mission
Our mission is to improve the experience of autistic persons of color and their families navigating receiving an autism diagnosis, accessing treatments, and mental health care. We do this through education, connection, and community.
“Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much.”
-Helen Keller
EDUCATION
One of the biggest barriers to receiving timely and quality care is a gap in knowledge from caregivers, individuals, and professionals serving autistic youth. VillageAutism provides culturally responsive education and resources, including autism screeners, information on how to navigate getting an autism diagnosis, summaries on relevant autism research, information on types of mental health services, tips on how to be a culturally responsive advocate and more.
CONNECTION
Our healthcare system currently provides a fragmented system of care, putting the burden on individuals and families to navigate finding appropriate services on their own. VillageAutism connects autistic individuals and their families to speech, occupational, physical, and mental health services using our national directory. We also connect families to support by providing peer support groups for parents, autistic individuals, professionals, and students.
COMMUNITY
VillageAutism is a culturally grounded community of support. Not only do we connect you with others to build your community. We aim to highlight the diversity and strengths within the autistic community, by spotlighting individuals on our website, providing relevant up-to-date news stories that affect the autistic community, and more.