World Autism Awareness Day

By: Renée Angelo-Mauk

April 2 is World Autism Awareness Day (WAAD). Designated by the United Nations (UN) in 2007, this began as a day to raise the public awareness of autism. 17 years later, World Autism Awareness Day 2024 is meant to be a “means to affirm and promote the full realization of all human rights and fundamental freedoms for autistic people on an equal basis with others.”  

Maybe you didn’t know this day existed. Maybe you don’t know many autistic people or children. And if so, on behalf of MENTOR MD|DC, we invite you to celebrate for the first time! 

Autism is a neurodevelopmental disability characterized by challenges in communication, social interactions, obsessive interests, and repetitive behaviors. But autistic people are much more than just a medical definition, presenting in the world on a spectrum of different personalities, abilities, needs, and desires. The saying goes, “If you’ve met one person with autism… you’ve met one person with autism”.  

As awareness of autism has been raised in the past few decades, the worldwide prevalence of autism is about 1 in 100 children. Thanks to advances in how to diagnose autism (previously limited by diagnostic origins based in gender and race), the opportunity for autistic individuals to get the meaningful services they need is more within reach than ever. But there is still a long way to go. 

I grew up as an undiagnosed autistic kid, and it was really difficult. Struggling with relationship building and communication, and without access to caring adults who understood what was going on with me has left its mark on me. Getting diagnosed less than two years ago has opened up a world of information for me to learn more about myself and how I interact with the world. I have a deeper understanding of how our world is not built for autistic people, which informs my current work of trying to increase understanding of autistic young people and how to successfully ensure they can find connection and meaning at mentoring programs across Maryland and D.C.  

For my programs and youth practitioners reading, I hope this day can inspire you to pursue learning in how to accommodate autistic youth in your spaces. MENTOR MD|DC will be hosting a free neurodiversity training this July for Disability Pride Month. Until then, below is a list of resources for you to engage in learning in this area: 

Supporting Students on the Autism Spectrum: Student Mentor Guidelines: From the National Mentoring Resource Center, this is a guide for student mentors engaged in peer mentoring relationships with students on the autism spectrum. It reviews relevant information about autism, guidance about the role of a peer mentor, and tips for effectively supporting students on the autism spectrum to achieve academic and social goals.

National Disability Mentoring Coalition: The National Disability Mentoring Coalition (NDMC) aims to raise awareness about the importance and impact of mentoring in the lives of people with disabilities and to increase the number and quality of disability mentoring programs around the country.  NDMC has quarterly webinars and PDF resources about serving young people with disabilities. If you join the coalition, you have access to complete the Disability Mentoring Certification, as well as self-paced courses on topics (including neurodiversity and autism) to expand your learning. 

Autism Society: The Autism Society connects people to the resources they need through education, advocacy, support, information and referral, and community programming. Their website is full of resources to serve autistic people of all ages, their families and communities.  

Neurodivergent Insights:  Dr. Neff, an autistic and ADHD clinician, hosts this amazing website with tons of resources, an infographic-based blog, podcast, and digital downloads all to expand the understanding of neurodivergent individuals. She also hosts trainings on a wide variety of topics that intersect with neurodiversity. 

Happy #WorldAutismAwarenessDay ! Let the MENTOR MD|DC team know how you celebrated this year. We look forward to engaging with our community more on this topic. ‘

WATCH ON DEMAND: UN World Autism Awareness Day, 2 April 2024

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The UNITED NATIONS observance of World Autism Awareness Day provided a truly global overview of the state of the AWARENESS, ACCEPTANCE and APPRECIATION of autistic people and their contributions to society, from the perspective of autistic people themselves.

The three-part event is available to stream on demand on the United Nations YouTube channel (@united nations). The direct links to the discussions follow.

(Part 1) Autism Awareness Day – Africa & Asia: Moving from Surviving to Thriving

Features an all-autistic lineup of speakers from Africa and Asia.

(Part 2) Autism Awareness Day – Oceania & Europe: Moving from Surviving to Thriving

Features an all-autistic lineup of speakers from Oceania and Europe.

(Part 3) Autism Awareness Day – The Americas: Moving from Surviving to Thriving

Features an all-autistic lineup of speakers from North America, the Caribbean and Latin America.