Raising Awareness in My Neighborhood
By Ellen Cicconi, Co-chair, Wheeling Walk Now for Autism
Editor's note: The opinions expressed herein are those of the author exclusively.
By Ellen Cicconi, Co-chair, Wheeling Walk Now for Autism
Editor's note: The opinions expressed herein are those of the author exclusively.
“It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood.” – Mr. Rogers
As a Walk Now for Autism co-chair and the mother to two sons on the spectrum (Henry, 5, autism and Gus, 3, PDD-NOS), I am dedicated to raising both money for research and awareness of autism in my community. This year I decided to focus more effort on awareness, and the simplest and most direct way that I could think of, was to put some home-made autism signs in my front yard. Starting in April, I had a sign out almost every day that either said “Autism Awareness” or had information about the Wheeling Walk Now for Autism. We live in a large development in southwestern PA, full of school-age kids, walkers, bikers, joggers, and our house sits at an intersection. Every car that stops at the stop sign has a view of our front yard, even the school buses stop directly in front of our house, so I was pretty sure that a number of our neighbors would see the signs.
Not content with just yard signs, I then decided to step it up a notch and decorate our sons' wagon. I glued plastic puzzle pieces on the sides and used vinyl letters to spell out “Autism Speaks” on one side and “Walk With Us” across the back. Then my sons and I started taking walks (sometimes 2 or 3!) every day. I figured this was not only a way to raise awareness but also some good therapy for the boys. We made a point of saying hello to people we saw, waving, naming the sights, and so on.
After the Wheeling Walk Now for Autism in June, I removed my yard signs but left the decorations on the wagon. And I noticed a wonderful and beautiful thing as my boys and I continued with our daily walks. It seemed that almost every time we walked around the neighborhood for the first few weeks after the Walk, someone would stop to ask me how it went, and we would have a conversation about autism and my boys. I was especially moved when the “big boys,” a group of boys who range in age from about 10-14 and are often playing hockey or tossing a football at the end of the street, stopped what they were doing to come say hello. One of them told me that he has a cousin with autism who doesn't speak very well and gets angry sometimes. I said, “Yeah, Henry is like that, too, sometimes,” but I really wanted to burst into tears and hug that kid! These boys always stop whatever they are doing when they see Henry and Gus, and they come over to say hello and have a little chat.
So I guess I succeeded in raising awareness in my neighborhood, but I think something bigger happened, something I hadn't expected. I became aware of how kind and supportive my neighbors are and how lucky we are to have them.
As a Walk Now for Autism co-chair and the mother to two sons on the spectrum (Henry, 5, autism and Gus, 3, PDD-NOS), I am dedicated to raising both money for research and awareness of autism in my community. This year I decided to focus more effort on awareness, and the simplest and most direct way that I could think of, was to put some home-made autism signs in my front yard. Starting in April, I had a sign out almost every day that either said “Autism Awareness” or had information about the Wheeling Walk Now for Autism. We live in a large development in southwestern PA, full of school-age kids, walkers, bikers, joggers, and our house sits at an intersection. Every car that stops at the stop sign has a view of our front yard, even the school buses stop directly in front of our house, so I was pretty sure that a number of our neighbors would see the signs.
Not content with just yard signs, I then decided to step it up a notch and decorate our sons' wagon. I glued plastic puzzle pieces on the sides and used vinyl letters to spell out “Autism Speaks” on one side and “Walk With Us” across the back. Then my sons and I started taking walks (sometimes 2 or 3!) every day. I figured this was not only a way to raise awareness but also some good therapy for the boys. We made a point of saying hello to people we saw, waving, naming the sights, and so on.
After the Wheeling Walk Now for Autism in June, I removed my yard signs but left the decorations on the wagon. And I noticed a wonderful and beautiful thing as my boys and I continued with our daily walks. It seemed that almost every time we walked around the neighborhood for the first few weeks after the Walk, someone would stop to ask me how it went, and we would have a conversation about autism and my boys. I was especially moved when the “big boys,” a group of boys who range in age from about 10-14 and are often playing hockey or tossing a football at the end of the street, stopped what they were doing to come say hello. One of them told me that he has a cousin with autism who doesn't speak very well and gets angry sometimes. I said, “Yeah, Henry is like that, too, sometimes,” but I really wanted to burst into tears and hug that kid! These boys always stop whatever they are doing when they see Henry and Gus, and they come over to say hello and have a little chat.
So I guess I succeeded in raising awareness in my neighborhood, but I think something bigger happened, something I hadn't expected. I became aware of how kind and supportive my neighbors are and how lucky we are to have them.
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