Written by Kendall Larson
Original article: https://www.keyc.com/2024/04/03/celebrating-autism-acceptance-month/
MANKATO, Minn. (KEYC) – April is Autism Acceptance Month, and it’s about realizing differences and celebrating them.
Staff at Caravel Autism Health work with the autistic community every day and teach and practice acceptance.
“So that acceptance is really embracing a person for their uniqueness; who they are, how they interact in the world and how we can support them around each day,” Clinic Director Amanda Kestel said.
Acceptance starts by letting go of assumptions.
“Every person with autism is completely different, so you cannot assume anything,” registered behavioral technician Marlena Garza said.
And acceptance is pushed when you change from a negative view to a positive one.
“Rather than that big stigma around it ‘like oh my kid has autism,’ it is ‘oh my kid has autism but that’s great because look at all they’re doing,’” Senior Intern Kayla Rosado said.
Rosado and Garza work as part of a team to help their clients grow, and sometimes that means accepting that their clients need help with the basics.
“Functionally communicating saying ‘okay, I don’t want to do this,’ and then eventually work it up to ‘let’s sit down we’re going to do some work,’” Garza said.
Acceptance is a ladder of growth, but it really is its own reward.
“Like, ‘oh they finally did this,’ and everyone cheers and it’s just a big community of we all did this together” Rosado said.
“The reward is so much bigger than anything you need to put into it, like it’s very worth it,” Garza said.
