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Autism affects 1 in 36 children in the United States, and a growing number of individuals in our community every day.
NFAR is here to help! When NFAR started, few people had heard of autism, and resources were limited. In 2005, we hosted our first Race for Autism. The Race for Autism was created to help spread awareness and raise funds for local programs and services. We helped to fund early identification and educational outreach programs so that families could get the resources needed to jump start their child's foundational learning skills, and help improve their learning trajectory. Working with the UCSD Autism Center of Excellence, we helped to launch the One Year Well Baby Check Up parent questionaire used across pediatrician offices in San Diego that could track if any child developed early signs of developing autism, and offer free resources to help. At that same time, classroom educators were often isolated and working to support their autistic students needs on their own. To help, NFAR started our Educational Workshops so that educators from across districts could share and learn best practices. We also initiated the Teacher's Grant Program so that educators could purchase equipment, specialized programs and materials to enhance their autistic student's learning during school time hours, and to make the learning process more fun and enjoyable for their students. Through our NFAR Community Projects Program, we have supported over 100 community initiatives in early identification, education, theater and Improv., sports camps, family camps, music therapy, martial arts, social skills training, driving instruction, vocational training, parent education, peer mentor programs at the college level, and more. In 2015, NFAR launched our first vocational training program to help bridge the gap for autistic individuals between school and employment. There are an estimated 1.1 million persons on the autism spectrum that will turn 18 over the next 10 years. Yet, the national unemployment rate for autistic people is a dismal 85%, a figure that has remained unchanged for the last 7 years and is higher than for all other disability subgroups combined. Our signature vocational training programs are providing comprehensive, autism-specific hands-on training that combines hard skills with soft skills needed in the workplace, and useful and any career. At the same time NFAR is partnering with companies across a wide range of industries to open the doors to employment for autistic individuals, and helping to create a more equitable, diverse and inclusive community for all. |
THANKS to the support of people like you, NFAR has invested more than 2.3 MILLION dollars to improve the lives of those with autism!
Please join us for the Race for Autism, and help make a difference!
To learn more about NFAR and its programs, please go to www.NFAR.org.
