Autism Acceptance
Hustle Kindness has teamed up with Hearts for Autism Four Corners and two families to help spread acceptance among the Autism Community.
Please read their stories below so you can see how these parents are pushing for acceptance and want to start with making everyone aware of what Autism is. Also, if you are a parent with an autistic child we hope reaching out to our Ambassadors will help you find any answers to your questions.
Hustle Kindness, Hustle Love and always always Hustle Acceptance!
Byrd Family
Acceptance rather than awareness is a huge push in the Autism community. Autism is an invisible disability per say which allows for a lot of judgment from Other people. We used to get a lot of stares in the stores especially if Damek was having a hard time and having a melt down.
There is a spectrum with no two individuals being the same. Temple Grandin has a great quote “If you've met one individual with autism, you've met one individual with autism."
As a parent with a child in the Autism spectrum my greatest fear is bullying. Damek doesn’t understand when kids are being mean to him. Social cues are very difficult for him to understand and process. He has a hard time making true friends. For the first time this school year he has friends.
I don’t have a mom group but I follow a lot of autism mom social media pages and find joy in success stories. Damek is an amazing kid. I don’t know what his future holds but his Autism is his best part! He truly doesn’t have one mean or judgmental bone in his body. He treats everyone with kindness 💙
Nez Family
My Life with Autism and ADHD.
Hello, my name is Monica. I am a mom with three kids with special and invisible needs. My story is about invisible disabilities, my experience is focusing more on Autism and ADHD. I have known about Autism for about six years when my oldest was diagnosed. I didn’t believe anything was wrong with him, just that he didn’t talk on time, and he was the only child at that time so I figured he would talk when he was ready. When he was about two and a half years old, he was sent to a speech therapist to help him with his speech and she gave me a paper to fill out. It was labeled Autism checklist, as I filled it out I was shocked at how much it sounded like my son. Soon after that he was sent to Rio Rancho to get tested for disabilities. Ever since then, I’ve been doing everything I can to help with him with his speech, to advocate for him and to make sure places make days and times for kids like him.
My oldest received a severe autism diagnosis when he was three years old and an ADHD diagnosis around 5 years old. He didn’t really say anything until he was five years old. We are currently still working on his communication. He has an AAC (Augmentative and Alternative Communication), which is an iPad with a communication application on it. Even having this, he uses it but prefers to use his words, which is always a plus. I always knew he would talk, even though some people may have thought that he would never speak. Some kids with Autism have never spoken. With two diagnoses, it can make some things, times, and days difficult. Some things with him, we struggle with is aggressive behavior, impulsive behavior, elopement, he is always on the go, not able to have a conversation, following directions, his little brother crying is the hardest for him (which sometimes causes aggression.) He has been receiving therapies (Speech Therapy, Occupational Therapy, and Applied Behavior Analysis) since he was about two and a half years old. His clinician from ABA has been the most helpful in helping me figure out what will work for my son. His obsessions are clothes, hats, old cartoons from like 1950’s (Popeye, mickey mouse) and music.
My middle son struggles with ADHD, he received his diagnosis in the summer of 2021. He gets really obsessed with certain things. Right now, it’s Beyblades, sloths, and ty teddy bears. He knows all the Beyblade pieces that go together originally. He keeps himself busy and loves drawing. He can sure talk a lot and uses big words; he makes up for his brother’s communication issues. He is smart, and I am so proud of him. He really tries hard to help me teach his brother things. I told him he’s probably going to be a Speech Therapist when he gets older. He is my biggest helper. He always wants attention which can make it hard for me because his brothers always need attention with the constant need for supervision.
My youngest son received his moderate autism diagnoses, or as they now call it level 2 autism in November 2021. I noticed he wasn’t talking as much as he should. He says maybe about twenty words for an almost three-year-old. He is very active as well. With him, he cries a lot and his oldest brother always gives him everything and anything he wants. He also sometimes hits his head for no reason. He is obsessed with Toy Story, Horses, firetrucks, and now Mickey Mouse like his older brother. I’ve recently received his AAC device, so I am working on teaching how to use that, and he has also learned sign language for more. He also does Speech Therapy, Occupational Therapy, and Applied Behavior Analysis. These have all been so helpful. He is shy around new people/ people he doesn’t see often and usually will cling to me.
I have my sister and my cousin to help me if I need help, which is usually while I go to an appointment. We don’t really trust people watching our kids, because they are all a lot to deal with. Autism has taught me to never stop fighting for my kids and continue to raise awareness, more importantly acceptance. I am a stay-at-home mom but until fall 2021 I decided to start attending college. My days are so busy I usually try to take time for myself early in the morning with a good workout at home of course, some days I don’t get that time but when I do, it always makes my days so much better. I would have to say the hardest part of being an Autism parent is outings. We usually all go out on the weekend when my fiancée is off work. When we go somewhere, we try to make sure the places we go aren’t that busy but sometimes that isn’t always the option so we keep a good eye on our kids at all times and when places are to much we decide it’s time to go.
What I would like the world to know is that my son’s disabilities are invisible, so if you see a person out in the world having a hard time, offer them help or just keep an eye on any other children that may be present. Companies, please offer special needs times and make sure it is visible on the website. These are often the only times these families can get to places that are otherwise busy. Every child with Autism is different, as you can see with my children. The number of people diagnosed with autism is going up, right now it’s one in forty-four children have autism. When my son received his diagnosis, it was one in sixty-eight. And last, please educate your children about these invisible disabilities. When my son was diagnosed, I didn’t even know what Autism was.
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