“When your children are first diagnosed, you're full of fear and you have no idea what their future is going to look like.”
Sheli Lemieux is a mother of six children; three have autism.
She sees the 1,700 walkers joining Hope Network’s Bridge Walk this year is a sign of growing community support for people with autism, double the number of participants last year.
“It's been really refreshing for me as an autism mom to watch the acceptance, and the acceptance of higher ability of a person with autism not as a detriment, but an attribute in certain fields.”
The National Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced this month an increase in autism diagnoses, now showing as 1 in 31 children, up from 1 in 54 a decade ago.
“There's absolutely a need for more service providers and as someone who knows a lot of families who are early on in the diagnosis process and in getting treatment, I know that the waitlist is now at about six months in general at most locations.”
Hope Network opened Michigan’s first all-inclusive autism treatment center in 2011 and now has four locations specifically for diagnosis, treatment and therapy.
LeMieux says the walk serves as an important connection for many families struggling with a new diagnosis.
“The diagnosis while terrifying does not mean your child isn't going to be a successful adult. There are so many ways they can fit into our ever-changing complex world.”
