October 31, 2025 • 11 mins
We spoke with Alicia Bray, Executive Director of Autism Families CONNECTicut, about how individuals with autism and their families can find joy, belonging, and friendship, and the upcoming Night of Friends Giving 15th Anniversary Event.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Good morning. I'm Alison de Mers. Thank you for listening
to Community Access. My guess this morning is Alicia Bray.
She is executive director of Autism Families Connecticut. Good morning,
Good morning.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
How are you.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
I'm great? Thank you. How are you?
Speaker 2 (00:15):
I'm doing fine?
Speaker 1 (00:16):
Thanks great. Tell me how did Autism Families Connecticut come about?
Speaker 2 (00:23):
So back in twenty ten, our organization was founded by
a mom and a grandmother of Jack, who is their
own founding family. And Jack has autism and when they
were going to programs like special needs soccer, they just
wasn't quite fitting his needs as a kid with autism.
(00:45):
And there were programs similar to that that focused on
autism and in the Boston area, but not really in
the West Hartford, Central Connecticut area at the time. So
what we formed because we wanted kids with autism to
be able to come together and get the play and
(01:06):
social skills and have fun together and connect their parents
to each other as well.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
Well, that's wonderful. Let's talk about those programs and services
that you offer autism families.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
They have a lot to go through and a lot
to deal with. There's lots of therapies and things like that.
It could be a cost burden, but ASC is there
to be a fun place. It's where they come and
they relax. The kids are in our programs and the
parents get to take a sigh of relief, get to
(01:41):
talk about the things that are going on with each other,
talk about other programs that are happening, and they really
become sort of an informal support group. So we've got
that informal program that's happening with the parents, and then
we've got programs from ages three all the way up
to thirty five for individual to have autism.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
Where are you located?
Speaker 2 (02:03):
Our office right now is in Berlin. It's at Prism Academy,
which is in autism school. So we're a nonprofit organization
that rents space from the school. It's amazing to be
able to use that huge gym space during the hours
when school's out of session. So on Friday nights we
have teen nights and young adults hangouts. And then on
(02:25):
Sunday mornings and afternoons we've got playgroups for different ages
three up to teenagers.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
So do you have events all week or just on
the weekends.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
Our events are just on the weekends, so we know
everybody's got stuff going on during the week with school
and occupational therapy and physical therapy appointments and stuff like that,
although we are hoping to start some programs during the
weekdays hopefully during the next year or two.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
Are there any events going on for individuals or family
that are coming up.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
Oh? Absolutely, I'm really excited. On November seventh is our
Young Adult Friends Giving. It is pot luck. People come in,
they just hang out with each other. They share a
delicious meal and do trivia and hang out with each other.
And then in December, December thirteenth, we're going to have
(03:22):
our family holiday party, which is always a blast. We'll
have a DJ Fanta, a clown. It's really a great time.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
Do you have any special accommodations for children who may
be neurodivergent?
Speaker 2 (03:37):
Oh? Yes, So autism is a neurotype, so everyone has
differences in their brain. Autism is one of those sort
of types of differences. And a lot of the times
our population can be sometimes sensitive to noise, or to
white or to you know, just sort of excess stimulation.
(03:59):
And what we do is we make sure that based
on who our participants are because we know them, we
keep our music mild, we keep our lights not flashing,
and we try to create the space that they need
depending on who they are, and putting them with others
who are in that same same kind of headspace.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
So nice, Tell me what kind of responses have you
received from the people with autism and responses from their
families also who've participated with your programs.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
Our parents love us, and our participants love us as well,
and they love to come and have friends. A lot
of people with autism are socially isolated. They aren't necessarily
accepted in general social settings. They may be bullied and
things like that, but this is a place where they
(04:55):
can come and they can have friends. They can be
around people who understand them as an individual and want
them to grow. And they swarm these friendships together that
are really really beautiful. And you know, it starts with
our free and four year olds, and then they grow
(05:16):
together and then when they're nine and ten year olds,
they're saying hi to each other, they're inviting each other
to birthday parties, and it's just really beautiful to get
to see and it.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
Must be the same for the parents. They're meeting other
people who've been where they are going through the same things.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
There's nothing more important than someone who gets it. That
feeling of belonging and understanding. That's really what we try
to foster. So we've got some parents who met when
their kids were three, and they go to each other's
birthday parties, and they go out with each other and
they you know, they're fast friends because they already have
(05:54):
so much in common. It's beautiful to see when one
winter was in the office and a bunch of parents
from teen Night were in the other room just sort
of sitting around with each other, and they started just
sort of going around the room and saying hi, and
then they started trying to remember that the Twelve Days
of Christmas song, and they were singing it just on
(06:16):
their own, and it was so beautiful.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
I love that you've created this community for both the
children and the parents.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
Yes, that's absolutely what we're for. And that's why the
connect in our in our name is capital lives, because
we really do capitalize on those connections in the community,
the autism community, and you know we're doing this in
other community. Members.
Speaker 1 (06:42):
You should go to autismfamiliesct dot org and you can
find out more about this amazing organization. It's been fifteen years. Now,
it's your fifteenth anniversary and you're going to have a celebration.
Tell me all about it.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
Oh, we are. We're having our Night of friends Giving.
It's going to be on November sixth at the Pond
House in West Hartford, and it's a celebration of some
wonderful individuals and families who've made our first fifteen years
possible and really helped us launch into the space right
(07:17):
now where we're serving you last year eight hundred plus participants,
and then it also gets us set for the next
fifteen and more years, because autism is life long and
everybody deserves a place to belong and have fun.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
Absolutely, what will happen that evening?
Speaker 2 (07:39):
Oh, we are going to have a cocktail dinner or
like a cocktail event. We'll have our DJ, John's Cadillacsville.
He'll be playing the tunes for us. We'll have a
night of just sort of getting together and being around
other people. We want to make a difference with our community,
(08:03):
whether that's through our silent auction or just coming and
dancing the night away.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
And how much your tickets.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
Tickets are one fifty and they can be found from
our website. AUTISMFAMILYCT dot work beautiful.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
If someone would like to make a donation, what can
they do?
Speaker 2 (08:22):
Oh, that would be where they would go as well.
So there's a button right up in the corner that
says donate. You can click and donate there. Or if
anyone has questions about the organization or how to get involved,
they can email AFC at AUTISMFAMILIESCT dot work.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
And volunteers as well.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
Oh, yes, volunteers as well. Our volunteers are invaluable. They
are how we're able to have our programs. We have
so many volunteers in the winter months from schools that
are in with our playgroups, and it makes it so
that each kiddo can have somebody who's attending to them
(09:04):
and helping them interact with other kiddos.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
What about sponsors, Oh, sponsorship is how we make this
event happen.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
We have a wonderful group of sponsors for our current event,
including RTX, and we're just very very fortunate to have
these friends who like coming to our events and having
fun in the support of friendship.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
And I'm going to ask this last question, what advice
would you give to someone who may notice that a
child may be in the spectrum or something different about
them and maybe they're having a bad day. What advice
would you give to someone who's watching that.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
I would just say be patient, be patient and be
kind because everybody is going through something and you really
don't know what it is, and then you just need
to treat everybody a little bit more human.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
Very nice. And the thing is, again, nobody's asked to
be autistic. It's nobody's asked to be diabetic. You know,
it's nothing we can control. And everybody, the parents, the children,
they're all doing the best that they can. So again,
don't personalizing exactly.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
Everybody's given their best and whether that's a kid who's
having a meltdown in the grocery store or somebody who's
asking you a ton of questions and line, just try
to treat them with some kindness and you know they've
got a lot going on, and just sort of be
that little piece of community that they need.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
Yes, I'm speaking with Alicia Bray, executive director of Autism
Families Connecticut. Again. That celebration is going on November sixth.
It's the Night of Friends Giving. It's at the Pond
House in West Harford. So beautiful there, My friend John
Cadillac Saville will be the DJ. Get your tickets today.
It's autismfamiliesct dot org and again you can go there
(11:03):
to volunteer, to donate, to be a sponsor, to find
out more. If you're a parent, or if you know
somebody who is on the spectrum, definitely take advantage of
this wonderful organization. Alicia, thank you so much for being
here today.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
Thank you so much for having me
Good morning. I'm Alison de Mers. Thank you for listening
to Community Access. My guess this morning is Alicia Bray.
She is executive director of Autism Families Connecticut. Good morning,
Good morning.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
How are you.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
I'm great? Thank you. How are you?
Speaker 2 (00:15):
I'm doing fine?
Speaker 1 (00:16):
Thanks great. Tell me how did Autism Families Connecticut come about?
Speaker 2 (00:23):
So back in twenty ten, our organization was founded by
a mom and a grandmother of Jack, who is their
own founding family. And Jack has autism and when they
were going to programs like special needs soccer, they just
wasn't quite fitting his needs as a kid with autism.
(00:45):
And there were programs similar to that that focused on
autism and in the Boston area, but not really in
the West Hartford, Central Connecticut area at the time. So
what we formed because we wanted kids with autism to
be able to come together and get the play and
(01:06):
social skills and have fun together and connect their parents
to each other as well.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
Well, that's wonderful. Let's talk about those programs and services
that you offer autism families.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
They have a lot to go through and a lot
to deal with. There's lots of therapies and things like that.
It could be a cost burden, but ASC is there
to be a fun place. It's where they come and
they relax. The kids are in our programs and the
parents get to take a sigh of relief, get to
(01:41):
talk about the things that are going on with each other,
talk about other programs that are happening, and they really
become sort of an informal support group. So we've got
that informal program that's happening with the parents, and then
we've got programs from ages three all the way up
to thirty five for individual to have autism.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
Where are you located?
Speaker 2 (02:03):
Our office right now is in Berlin. It's at Prism Academy,
which is in autism school. So we're a nonprofit organization
that rents space from the school. It's amazing to be
able to use that huge gym space during the hours
when school's out of session. So on Friday nights we
have teen nights and young adults hangouts. And then on
(02:25):
Sunday mornings and afternoons we've got playgroups for different ages
three up to teenagers.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
So do you have events all week or just on
the weekends.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
Our events are just on the weekends, so we know
everybody's got stuff going on during the week with school
and occupational therapy and physical therapy appointments and stuff like that,
although we are hoping to start some programs during the
weekdays hopefully during the next year or two.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
Are there any events going on for individuals or family
that are coming up.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
Oh? Absolutely, I'm really excited. On November seventh is our
Young Adult Friends Giving. It is pot luck. People come in,
they just hang out with each other. They share a
delicious meal and do trivia and hang out with each other.
And then in December, December thirteenth, we're going to have
(03:22):
our family holiday party, which is always a blast. We'll
have a DJ Fanta, a clown. It's really a great time.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
Do you have any special accommodations for children who may
be neurodivergent?
Speaker 2 (03:37):
Oh? Yes, So autism is a neurotype, so everyone has
differences in their brain. Autism is one of those sort
of types of differences. And a lot of the times
our population can be sometimes sensitive to noise, or to
white or to you know, just sort of excess stimulation.
(03:59):
And what we do is we make sure that based
on who our participants are because we know them, we
keep our music mild, we keep our lights not flashing,
and we try to create the space that they need
depending on who they are, and putting them with others
who are in that same same kind of headspace.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
So nice, Tell me what kind of responses have you
received from the people with autism and responses from their
families also who've participated with your programs.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
Our parents love us, and our participants love us as well,
and they love to come and have friends. A lot
of people with autism are socially isolated. They aren't necessarily
accepted in general social settings. They may be bullied and
things like that, but this is a place where they
(04:55):
can come and they can have friends. They can be
around people who understand them as an individual and want
them to grow. And they swarm these friendships together that
are really really beautiful. And you know, it starts with
our free and four year olds, and then they grow
(05:16):
together and then when they're nine and ten year olds,
they're saying hi to each other, they're inviting each other
to birthday parties, and it's just really beautiful to get
to see and it.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
Must be the same for the parents. They're meeting other
people who've been where they are going through the same things.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
There's nothing more important than someone who gets it. That
feeling of belonging and understanding. That's really what we try
to foster. So we've got some parents who met when
their kids were three, and they go to each other's
birthday parties, and they go out with each other and
they you know, they're fast friends because they already have
(05:54):
so much in common. It's beautiful to see when one
winter was in the office and a bunch of parents
from teen Night were in the other room just sort
of sitting around with each other, and they started just
sort of going around the room and saying hi, and
then they started trying to remember that the Twelve Days
of Christmas song, and they were singing it just on
(06:16):
their own, and it was so beautiful.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
I love that you've created this community for both the
children and the parents.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
Yes, that's absolutely what we're for. And that's why the
connect in our in our name is capital lives, because
we really do capitalize on those connections in the community,
the autism community, and you know we're doing this in
other community. Members.
Speaker 1 (06:42):
You should go to autismfamiliesct dot org and you can
find out more about this amazing organization. It's been fifteen years. Now,
it's your fifteenth anniversary and you're going to have a celebration.
Tell me all about it.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
Oh, we are. We're having our Night of friends Giving.
It's going to be on November sixth at the Pond
House in West Hartford, and it's a celebration of some
wonderful individuals and families who've made our first fifteen years
possible and really helped us launch into the space right
(07:17):
now where we're serving you last year eight hundred plus participants,
and then it also gets us set for the next
fifteen and more years, because autism is life long and
everybody deserves a place to belong and have fun.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
Absolutely, what will happen that evening?
Speaker 2 (07:39):
Oh, we are going to have a cocktail dinner or
like a cocktail event. We'll have our DJ, John's Cadillacsville.
He'll be playing the tunes for us. We'll have a
night of just sort of getting together and being around
other people. We want to make a difference with our community,
(08:03):
whether that's through our silent auction or just coming and
dancing the night away.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
And how much your tickets.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
Tickets are one fifty and they can be found from
our website. AUTISMFAMILYCT dot work beautiful.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
If someone would like to make a donation, what can
they do?
Speaker 2 (08:22):
Oh, that would be where they would go as well.
So there's a button right up in the corner that
says donate. You can click and donate there. Or if
anyone has questions about the organization or how to get involved,
they can email AFC at AUTISMFAMILIESCT dot work.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
And volunteers as well.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
Oh, yes, volunteers as well. Our volunteers are invaluable. They
are how we're able to have our programs. We have
so many volunteers in the winter months from schools that
are in with our playgroups, and it makes it so
that each kiddo can have somebody who's attending to them
(09:04):
and helping them interact with other kiddos.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
What about sponsors, Oh, sponsorship is how we make this
event happen.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
We have a wonderful group of sponsors for our current event,
including RTX, and we're just very very fortunate to have
these friends who like coming to our events and having
fun in the support of friendship.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
And I'm going to ask this last question, what advice
would you give to someone who may notice that a
child may be in the spectrum or something different about
them and maybe they're having a bad day. What advice
would you give to someone who's watching that.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
I would just say be patient, be patient and be
kind because everybody is going through something and you really
don't know what it is, and then you just need
to treat everybody a little bit more human.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
Very nice. And the thing is, again, nobody's asked to
be autistic. It's nobody's asked to be diabetic. You know,
it's nothing we can control. And everybody, the parents, the children,
they're all doing the best that they can. So again,
don't personalizing exactly.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
Everybody's given their best and whether that's a kid who's
having a meltdown in the grocery store or somebody who's
asking you a ton of questions and line, just try
to treat them with some kindness and you know they've
got a lot going on, and just sort of be
that little piece of community that they need.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
Yes, I'm speaking with Alicia Bray, executive director of Autism
Families Connecticut. Again. That celebration is going on November sixth.
It's the Night of Friends Giving. It's at the Pond
House in West Harford. So beautiful there, My friend John
Cadillac Saville will be the DJ. Get your tickets today.
It's autismfamiliesct dot org and again you can go there
(11:03):
to volunteer, to donate, to be a sponsor, to find
out more. If you're a parent, or if you know
somebody who is on the spectrum, definitely take advantage of
this wonderful organization. Alicia, thank you so much for being
here today.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
Thank you so much for having me
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