From Autism Awareness to Acceptance

April is Autism Awareness Month—and it carries deep meaning for me and my family. Each year, I reflect upon our journey, our challenges, our victories, and most importantly, the incredible love and strength that ties our family together.

This year, especially because of what is happening within our country, I want to talk about something more than awareness.

Autism Awareness is just the beginning—it opens eyes, starts conversations, and helps people recognize that autism exists in our communities. That matters. 

But awareness alone doesn’t fix the broken systems that families like mine navigate every single day. It doesn’t give parents the resources they need, or ensure our children have the support to thrive. It doesn’t change the fact that too often, people see our kids as problems to manage rather than people to cherish.

That’s why I believe, like many others in my shoes, it’s time we shift our focus—from awareness to acceptance.

Acceptance is active. It’s about creating space, offering support, and showing up for our children and communities in ways that affirm their worth and their potential. It means embracing neurodiversity—not just as a buzzword, or an epidemic (gross), but as a fundamental truth that enriches our communities.

Autism Acceptance is about:

• Opportunity: making sure we give autistic individuals the same chances to grow, learn, and contribute.
• Inclusion: building systems—educational, social, healthcare—that work for every kind of mind and every kind of need.
• Belonging: not just inviting people in, but celebrating them once they’re there.

Every person, no matter how they show up in the world, deserves to belong. They deserve to be seen for who they are, not just for how they differ. They deserve to be heard and loved without condition or caveat.

This month, I invite you to go further. Learn, yes—but also listen. Advocate. Include. Support. Challenge the norms. Break the barriers. Build community. Fight back from harmful (and wrong) narratives and ideologies. 

Let’s move beyond awareness and create a world that doesn’t just see our community members, but values them—completely and without hesitation.

If the recent statements about autism have impacted you in hard or negative ways, know you are not alone.  I’m here with you and we’ll fight the good fight – for our kiddos, our communities and ourselves.

With hope and determination,