Autism Awareness Month - April

I watched CBS's The Talk, for the first time, the other day (April 1st). This episode was to recognize Autism Awareness Month with Holly Robinson Peete (21 Jump Street, Hangin' with Mr. Cooper, For Your Love) as their leading advocate for families living with autism. This subject hits close to home as my middle child was diagnosed with ADHD and ODD with one doctor insisting that he had ASD (High Functioning Asperger Syndrome). This show was a "tear jerker" for the hosts, guest and audience alike. I watched for the entire hour although Max had only nursed 20 minutes :) It was that great!

"1 in every 110 children will be diagnosed with autism in this country. It's the fastest growing developmental disorder in the U.S.; there has been a 600% increase in the last 20 years - that's a lot! More kids will be affected by autism that AIDS, Cancer, Diabetes combined, yet it only gets 5% of the research funding of other diseases." ~ Holly Robinson Peete

The show began with Holly and her husband sharing their experience in detecting, diagnosing and helping their child with autism. Theirs is a unique situation where the child with autism is a twin. In other words, one twin has autism (boy) and one twin does not have autism (girl). Holly was on the show to educate the public on Autism by sharing her story of how challenging it was to raise a child with autism and how rewarding it became through her perseverance, advancements and autism resources that helped her son, RJ. The point being that her son made tremendous improvements over the years because of the advantages that she and her husband were able to provide, though other children with autism are not as fortunate without all of our help. She was humble, though truthful while explaining that they spared no expense nor effort in making sure that their son had every advantage. Holly also explained that autism is one of the fastest growing, though least funded disorders. Most families do not have the same resources available to their children with autism.

WATCH HOW COMPELLING HER AUTISM CAMPAIGN IN THESE 2 VIDEOS: 
HOLLY ROBINSON PEETE & HUSBAND - PART 1 - AUTISM AWARENESS MONTH GUEST INTERVIEW ON CBS's THE TALK - VIDEO FOR 1ST SHOW


HOLLY ROBINSON PEETE - PART 2 - AUTISM AWARENESS MONTH VIDEO GUEST SPEAKER ON CBS's THE TALK - VIDEO OF IST SHOW

I can't help to feel gratitude towards Holly Robinson Peete for being a celebrity that "stepped up to the plate" to become an advocate for families living with autism. I know from experience that it is not easy to admit and expose your child's spectrum disorder. As her testimony explains, she thought that she had "the perfect life" and this came hard on her family. Autism has that affect on parents and other family members. I have asked God to continue to bless the impact that she and others will make in the lives of others. It would be wonderful if you could pray and encourage others to do the same, as well as whatever you can to support their efforts as funding for research is minimal - all the way around.

April 2nd is World Autism Awareness Day and "kicks off" Autism Awareness Month. Please take time to educate yourself on AUTISM and share this blog post with others. Comment below if this blog post touched you or experiences to share!