Autism Awareness Week is a full five days of Owens Community College hosting a week full of love and understanding. This autism awareness week, which was from March 31st to April 4th, is a week that will be full of different opportunities to explore and understand autism.
“We aim to celebrate the strengths, perspectives and contributions of autistic students, faculty, staff and our community through providing avenues for autistic voices to be heard. We will listen, value and celebrate these voices and ultimately create a place for belonging for all members of our community,” said Jen Hazel, Owens Professor of English and organizer of the event.
To begin, on Monday, March 31, a Mini-Transfer event was held that highlighted specialized programs at transfer institutions that support students with autism and other disabilities and promote academic programs that prepare students to work with individuals with autism and related disabilities.
Students on the Autism Spectrum or those with other disabilities were invited to attend the Mini Transfer Fair to talk with transfer partners about their services and specialized programs to support students with autism or related disabilities.
In addition, students interested in pursuing a career working with individuals with autism/other disabilities were also invited to attend the Mini Transfer Fair to learn about bachelor degree programs in areas such as special education, social work, and allied health.
On Tuesday, Owens faculty, staff, and students, as well as members from the community came together for a discussion panel to learn about autism and ways neurotypical people can better understand and support people with autism, as well as hear individuals with autism share their experiences.
The panel opened with a poem from Jessica Williams, an autistic student, sharing her experience of being autistic.
Then, Dr. Clarissa Barnes, an Associate Professor of Special Education and the Director of the Hench Autism Studies Program at Defiance College; Sarah Heldmann, an occupational therapy assistant who works at the Wood County Board of Developmental Disabilities as well as adjunct faculty in the occupational therapy assistant program at Owens Community College; and Dr. Kristin Price, a Professor of Psychology in our Social and Behavioral Sciences Department, spoke about spoke about their experiences with interacting with people with autism and the importance of doing different things involving people with autism like amplifying their voices, amplify their lived experiences and trying to get to know people for who they truly are and what their different unique needs are. They also talked about how we can be an ally to the autism community by understanding the different languages that might be needed to connect with unique people.
Following was Tristan Ogden, an autistic student at Owens Community College; Jacob Samuel Harrison Howard, an autistic student at Owens Community College; Chloe Rothschild, an autistic adult and co-author of the My Interoception Workbook: A Guide for Teens, Adolescents and Adults; Jennifer Repka, an autistic adult who received her Bachelor of Science degree from Defiance College in 2018 and board member of Avenues for Autism; and Katelyn Stevens-Merzke, COTA/L and OTA graduate of Owens described their experiences as autistic individuals. Each of these people went on to say in their own way how all autistic people are different in unique ways.
Katelyn Stevens–Merzke discussed some of her own experiences with her neuro- spicy family and said, “You never know what you’re going to get,” when talking about how different every neurodivergent person is.
Finally Dr. Steve Culbertson a long-serving neurodiverse Professor of Humanities at Owens Community College; Christopher Hendricks, the Director of the Disability Resource Center at Owens Community College; and Vickie Heck, a licensed Professional Clinical Counselor with Supervision Designation and director of Counseling, finished up the panel discussing a multitude of things like how autism translates into the classroom and the different things that could potentially impact the student’s ability to engage in learning and interacting with peers and teachers.
Items like sensory processing differences, communication difficulties, email communication difficulties, and transition challenges were also addressed. They also mentioned how the Disability Resource Center at Owens can help with all these difficult obstacles and how the counseling center also offers neurodivergence treatment.
Then, on April 2nd, Owens showed Autism Goes to College, a documentary film, at 11 am in College Hall 100. Followed up with that was a live discussion with Dr. Steve Culbertson, a humanities professor here at Owens Community College.
Following right alongside him was Professor Jodi Gore, a social worker of 30 years. Gore has worked closely with a vast and diverse population in the 30 years of her career.
She explains how it’s important to understand autism because of the many diverse students that enter her classroom and the needs that they might have. When asked about some of the benefits of understanding autism, she listed benefits like being able to empathize with her students and understanding her students’ differences, needs, and coping mechanisms.
The final benefit of understanding autism is that she is also learning the different things that she might be able to do for the students to ensure that their environment for learning is favorable to their divergent learning.
Gore states that some things that students or faculty can do to create a more welcoming environment for people with autism are “paying attention to sensory issues: the room being too warm, too noisy, etc.”
She also mentions that “You might reduce the clutter in the room and turn off fluorescent lights, if possible and how she would not burn smelly candles or do other things that cause strong smells in the room.”
Some positive things that Professor Gore says that people with disabilities bring to the table are as varied as the people are. In her experience as a social worker, she recognizes the worth of the population as a whole and all their disabilities.
Lastly, Professor Gore offered one piece of advice to the learning people who are trying to better understand autism: “…be sure not to generalize info you learn about autism to every autistic person you meet. How autism presents is unique to each person.”
After the film showing and discussion Owens Community College offered an Autism Awareness Workshop for instructors and student services staff to learn more about how universal design can assist all individuals on Thursday, April 3rd Megan Kear, Professor of Government, led the workshop. Barnes, Culbertson, Heldmann, and Hendricks were the presenters.
During this workshop there were bags filled with fidget toys for participants to take with them to make available for students.
Join Owens again next year for Austism Awareness Week from March 30-April 2.
