Here is a write up describing another one of our community projects by a student at edh jiujitsu. The event is a fundraiser for ATOU, and everyone is encouraged to attend. Please feel free to join on any of our community events regardless of your experiences with Jiujitsu.

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Dear All,

A touch of understanding is a non-profit organization with a mission to encourage acceptance and respect for all individuals. They are locally based in Granite Bay, CA and promote educational programs  designed to enhance understanding of differences and to encourage inclusion, these programs are often done in school settings to promote the understanding of individuals who are different especially for those with disabilities both seen and unseen. They try to minimize through education and outreach the discrimination, bullying and social isolation suffered by children and adults because they don’t fit the societal norms or are different for any reason, especially those with physical disabilities and special needs.  They will often put on school proms and dances for junior high and high school school students, whom otherwise wouldn’t be able to attend prom and valentines day events. 

Most importantly they create an environment where the kids and adults are not judged by society.  I have attended many of these events with my son and I have always been surprised at the level of comfort and enthusiasm as the kids relax and are themselves a long with the typical peer volunteers that participate in the event as well.

You will truly never meet a more genuine group of real people except maybe in Brazilian Jujitsu. The reason I chose ATOU as my awareness project is I believe the community they aim to educate and serve would benefit as a partner with the BJJ community.

Due to BJJs physical benefits it helps in the improvement and further development in the physical/mental motor control of the practitioners body. Improvements could also be encouraged in balance, coordination, and activity tolerance.  Also a large percentage of the special needs kids/ and young adults struggle balancing the control of the their physical bodies with the daily array of sensory inputs, to include noise/light levels, touch (heat, cold, and pressure/textures) tastes, and smells. If this awareness project could lead to a class or summer camp custom tailored for the kids/teens and adults for the this community the long term benefits would be amazing as BJJ would give back and change lives, but really over time it would be the BJJ teachers and peers that would benefit in unspoken ways you can only understand until as we say “You step onto the mat.”