Fighting with Autism- Lewis "Twitch" Daykin

Fighting For Autism has had some absolutely amazing people come onboard as Fighter ambassadors , one of the things we pride ourselves on is actively involving those from within the autism community, in hope that their success stories go on to trigger the spark that will ignite so many more.

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 ”.

Fighting For Autism- Paddy "The Baddy Pimblett" Helping to raise Autism awareness through Mixed Martial Arts

Patrick "Paddy The Baddy" Pimblett is a Champion Mixed Martial Artist and who fights for Cagewarriors Mixed Martial Arts promotion.

The awe inspiring performance's being displayed in the cage by the Lightweight fighting out of Next Generation Mixed Martial Arts in Liverpool are touting Paddy to be one of the shining stars on their way to world stardom in the sport, and has definitely gone on to seen him as one of the hottest properties of Mixed Martial arts in Europe, This gentleman has the ingredients of being a truly remarkable fighter.
Paddy who started his Professional Mixed Martial Arts Career in 2012, and has 11 Wins with his last bout seeing him crowned as The Cage Warriors World Champion at his home city of Liverpool on what was an electrifying evening, along with team mate Chris Fishgold who was making the first defence of his Cage Warriors Title as well ,both train with the widely respected and renowned Next Generation MMA Gym in Liverpool under the guidance of coach Paul Rimmer.

 

Paddy's performances outside of the cage are also becoming the stuff of legend, this is a gifted young fighter who is extremely vocal and defensive of his home city Liverpool and is becoming recognised as a fan friendly fighter, who always goes the extra mile to put a smile on someone else's face.
The team around him are like a family, they train together, eat together and socialise together it really is a fantastic thing to see, as each one brings the other on to the next level, I've been privileged enough to be in their company and are among some of the nicest people I've met in Mixed Martial Arts.

Next Generation Gym currently has Chris Fishgold and Paddy Pimblett as Cagewarriors Champions, and Molly McCann-Pearson who also is alumni from Next Generation and also trains with the widely respected Ippon Gym in Bournmouth is also Champion with Shock n Awe Mixed Martial Arts.
All 3 of these amazing martial artists along with so many other across the globe have become Fighting For Autism Ambassadors, and the amount of positive feedback has been incredible, from parents/carers to a loved one on the Spectrum, but also from people on the Spectrum themselves who are beginning to find their voice and confidence, getting parents to talk about Autism can be quite hard, especially with the males, but when Martial Arts are used as an ice breaker, people are beginning to open up, share experiences  and begin to investigate what Autism is, this is also the trend with youngsters who see a role model speaking about Autism and will investigate what is meant by the word Autism.
And people are beginning to come forward, a huge amount of people who have an interest or who are martial artists have a link to someone on the Autistic Spectrum.

Paddy is also a Fighting For Autism Fighter Ambassador, who together with Fighting For Autism is assisting in raising Autism Awareness from the Mats, Paddy was also the first Ambassadors to nominate one of his students as a Junior Ambassador a superstar in the making called Connor Orford, who's influence and friendship has brought Connor on in leaps and bounds over the past few months.
Connor who is on the Autistic Spectrum is thriving through the sessions with Paddy, and this is now a gentleman who cannot wait to get to class to train and in our view Connor is very much a champion in the making too.
We issued Connor a top secret mission to present Paddy with his very own personalised Fighting For Autism Cap, and Connor passed the test with flying colours. as the pictures shows.

Paddy and Cage Warriors Owner/ President Graham Boylan  in September placed a bet with Paddy Power Bookmakers for Paddy to beat UFC champion Connor McGregor by the year 2020, the bet in itself was massive, to which we are so grateful and to which we can only ever say thank to you Graham Paddy Power Power book makers

 and then this morning Paddy put up on his Instagram feed that he had put up tickets for auction for his upcoming bout, these tickets are not for sale to the general public, with the proceeds going to Fighting For Autism...

Paddy we will never forget the kindness and generosity you have shown towards us, that makes you every part of the champion both in the cage and in life itself, we can never thank you and everyone at Next Generation MMA enough and we wanted to say a special Thank You to you all and Graham Boylan from Cage warriors too.

Fighting For Autism Ambassadors, clubs and promotions around the world are very much the driving force behind making a brighter day to so many people on the Autistic Spectrum and their families too,  they are becoming the Voice for The Voiceless, collectively working alongside clubs and coaches we are being able to make students aware of what Autism is, and also working to wards creating autism friendly classes around the word, as well as being to highlight success stories of Athletes on the spectrum and raise some much needed Autism Awareness, we wouldn't be able to do what we do without these amazing people.

Paddy can be followed on Twitter www.twitter.com/PatrickPimblett
or over on  Instagram  www.Instagram.com/PaddyTheBaddy



Children on the Autistic Spectrum are more likely to suffer from being bullied.
No two people on The Autistic Spectrum are the same and the symptoms of each particular persons Autism differ often massively.
Autism is one of the fastest growing developmental disorders but is the most underfunded.
If the Statistic of 1 in 100 is on the Autistic Spectrum in the UK is to be believed ( we believe it is more than 1 in 100 and more in line with the USA statistic of 1 in 68) , and the population in the UK is 65,000,000 that means that 650,000 people reside in the UK who are on the Spectrum-enough to fill Wembley Stadium 7 times over.
For more facts on Autism please check out our website www.fightingforautism.com

we can be found on twitter  www.Twitter.com/FightForAutism and over on Instagram too www.Instagram.com/FightForAutism and Facebook www.Facebook.com/FightingForAutism