

visit our instagram @angelsoflkc

We are Project ANGEL@LKC, and our mission is to

make a difference to people with moderate to severe autism.

ANGEL stands for A New Goal: Enriching Lives. In the process of trying to help people with autism and their families, we feel that it is crucial to align ourselves with organisations such as St. Andrew’s Autism Centre (SAAC). This ensures that our aims are in the best interest of people with autism, instead of causing more harm than good.

ANGEL@LKC thus has 3 main goals:

to spread autism awareness, understanding and acceptance, especially within NTU

1

to support fundraising efforts for organisations such as St. Andrew's Autism Centre (SAAC)

2

to allow students at LKCMedicine to seek a broader and more personal understanding of autism

3

Why autism awareness?

Due to their condition, people with autism and their families are often discriminated against and shunned in society. For instance, a person with autism may not understand how to wait in a queue for his turn, and hence go straight to the front to order food. However, if you did not know he had autism, you may scold him for being selfish, and his parents for not teaching him basic courtesy.

It’s very embarrassing and saddening for the family to experience such misunderstandings, so often the family stays at home to avoid trouble.

However, if we have the knowledge that such individuals have autism, we would be more understanding and accepting of them and their families. This goes a long way in making these families feel safe to be part of our society.

Why fundraising?

To have the best chance of helping people with autism overcome their difficulties, organisations such as SAAC spare no expense when it comes to providing highly trained staff members and other essential services. This makes a tremendous difference in the lives of people with autism and their families.

Unfortunately, autism is a lifelong condition. Thus, even with subsidies, supporting a person with autism can be quite costly.

By raising funds for SAAC, we hope to keep their services as affordable and sustainable as possible, and in turn we hope this helps ease the financial burden that the families face.

O U R M I S S I O N

Why medical students?

One of the challenges that people with autism face is understanding abstract concepts. This becomes a huge problem when it comes to their access to healthcare. For instance, a person with autism may not understand the importance of getting a vaccination or blood test. To him, he feels afraid because a stranger is trying to hurt him with a needle, and hence he may cry or even fight back, putting himself and everyone around him in danger.

For the sake of ensuring that their healthcare needs are met, we believe it is crucial for medical students to understand autism. This will help us be understanding and empathetic, and to work closely with the family to overcome the difficulties in communication and understanding. People with autism are just as deserving of medical treatment as anyone else, hence we must do our part to help them when they need it.