New program #lovewithoutwords, by Kulture City is helping improve autism acceptance.
On the news, I heard about a new program that promotes the need for autism acceptance by an organization called Kulture City, a non-profit. Kulture City is trying to create a world where all children with autism can be accepted, included and fulfilled.
If you follow Kidmunicate at all, you know that we dedicate a lot of time and effort to help children with autism venture out and try new things with our social stories. Our social stories teach children with autism, what to expect, what to do and how to act in new situations. We have featured stories about going to a Phillies game, playing a sport, going on an airplane, etc. Unfortunately, our social stories do not teach the people in the world around our friends with autism what to expect, what to do and most importantly how to act.
I talk to parents of children with autism almost every day. They appreciate all the efforts out there to promote awareness of autism, but their needs go far beyond awareness. They eat, breathe and sleep autism every exhausting day. Each morning many will be assisting their children with daily living assistance like feeding, bathing and dressing. Once the kids are dressed and fed, then many of these parents worry about their children wandering off or getting bullied. This is their daily reality. These parents want everyone to know about autism, but what they really need from the community is acceptance.
Kulture City is focused on helping individuals with autism realize their potential by providing tangible help and helping the community and businesses to relate to children with autism and their parents. Kulture City also activates the families they help to get involved within their local special needs community and extend the ideals of KultureCity to support other families. Kulture City believes that change will happen one person at a time until there is a kuture of autism acceptance and inclusion in every community. According to their website, every dollar donated goes directly to the children that they help.
The Kidmunication Point
There are a lot of very worthy and important organizations raising awareness of autism and raising money to find a cure. This is important because 1 in 68 kids are born with autism, which means there are a lot of kids with autism coming into our communities each day. Please know that parents of children with autism are working very hard with their children to help them cope. When you see a kid who is having a melt down, do not jump to conclusions that the parents are bad and lack control. Consider the possibility that that child may have autism and just accept and tolerate the situation. The parents of these children need the community to be aware of autism, but more importantly accept their children.
