One of these ambassadors is a gentleman from Yorkshire in the United Kingdom named
Lewis "Twitch" Daykin.
Lewis is a larger than life character, an amazing personality that truly does shine through the spectrum and encompasses the message of Fighting For Autism message to Dare to be Different.
This gentleman along with our friends at Almighty Fighting Championship in Leeds, UK went to do fundraise from which the proceeds raised went to give 30 Fighting For Autism Junior ambassadors from around the world their own Fighting For Autism hoody and choice of patch or a baseball cap, these youngsters are both on and off the spectrum and raising awareness in their respective clubs and in competition and driving the message of Autism awareness and most of all acceptance and understanding, and with some truly inspiring stories of their own.
Lewis truly does have a heart of gold.
My name is Lewis “Twitch” Daykin
I have Aspergers Syndrome, I have been doing boxing and Muay Thai now for nearly 9 years (including competing 2 years) my idol is world champion Muay Thai fighter John Wayne Parr and I hope to train with him one day.
Besides training and competing, I love motorbikes.
How does Aspergers impact on your life?
“Well it impacts me with like new situations or going new places or having changes in my life and I do take things to heart a lot, but if someone explains everything to me slowly and n in a way i can understand i can be ok, so if I don’t understand something I will tell you that I don’t understand and because of that I can have a short temper sometimes“.
How old were you when you were diagnosed?
“I think i was about 3 years old when i was diagnosed with autism, according to my Mum“.
How was school whilst you were growing up?
“To be honest it was tough n not to sound like a sob story but I only had a few friends as I found it hard to make friends i was easily distracted at school n since autism was a relatively new thing non of the teachers really knew what to do same when i was in high school i was bullied throughout, for being autistic and the "freak" amongst many others name I was jumped about 7 times in high school, my Mum and Dad did every thing they could to make sure I was ok or as good as I could be“.
A young Lewis whilst on holiday with a friend
How has Boxing and Muay Thai helped you?
“It helped me by giving me confidence in going out n been able to talk to new people and learning about the Thai culture and handling things better, I don’t think I could live without it” .
Lewis has also gone onto coach youngster at the gym where he trains Ludus Magnus
Who have been your biggest influences in your training?
“My biggest influences in training are champion Muay Thai fighter, John Wayne Parr but my biggest influences are Neil Wain and John Popelwell I want to be as successful as them they have made there mark on the combat world and I want to follow in there foot steps. (I love them both like family J )”.
Lewis in competition at a boxing event.
What would be your advice be to someone on the autistic spectrum be?
“Hmmm my advice would be yes things in life are going to be hard really hard but set a goal in life start of with small goals and gradually make bigger ones if you are on the autistic spectrum, please understand that you are more awesome than you can ever imagine J ”.
