THE SPECTRUM SOCIETY
Non-profit. Advocacy. Relearn
Hello!
This is our About Us page, where you can read more about us - the creators of this organization/website-, our ultimate mission and even the personal story of one of our members and her lifelong relationship with autism :)
A little bit about us!
Hi! I'm LYDIA, one of the cofounders of THE SPECTRUM SOCIETY organization. I'm currently fourteen years old and a high school student in the Halton Region, attending a full French school. Some of my hobbies include baking, cooking, playing the PIANO and binging classic Netflix shows. When I'm not busy watching Gilmore Girls for the fifth time in a row, you can catch me passing time with my friends and family, swimming, or listening to various genres of music (though I love pop music the most). I am very passionate about autism education and creating a society that betters supports neuro-divergent people!
Hi! I'm ABY one of the cofounders of THE SPECTRUM SOCIETY organization. I'm currently fifteen years old and a high school student in the Halton Region. In my free time, I love playing badminton, watching a diverse range of movie series (though my favourite will always be the Jurassic World series), and doing various forms of art, such as painting, colouring and drawing. I also adore listening to pop music during the day, especially that of Taylor Swift! I moreover adore, long car rides, the colour yellow, sunflowers, and the WINTER season! My favourite holidays are HALLOWEEN and New Years!
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Every summer, I enjoy visiting rural Quebec, as well as Clifton Hills, Niagara Falls and the general area of downtown Toronto!
MY RELATIONSHIP WITH
LYDIA T.
AUTISM
Autism is always going to be a big part of your life, especially if a close family member is autistic. It affects your life at home and even the way you see and understand the world. My brother, who is only a year older than me, is autistic. Early signs of autism first started to show when he was a baby. It was mainly the simple things, like having trouble understanding what my parents wanted him to do, or the way he preferred to play on his own than with the others his age. By the age of three, he couldn't talk or communicate, which made ANY social activities quite difficult; and because he couldn't say what he wanted to say, tantrums were often the only way he could express himself. But it wasn't all negative. My parents observed the way he interacted with the world. It seemed like he could almost hear things that others couldn't. He had no problem being by himself and he was attached to certain toys and people for years.
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He was officially diagnosed with ASD and ADHD at the age of 3.
Fast forward 12 years, we are now both in high school, and since I can remember, my brother has been attending special needs classes since elementary school. But his communication wasn't an issue anymore; in fact, he became one of the most social and talkative people at our school. He always had a positive energy around people and had become extremely kind-hearted. Aside from that, he was never really at the same level academically and behaviour-wise as other students, though he loved to be challenged. My parents never wanted him to feel like he was less than other students, so they always made a large effort and sacrificed a lot of their time for TONS of specialized therapy sessions, which slowly but surely, improved his skills. But with all this, he never saw himself as any different than his peers, until he became a teen, when he started to question things, "Why wasn't he like every other kid?".
Many other autistic children are in situations that are unimaginably worse than his and many aren't, as experiences can vary based on where someone is placed on the spectrum. But, I consider myself lucky to have a person like him around, because it has taught me that nobody has to be a certain way just to fit into societal standards. I've developed a deeper understanding of patience and tolerance. I've become more carefree and less worried about the opinions of others.
Because he never had to be taught to be himself, he just was. So why would the rest of us have to?
If you feel like you can relate to his story, I hope it brings comfort in knowing that your experience is worth sharing because you're most likely one of the thousands of stories like this one. If not, I hope you learned something new :)
OUR MISSION
For years, autistic youth have been denied the proper support and hep they require in education. One of our co-founders has even witnessed this critical lack of care and understanding for years in-person with her sibling. This lack of specialized support does not only affect an individual's academic life, but will continue to take a toll on the rest of their lives beyond school, as without the proper knowledge youth on the spectrum can unfortunately continue to struggle with seeking employment, and in the professional world. Through our kits, we wish to help youth on the spectrum learn material in a way that best supports their needs, and help them identify any fields of interests they may have, that they had not been able to previously explore in school. The Spectrum Society's ultimate mission is to help construct a society that better supports the growth and learning of youth on the spectrum!