December 15, 2024 • 30 mins
Ever wondered how a personal journey can ignite a movement that changes lives? Meet Tamika Lecheé Morales, the dedicated founder of the Autism Hero Project, who turned her son Legend's autism diagnosis into a mission to transform the landscape for autistic individuals and their families. From offering crucial medical insurance to pioneering educational scholarships and hosting inclusive community events, learn how the Autism Hero Project is making a real difference. Tamika's story is not just about overcoming challenges; it's about creating opportunities and bridging gaps for those who need it most.
Join us as we explore the emotional terrain of living with autism and the supportive networks that form in its wake. Discover the raw honesty of families navigating this journey, confronting societal perceptions, and finding beauty in neurodiversity. Through heartfelt narratives and shared experiences, Tamika illuminates the transformative power of understanding and acceptance, emphasizing that autism affects entire families, fostering connections that are both profound and enduring.
The episode also showcases the broader advocacy work being done to raise autism awareness and acceptance. From legislative victories like Autism Acceptance Week in Illinois to practical tools like noise-canceling headphones, Tamika and the Autism Hero Project are leading efforts to create a compassionate world for neurodiverse individuals. Discover how their expanding outreach through social media is helping to spread this vital message and how you can be part of this inspiring journey toward inclusivity.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Welcome to the SJ Child Show, where a little bit
of knowledge can turn fear intounderstanding.
Enjoy the show.
Hello, oh, thank you so muchfor joining me here today,
(00:36):
especially the audience and theviewers, but and my incredible
guest, who this is our time time, first time getting together
like this and I always find thatthis is my favorite way to meet
someone and connect to someoneis that authentic, organic,
getting to know you session kindof a kind of thing.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
so thank you so much for your time we've been wanting
to do this for I don't know howmany years now, but we finally
have made it happen, so I'mexcited.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Yes, chase each other down just at the right moment.
Love it Well.
I'm SJ Child Sarah Bradford.
I host the SJ Child Showpodcast, where I talk about and
speak to neurodiverseindividuals and families,
experts all sorts, and we diveinto the world of neurodiversity
(01:29):
, education, parenting.
And today I have a reallyspecial guest.
This is Tamika, and I've beenfollowing her journey, like she
said, for a few years now aswell, and I.
It's always amazing when youare able to connect with people
in the same space and feel that,just like you said, you were
(01:51):
born ready.
You have this passion, thisdrive.
Let us get to know more aboutyou and get to know you better.
Please introduce yourself andtell us a little bit about why
you're here today.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
Okay, so my name is Tamika Lachey Morales and I run
an amazing nonprofitorganization after my own heart.
I always say it's called theAutism Hero Project and the
genesis behind it was myautistic son.
Back in 2015, june 4th 2015,you know, you never forget those
(02:26):
important dates my son wasdiagnosed with autism spectrum
disorder and ADHD and two yearslater, when I kind of say that I
got to all the level and stagesof grief, I came into
acceptance and I started anonprofit and the Autism Hero
(02:49):
Project does so many greatthings.
We started out in one pillar,which was purchasing medical
insurance for children on theautism spectrum, because we
started at first in the state ofIllinois and unfortunately back
the state of Illinois didn'tbasically give families on
Medicaid access to autismtherapies, specifically applied
(03:11):
behavior analysis, aba therapyand I just thought it was
honestly criminal that you knowevery children's journal, every
doctor, every psychologist,everyone is saying you know
these are the therapies yourchild needs, this is the gold
standard therapy.
But you know I was fortunate Ihad a job, medical insurance
that covered it, but so manyfamilies didn't and you know, so
(03:35):
it was a barrier and so wedecided to be that financial
bridge to cover, you know,children on the autism spectrum
who didn't have access to allthe therapies that we believe
they needed to thrive and striveand reach their full potential.
And then, since then you knowwe're seven years in the making
we have expanded so much where afew years, a couple of years
(03:57):
back, we started doing educationscholarships, because we know
that autistic children are goingto become autistic adults and
we know that there's this hugecliff at the age of 22, where
there's such a lack of servicesout there, and so we started
giving out educationscholarships that are not just
for university, because we knownot all of our children thrive
in, you know, the college bound,but they have, you know,
(04:20):
whether it's culinary orvocational or cybersecurity or
there's so many other lanes.
You know whether it's culinaryor vocational or cybersecurity
or there's so many other lanes.
You know arts and theater thatour children really, you know,
hyper focus and do amazingthings, and so we didn't want to
limit it to just university.
So these higher education grantsare just for any adult who's
(04:40):
looking to honestly find atalent or hone in on something
that they love, a passion thatthey have, and be able to close
that unemployment gap that ourautistic you know, families have
where it's 80 to 85% ofunderemployment or unemployment
rates, for you know, ourautistic individuals, and so we
(05:01):
wanted to help close that gapand we do a whole lot of
inclusive events, raise a wholelot of autism awareness.
We believe you should be ableto come as you are, whether
that's theater, shows.
So we, you know, we honestlysponsor sensory theater, we
sponsor basketball Windy CityBulls out of Chicago obviously
(05:23):
we, you know, baseball games,sports events, holiday events,
inclusive events and then overthe last four years, almost five
now we've also been sponsoringfirst responder training
departments and hospitals andfire departments to get trained
(05:44):
on how to deal with ourpopulation and deescalate and
prevent crises, and so, yeah, sowe've done a lot in seven years
.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
Lots of projects and so many families impacted by all
of these efforts put in.
You know, it really all doesstart with that experience that
you have at home, and you seethat struggle that you're having
, and you know the otherfamilies don't even know how to
(06:16):
look for help or how to ask forhelp, and it's heartbreaking to
think that, and that's why Ilove that we're both doing these
amazing community serviceprojects, if you will, to really
just help like, not only helpthe community, raise their
awareness, but help create aplace that we can send our
(06:36):
children to someday, 100%, andthat really embodies the special
kind of like perception thatyou need to have to be with them
, and I think that that'simportant to kind of clarify for
people is that it all comesdown to your perception.
(07:00):
Are you going to give in yourheart, your mind, whatever the
space to learn more, become moreeducated and more?
Like you said, it takes time totake that acceptance journey,
and it comes with so many upsand downs, and there's nothing
(07:21):
better, though, than finding acommunity, finding your
community.
What did you?
There must be some kind of likeinspiration, or where did you
maybe find some community thathelped you understand you were
not alone.
I know I didn't.
I didn't mean to bring thetissue box people, but you know
(07:45):
it's funny.
Speaker 1 (07:46):
My vice president and I we just released a video at
our gala.
Every year we I kind of Iproduced this documentary of
like, where we're at and whatwe've been able to accomplish in
the year.
And it's funny because wemerely talked about like when we
got our diagnosis.
It's funny because weimmediately talked about like
(08:09):
when we got our diagnosis and soshe was fortunate that she had
a lot of friends that hadchildren on the spectrum, so she
immediately had a village, likeshe had her tribe, and that's
so important, right, a villagelike she had her tribe and
that's so important, right,where I honestly only knew one
person and that one persondidn't even live in the same
(08:30):
state, who was a friend of mine,but she was the first person I
I called eventually when I couldtalk, right, um, and so I
actually I created my village.
Yeah, um, that's really what Idid.
And it's funny because we werejust talking about this story,
because I wrote a book.
I've written a few book, youknow kind of writings in this
(08:53):
space, and this is my last book,called For the Love of Autism,
and it has Dr Temple Grandin, ithas Dr Carrie Magro, eileen Lam
, andrew Arboy has all thesefamous autistic influencers and,
um, but what's funny is mytribe was immediately my closest
(09:14):
friends and it took me two,almost two years to tell our
family that we had an autisticchild, like about the diagnosis,
and it took me, you know, know,that's almost that long to even
tell my closest friends.
I just, I just couldn't liketalk about it, like without
getting so emotional.
Yeah, and so we were justlaughing because we started a
(09:35):
book club, um, with this, withour church group, and we were
just kind of recounting thestory, how she was telling them
that it was, um, that the waythat we all, that they had all
found out was because I put aPowerPoint presentation together
.
That's like the teacher in me,cause I am a, I'm a, I'm a
teacher, I'm an entrepreneur,but, um, I put this PowerPoint
(09:56):
presentation together because Ifigured it took me so long to
wrap my head around it that Ididn't want them to take two
years to do that.
So I put a PowerPointpresentation together and in
this presentation I talked aboutyou know the data, the
prevalence, you know how, youknow what are the symptoms, the
(10:20):
signs, what they believe theresearch shows, but really how
to support.
You know my legendary kid andmyself, and it was such an
emotional like all of us wereall together and they became my
immediate tribe.
They were the first ones that,and none of them had an autistic
child, but you know, I wastaking classes that night, you
(10:42):
know, because I was in themiddle of you know, beyond my
master's degree and doing allthis stuff and they would
babysit.
You know they, they were justlike everything to me.
And then eventually, through myson's therapies, they had
support groups and and then Iwould go to them and honestly,
in the beginning I was like,okay, it was amazing to hear
(11:04):
like obviously, yeah, where mychild was and you know what I
could expect.
But at the same time it actuallywas killing my soul to hear
some of these stories that Icould only take so much right,
because I'm taking on my ownstuff.
But then, you know, I felt likean empath and I was taking on
(11:25):
their stuff and I wanted to helpeverybody and it was like like
my husband is like Tamika, thisis very unhealthy for you.
Like I just couldn't, I justcouldn't like be all things to
all people and my own self-carewas kind of going out the window
.
And and eventually, you know,we I kind of build my, my
(11:47):
community through the AutismHero Project.
The more stuff we did, the morefamilies came and they shared
theirs and we, honestly, thebeauty about our nonprofit is
that so many of our familieshave become our closest friends.
Yeah, and we know that we cancall each other and you know we
can be there for one another andwe can.
(12:07):
You know, like our latest video, one of the moms say, you know
you call one of them up andwe're like immediately, do you
need tequila?
Do we need to go beat somebodyup?
Like, do we just need to go?
get some nanny patties Like whatdo we need to go do?
Speaker 2 (12:21):
You know, absolutely.
I love that.
It really is so important thatyou and you know kind of that.
You and you know kind of, asyou had said.
It's like this isolatingjourney.
At the very beginning I wasreally lucky.
My husband had a sister withDown syndrome, so he had already
(12:41):
grown up in this like specialmind space, this way to treat
special you know, people withwith Down syndrome and on autism
, and so that was nice.
I mean.
He didn't know, obviously, howto be a dad to an autistic son,
so that was too.
It takes just a journey oftrial and error and living.
But what a beautiful journeyit's become.
(13:03):
And since then our whole familyhas received our, our diagnoses
and we understand that we're allon the spectrum in our family
and that really brought us closetogether, closer than I could
have ever imagined or expected,especially with my husband, when
(13:26):
we both kind of were able tosay, wow, this 20 year
friendship is just even morethan that.
It is this like a meeting ofminds that just was meant to be
and I feel that way about, like,about you, and about the
connections that I find likekindred spirits.
You know, we all go throughthis, this journey, and while
we're at this process, it feelsso lonely and so scary and so
(13:47):
sad, and it's not until someyears later, when we can reflect
and when we meet people likeeach other that we're like oh
yes, this is it.
Speaker 1 (13:58):
That's exactly what I wrote about when we wrote about
For the Love of Autism.
I mean, these are honest, rawstories from autistics parents,
mothers, fathers because there'ssuch a lack of men speaking
about their, you know, journeyand how they're navigating this
for themselves.
But you know sibling stories.
I mean we have it all in hereAutistic interpretations.
(14:21):
They have such an amazingfollowing and they're just so
amazing to to Jesse, jessica,their daughter and sister, and
so it's just been honestly it's.
I always say that, like becausewe're so busy, focused like as a
, as a system, right, andthere's so much systematic
change that needs to happen, butbecause people are just so
focused on the milestones andthe perceived timelines that
(14:46):
people should meet thesemilestones, right, the fact is
that there is so much beauty inautism, but we're so focused in
what the world has deemed asdeficiencies, right, these
timelines versus you know that Ithink they're just not living
(15:06):
in the present to see and feelthe beauty of what is right in
front of their eyes.
And um, it's funny because whenyou look at neurotypicals and
you see all the movies and yousee all these social, you know
influencers on social media, andyou see all these people and
everybody's trying to doeverything possible to stand out
, right, yeah, to be unique andto be different.
(15:30):
And yet our own children don'teven need to do that.
They're just, you know,different that way, and yet they
just want to fit in and theydon't want to be standing out.
It's like the whole opposite andI'm like you know why, fit in
when you can stand out Right,and it's like you don't need to
change.
It's not you, my love, whoneeds to change.
(15:50):
It's not you.
Speaker 2 (15:53):
I love that.
In fact, I do these dailytoday's missions on my Facebook
page every day that just kind ofgive everyone a little bit of
quote of a day to try to live by.
I see them every day I say Ilove it.
I love it the other day I think,you know, be yourself, they'll
adjust, just.
And the other day I think wasyou know, be yourself, they'll
adjust.
Just be you, they'll adjust,and that's it, that's just it,
(16:29):
and you know.
Then we support them in thebest way we can, by supporting
their strengths, by, you know,lifting them up by their um love
of what they, what they love todo, what, what are some things,
some joy, if, if we can, if youdon't mind talking about your
son a little bit.
(16:49):
What are some things that heloves?
What are his special interests?
Speaker 1 (16:54):
So I have to say Legend is really funny, like
sarcastically funny, and just he, just he loves you know he's a
YouTube freak, right, so heloves YouTube.
You know the typical thingsthat boys his age teenagers,
early teenagers like they likeyou know gaming and they like
(17:14):
YouTube, and you know he'sreally no different in that
aspect we just have to kind ofcontrol how many hours but he's
really funny and he's constantlycoming up with these dry, dry
jokes that you know I findreally funny and we're a very
sarcastic family.
I'm from New York, my husband'sfrom Boston, and so we are just
(17:36):
sarcastic by nature and he'salso very like sarcastically
funny.
Obviously, you know timing isreally important and so he'll be
very sarcastic with a teacheror with another student and it's
(17:56):
like, oh, we got to teach youwhen that's appropriate and when
not appropriate.
But he's just trying to alwaysbe funny and I think that's just
a beautiful trait that he has.
I mean, you know his journey ishard in the sense that you know
the spectrum is so wide, right,and so he has what we would
(18:19):
consider an invisible disability, right, like if, to look at him
, you know you wouldn'tnecessarily know it would be
like his, you know talking tohimself because he's huge
echolalia right.
You know the vocalizations, therepeating right or him singing
to himself or him incorporatinghimself in some of his scripting
right and stuff like that.
So you wouldn't at first reallynotice it, but after you know,
(18:42):
if you observe you will right.
But you know it's things thathe's in.
He just started high schoolthis year and middle school um,
am I allowed to swear like?
yeah, right right, um, and I'man educator, so middle school
was really bad.
(19:03):
Like it was hard, like therewas a lot of bullying and a lot
of unnecessary.
Like just I wanted to go downto the school and beat some
asses, like that's how bad it is.
And so and they just couldn'tappreciate.
You know that's how heself-regulates, right.
And so it's that like justteaching others that you know
(19:24):
what he's not bothering you Likeyou know, like you can still
befriend him Like it's it's not,you know.
So it's just that.
And I think you know, theearlier we can educate children,
that's kind of like why I wrotea law in the state of Illinois.
As an educator, you know,before we take a you know a day
off for a holiday, whether it's,you know, veterans Day, or you
(19:48):
know Day or Christmas, like weteach around those holidays.
And so I wrote a law that passedin the state of Illinois making
you know April, the first weekof April, autism Acceptance Week
.
And we did that purposefullybecause then it forces, you know
, school districts andbusinesses and organizations to
teach about acceptance andinclusion.
(20:08):
And you know my whole ideabehind it was we got to teach
about acceptance and inclusion.
And you know my whole ideabehind it was we got to teach
our youth now because theyreally are our future right, and
if they can learn about how tobe compassionate, empathetic,
how they can, you know, makefriends with someone who's neuro
, you know, diverse thanthemselves, then you know it's
going to make for a much moreaccepting world and it won't
(20:32):
seem like such a you know nuanceto see someone who is maybe
talking to themselves orflapping their hands or walking
on their tippy toes and talking,or you know just these these
things that some of our autisticchildren do.
And so you know, yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:47):
You know it's so interesting because I have this
situation that happened over thelast probably three years.
I think about three years ago Iordered a bunch of
noise-canceling headphones andwe sent some off to like an
event that was in town and thenwe kept some and everywhere we
(21:08):
go, my son loves to wear them.
He loves to wear his headphones, and I didn't realize it until
maybe a few times in.
But we get a different responsefrom people when he's wearing
his headphones.
When he wasn't wearing them,I'd often get the look of you
know what the heck and whateverelse is going on.
But when he has his headphoneson, I can see this going on.
(21:32):
But when he has his headphoneson, I can see this softness in
people.
I can see this better.
Yeah, exactly, it's exactly.
It's an identifier, and youknow there were times where my
husband and I struggled withwell, do we need to get him a
vest that says I'm autistic?
Please be kind?
Do we need to like?
And we, the same way you did,came up with, all of you know,
these books and safety kits andall of these things that we
(21:53):
implemented in our own community, and just for that same reason,
we want to just be at the store, having a grocery store,
without having to explain why weare who we are.
We're just people walking downthe aisle, why we are who we are
.
We're just people walking downthe aisle Like why do we need to
(22:13):
explain what kind of behaviorwe're having that you don't
understand?
Speaker 1 (22:19):
You know, some of our children don't want to be a
walking billboard.
Just, why don't you just showkindness?
Yes, I don't have to have alabel for you to be kind or for
you to look at me.
All of a sudden it's a doubleedged sword, isn't it?
It really is.
It's like, yeah, it really is.
And it's hard because you knowsome people you know will wear
(22:40):
their, you know will proudlyspeak up and self-advocate.
But then there are some who youknow they don't want to do that
and it's their prerogativethey're they're autistic.
They can make whatever decisionthey want, but I kind of agree.
Like they shouldn't have to bea walking billboard for you to
show kindness, right.
Like that should just beintrinsically as a society.
(23:02):
It doesn't cost anything to benice, a human law.
It's a benefit of a doubt, youknow, yeah, it's the benefit of
a doubt you know, yeah, it justdoesn't Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (23:12):
And you know, you and I know, especially with your
education background and thingslike that, that you know right
now, one in 36 is the number ofdiagnosed autistics in the
United States, of children thatare diagnosed.
Now those numbers don't includelet's be real undiagnosed,
(23:37):
obviously under diagnosed,underserved communities, females
so many In your opinion andpeople.
This is not fact data oranything you need to take, but
what do you think the numbersare closer to Dr Anneke
Vandenbroek?
Speaker 1 (24:16):
So, you know, have as autism to this big spectrum,
right, and we know that autismdoesn't come alone, right?
Most of the time, autism hasanother co-occurring comorbidity
, now known as co-occurrings,that come along with it, and so
autism really does, you know,they say, as they say, if you've
(24:37):
met one child with autism,you've done exactly that You've
met one child with autism.
Because it really does manifestdifferently in every individual
because of these otherco-occurrings, right?
Whether it's, like in my son'scase, autism and ADHD, autism
and epilepsy autism and apraxiaautism and OCD autism and
(24:57):
sensory, you know, processingdisorder, like there's.
So some people have two andthree diagnosis, right, yeah,
and so it's really hard.
And then I know that there'sthis fight within the community
which really gets me, you know,really even outraged, because
instead of us coming together,you know, to raise awareness
(25:20):
together, to get our needs mettogether, between employment and
housing and disability, youknow, and accessibility and
medical and all this other stuffwe're fighting with each other
about within the community thatwe shouldn't be doing that, you
know, about whether you knowhigh support needs versus you
(25:40):
know less support needs and how,you know.
Just, you know they don't wantautism to be called a disability
, but it is a disability, anddisability should not be a
shameful word and it should notbe a bad word, cause it's not.
It's, you know, the environmentthat disables people.
It's not them themselves, youknow.
So I feel very strongly aboutthis and I very strongly about
(26:01):
this, and so I just feel likeit's hard for me to answer that
question, because I'm number one, I'm obviously not a medical
professional, but I will saythat we know that the numbers
are not exact.
Yeah, because there's peoplewho still don't even have access
to a diagnosis, or they'rewaiting one and two years on a
(26:21):
wait list, or they don't havethe financial means, right.
So the numbers are definitelynot completely accurate.
But then, on the flip side,sarah, there are people who are
self-diagnosing themselves, andA a because maybe they don't
have access or because of theiryou know, for their parents it
(26:44):
may have been a taboo, or theyjust weren't educated.
You know, they're so culturallyI'm latina, that's very
cultural, right, there's a lotof things, right but I think,
too, some people areself-diagnosing themselves who
are not autistic, and that'sjust, you know.
I'm just going to be honest,like you.
And so, as someone who hasworked with ADOS, which is the
instrument right, and who hasworked with cards and all these
(27:06):
you know tools in the field thatI was in and who had taught so
many, worked with so manyclasses on this?
Like you know, you're not a modfive, which is the adult
testing.
As much as you say you are.
You're not.
So I think you know, I thinkit's hard for me to say that and
I won't speak as a non-medicalprofessional.
Speaker 2 (27:27):
I just want to be honest.
Speaker 1 (27:28):
You know, I see so many people who we know are are
not diagnosed.
And then we see people whoclaim that they are, that we
know for a fact that they're not.
Speaker 2 (27:39):
Oh, that's really interesting, wow, and I guess,
with a lot of exposure to thecommunity itself and to the
families and things, and youwould get that perception and
view of that, that some, thatsomebody don't.
Well, I think we have likethree minutes left and and, um,
I am excited to hear aboutwhat's to come and I mean, I
(28:01):
know obviously you're takingthis all the way to Congresses
and Senates and things andeverywhere it needs to be.
What is Autism Heroes Projectnext step that we can check out?
Speaker 1 (28:14):
So I'm excited because we have a first
responder documentary that Ijust produced and we're going to
release it I believe the dateis November 16th.
It's going to be a publicviewing with legislation in the
room, police chief, angel sense,police officers who have
autistic children, who are inthis documentary and we're going
(28:35):
to really work to mandate.
You know certain states alreadyhave mandated autism training,
but we want to make thisdocumentary part of um police
officer school, like the academywhere, before they even get out
on the street, that theyunderstand what good policing
and the signs to identify autismto avoid what could be the
(28:58):
worst scenario which we've seenso much of that just this year
alone, if you've been followingwhat's going on in the community
, and this is something that'svery important to us.
So we're working withlegislation and we're going to
make mandated and you know westart in one state and then we
we take it across the nation andthen later this year November
is my birthday month and theaudio book for For the Love of
(29:21):
Autism, you know, with a lot ofthe authors who have recorded
their own chapters, oh wow, andyou can find the book right now
on Amazon and then the audiobook will be coming out soon too
.
So a lot of great things thatwe're doing.
I would invite everybody to goto autismheroprojectorg to kind
(29:41):
of learn more about us, getinvolved.
We have social media.
We have like 70, almost 75,000followers on Facebook.
We're on LinkedIn, instagram,tiktok, youtube.
Subscribe to our channel.
You can watch some of the mostamazing videos about the work
that we do.
The documentary for firstresponders won't be up there
until November, after we unveilit publicly, but at least you'll
(30:05):
get to know what we do in thecommunity, and we're expanding,
so I'd love that.
Speaker 2 (30:11):
Oh, thank you so so much for being my guest today,
Tamika, and like she said,please go to
autismheroprojectsorg.
You can also go to sjchildsorgto go find out more information
about me and connect with usboth.
Welcome to the SJ Child Show, where a little bit
of knowledge can turn fear intounderstanding.
Enjoy the show.
Hello, oh, thank you so muchfor joining me here today,
(00:36):
especially the audience and theviewers, but and my incredible
guest, who this is our time time, first time getting together
like this and I always find thatthis is my favorite way to meet
someone and connect to someoneis that authentic, organic,
getting to know you session kindof a kind of thing.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
so thank you so much for your time we've been wanting
to do this for I don't know howmany years now, but we finally
have made it happen, so I'mexcited.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Yes, chase each other down just at the right moment.
Love it Well.
I'm SJ Child Sarah Bradford.
I host the SJ Child Showpodcast, where I talk about and
speak to neurodiverseindividuals and families,
experts all sorts, and we diveinto the world of neurodiversity
(01:29):
, education, parenting.
And today I have a reallyspecial guest.
This is Tamika, and I've beenfollowing her journey, like she
said, for a few years now aswell, and I.
It's always amazing when youare able to connect with people
in the same space and feel that,just like you said, you were
(01:51):
born ready.
You have this passion, thisdrive.
Let us get to know more aboutyou and get to know you better.
Please introduce yourself andtell us a little bit about why
you're here today.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
Okay, so my name is Tamika Lachey Morales and I run
an amazing nonprofitorganization after my own heart.
I always say it's called theAutism Hero Project and the
genesis behind it was myautistic son.
Back in 2015, june 4th 2015,you know, you never forget those
(02:26):
important dates my son wasdiagnosed with autism spectrum
disorder and ADHD and two yearslater, when I kind of say that I
got to all the level and stagesof grief, I came into
acceptance and I started anonprofit and the Autism Hero
(02:49):
Project does so many greatthings.
We started out in one pillar,which was purchasing medical
insurance for children on theautism spectrum, because we
started at first in the state ofIllinois and unfortunately back
the state of Illinois didn'tbasically give families on
Medicaid access to autismtherapies, specifically applied
(03:11):
behavior analysis, aba therapyand I just thought it was
honestly criminal that you knowevery children's journal, every
doctor, every psychologist,everyone is saying you know
these are the therapies yourchild needs, this is the gold
standard therapy.
But you know I was fortunate Ihad a job, medical insurance
that covered it, but so manyfamilies didn't and you know, so
(03:35):
it was a barrier and so wedecided to be that financial
bridge to cover, you know,children on the autism spectrum
who didn't have access to allthe therapies that we believe
they needed to thrive and striveand reach their full potential.
And then, since then you knowwe're seven years in the making
we have expanded so much where afew years, a couple of years
(03:57):
back, we started doing educationscholarships, because we know
that autistic children are goingto become autistic adults and
we know that there's this hugecliff at the age of 22, where
there's such a lack of servicesout there, and so we started
giving out educationscholarships that are not just
for university, because we knownot all of our children thrive
in, you know, the college bound,but they have, you know,
(04:20):
whether it's culinary orvocational or cybersecurity or
there's so many other lanes.
You know whether it's culinaryor vocational or cybersecurity
or there's so many other lanes.
You know arts and theater thatour children really, you know,
hyper focus and do amazingthings, and so we didn't want to
limit it to just university.
So these higher education grantsare just for any adult who's
(04:40):
looking to honestly find atalent or hone in on something
that they love, a passion thatthey have, and be able to close
that unemployment gap that ourautistic you know, families have
where it's 80 to 85% ofunderemployment or unemployment
rates, for you know, ourautistic individuals, and so we
(05:01):
wanted to help close that gapand we do a whole lot of
inclusive events, raise a wholelot of autism awareness.
We believe you should be ableto come as you are, whether
that's theater, shows.
So we, you know, we honestlysponsor sensory theater, we
sponsor basketball Windy CityBulls out of Chicago obviously
(05:23):
we, you know, baseball games,sports events, holiday events,
inclusive events and then overthe last four years, almost five
now we've also been sponsoringfirst responder training
departments and hospitals andfire departments to get trained
(05:44):
on how to deal with ourpopulation and deescalate and
prevent crises, and so, yeah, sowe've done a lot in seven years
.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
Lots of projects and so many families impacted by all
of these efforts put in.
You know, it really all doesstart with that experience that
you have at home, and you seethat struggle that you're having
, and you know the otherfamilies don't even know how to
(06:16):
look for help or how to ask forhelp, and it's heartbreaking to
think that, and that's why Ilove that we're both doing these
amazing community serviceprojects, if you will, to really
just help like, not only helpthe community, raise their
awareness, but help create aplace that we can send our
(06:36):
children to someday, 100%, andthat really embodies the special
kind of like perception thatyou need to have to be with them
, and I think that that'simportant to kind of clarify for
people is that it all comesdown to your perception.
(07:00):
Are you going to give in yourheart, your mind, whatever the
space to learn more, become moreeducated and more?
Like you said, it takes time totake that acceptance journey,
and it comes with so many upsand downs, and there's nothing
(07:21):
better, though, than finding acommunity, finding your
community.
What did you?
There must be some kind of likeinspiration, or where did you
maybe find some community thathelped you understand you were
not alone.
I know I didn't.
I didn't mean to bring thetissue box people, but you know
(07:45):
it's funny.
Speaker 1 (07:46):
My vice president and I we just released a video at
our gala.
Every year we I kind of Iproduced this documentary of
like, where we're at and whatwe've been able to accomplish in
the year.
And it's funny because wemerely talked about like when we
got our diagnosis.
It's funny because weimmediately talked about like
(08:09):
when we got our diagnosis and soshe was fortunate that she had
a lot of friends that hadchildren on the spectrum, so she
immediately had a village, likeshe had her tribe, and that's
so important, right, a villagelike she had her tribe and
that's so important, right,where I honestly only knew one
person and that one persondidn't even live in the same
(08:30):
state, who was a friend of mine,but she was the first person I
I called eventually when I couldtalk, right, um, and so I
actually I created my village.
Yeah, um, that's really what Idid.
And it's funny because we werejust talking about this story,
because I wrote a book.
I've written a few book, youknow kind of writings in this
(08:53):
space, and this is my last book,called For the Love of Autism,
and it has Dr Temple Grandin, ithas Dr Carrie Magro, eileen Lam
, andrew Arboy has all thesefamous autistic influencers and,
um, but what's funny is mytribe was immediately my closest
(09:14):
friends and it took me two,almost two years to tell our
family that we had an autisticchild, like about the diagnosis,
and it took me, you know, know,that's almost that long to even
tell my closest friends.
I just, I just couldn't liketalk about it, like without
getting so emotional.
Yeah, and so we were justlaughing because we started a
(09:35):
book club, um, with this, withour church group, and we were
just kind of recounting thestory, how she was telling them
that it was, um, that the waythat we all, that they had all
found out was because I put aPowerPoint presentation together
.
That's like the teacher in me,cause I am a, I'm a, I'm a
teacher, I'm an entrepreneur,but, um, I put this PowerPoint
(09:56):
presentation together because Ifigured it took me so long to
wrap my head around it that Ididn't want them to take two
years to do that.
So I put a PowerPointpresentation together and in
this presentation I talked aboutyou know the data, the
prevalence, you know how, youknow what are the symptoms, the
(10:20):
signs, what they believe theresearch shows, but really how
to support.
You know my legendary kid andmyself, and it was such an
emotional like all of us wereall together and they became my
immediate tribe.
They were the first ones that,and none of them had an autistic
child, but you know, I wastaking classes that night, you
(10:42):
know, because I was in themiddle of you know, beyond my
master's degree and doing allthis stuff and they would
babysit.
You know they, they were justlike everything to me.
And then eventually, through myson's therapies, they had
support groups and and then Iwould go to them and honestly,
in the beginning I was like,okay, it was amazing to hear
(11:04):
like obviously, yeah, where mychild was and you know what I
could expect.
But at the same time it actuallywas killing my soul to hear
some of these stories that Icould only take so much right,
because I'm taking on my ownstuff.
But then, you know, I felt likean empath and I was taking on
(11:25):
their stuff and I wanted to helpeverybody and it was like like
my husband is like Tamika, thisis very unhealthy for you.
Like I just couldn't, I justcouldn't like be all things to
all people and my own self-carewas kind of going out the window
.
And and eventually, you know,we I kind of build my, my
(11:47):
community through the AutismHero Project.
The more stuff we did, the morefamilies came and they shared
theirs and we, honestly, thebeauty about our nonprofit is
that so many of our familieshave become our closest friends.
Yeah, and we know that we cancall each other and you know we
can be there for one another andwe can.
(12:07):
You know, like our latest video, one of the moms say, you know
you call one of them up andwe're like immediately, do you
need tequila?
Do we need to go beat somebodyup?
Like, do we just need to go?
get some nanny patties Like whatdo we need to go do?
Speaker 2 (12:21):
You know, absolutely.
I love that.
It really is so important thatyou and you know kind of that.
You and you know kind of, asyou had said.
It's like this isolatingjourney.
At the very beginning I wasreally lucky.
My husband had a sister withDown syndrome, so he had already
(12:41):
grown up in this like specialmind space, this way to treat
special you know, people withwith Down syndrome and on autism
, and so that was nice.
I mean.
He didn't know, obviously, howto be a dad to an autistic son,
so that was too.
It takes just a journey oftrial and error and living.
But what a beautiful journeyit's become.
(13:03):
And since then our whole familyhas received our, our diagnoses
and we understand that we're allon the spectrum in our family
and that really brought us closetogether, closer than I could
have ever imagined or expected,especially with my husband, when
(13:26):
we both kind of were able tosay, wow, this 20 year
friendship is just even morethan that.
It is this like a meeting ofminds that just was meant to be
and I feel that way about, like,about you, and about the
connections that I find likekindred spirits.
You know, we all go throughthis, this journey, and while
we're at this process, it feelsso lonely and so scary and so
(13:47):
sad, and it's not until someyears later, when we can reflect
and when we meet people likeeach other that we're like oh
yes, this is it.
Speaker 1 (13:58):
That's exactly what I wrote about when we wrote about
For the Love of Autism.
I mean, these are honest, rawstories from autistics parents,
mothers, fathers because there'ssuch a lack of men speaking
about their, you know, journeyand how they're navigating this
for themselves.
But you know sibling stories.
I mean we have it all in hereAutistic interpretations.
(14:21):
They have such an amazingfollowing and they're just so
amazing to to Jesse, jessica,their daughter and sister, and
so it's just been honestly it's.
I always say that, like becausewe're so busy, focused like as a
, as a system, right, andthere's so much systematic
change that needs to happen, butbecause people are just so
focused on the milestones andthe perceived timelines that
(14:46):
people should meet thesemilestones, right, the fact is
that there is so much beauty inautism, but we're so focused in
what the world has deemed asdeficiencies, right, these
timelines versus you know that Ithink they're just not living
(15:06):
in the present to see and feelthe beauty of what is right in
front of their eyes.
And um, it's funny because whenyou look at neurotypicals and
you see all the movies and yousee all these social, you know
influencers on social media, andyou see all these people and
everybody's trying to doeverything possible to stand out
, right, yeah, to be unique andto be different.
(15:30):
And yet our own children don'teven need to do that.
They're just, you know,different that way, and yet they
just want to fit in and theydon't want to be standing out.
It's like the whole opposite andI'm like you know why, fit in
when you can stand out Right,and it's like you don't need to
change.
It's not you, my love, whoneeds to change.
(15:50):
It's not you.
Speaker 2 (15:53):
I love that.
In fact, I do these dailytoday's missions on my Facebook
page every day that just kind ofgive everyone a little bit of
quote of a day to try to live by.
I see them every day I say Ilove it.
I love it the other day I think,you know, be yourself, they'll
adjust, just.
And the other day I think wasyou know, be yourself, they'll
adjust.
Just be you, they'll adjust,and that's it, that's just it,
(16:29):
and you know.
Then we support them in thebest way we can, by supporting
their strengths, by, you know,lifting them up by their um love
of what they, what they love todo, what, what are some things,
some joy, if, if we can, if youdon't mind talking about your
son a little bit.
(16:49):
What are some things that heloves?
What are his special interests?
Speaker 1 (16:54):
So I have to say Legend is really funny, like
sarcastically funny, and just he, just he loves you know he's a
YouTube freak, right, so heloves YouTube.
You know the typical thingsthat boys his age teenagers,
early teenagers like they likeyou know gaming and they like
(17:14):
YouTube, and you know he'sreally no different in that
aspect we just have to kind ofcontrol how many hours but he's
really funny and he's constantlycoming up with these dry, dry
jokes that you know I findreally funny and we're a very
sarcastic family.
I'm from New York, my husband'sfrom Boston, and so we are just
(17:36):
sarcastic by nature and he'salso very like sarcastically
funny.
Obviously, you know timing isreally important and so he'll be
very sarcastic with a teacheror with another student and it's
(17:56):
like, oh, we got to teach youwhen that's appropriate and when
not appropriate.
But he's just trying to alwaysbe funny and I think that's just
a beautiful trait that he has.
I mean, you know his journey ishard in the sense that you know
the spectrum is so wide, right,and so he has what we would
(18:19):
consider an invisible disability, right, like if, to look at him
, you know you wouldn'tnecessarily know it would be
like his, you know talking tohimself because he's huge
echolalia right.
You know the vocalizations, therepeating right or him singing
to himself or him incorporatinghimself in some of his scripting
right and stuff like that.
So you wouldn't at first reallynotice it, but after you know,
(18:42):
if you observe you will right.
But you know it's things thathe's in.
He just started high schoolthis year and middle school um,
am I allowed to swear like?
yeah, right right, um, and I'man educator, so middle school
was really bad.
(19:03):
Like it was hard, like therewas a lot of bullying and a lot
of unnecessary.
Like just I wanted to go downto the school and beat some
asses, like that's how bad it is.
And so and they just couldn'tappreciate.
You know that's how heself-regulates, right.
And so it's that like justteaching others that you know
(19:24):
what he's not bothering you Likeyou know, like you can still
befriend him Like it's it's not,you know.
So it's just that.
And I think you know, theearlier we can educate children,
that's kind of like why I wrotea law in the state of Illinois.
As an educator, you know,before we take a you know a day
off for a holiday, whether it's,you know, veterans Day, or you
(19:48):
know Day or Christmas, like weteach around those holidays.
And so I wrote a law that passedin the state of Illinois making
you know April, the first weekof April, autism Acceptance Week
.
And we did that purposefullybecause then it forces, you know
, school districts andbusinesses and organizations to
teach about acceptance andinclusion.
(20:08):
And you know my whole ideabehind it was we got to teach
about acceptance and inclusion.
And you know my whole ideabehind it was we got to teach
our youth now because theyreally are our future right, and
if they can learn about how tobe compassionate, empathetic,
how they can, you know, makefriends with someone who's neuro
, you know, diverse thanthemselves, then you know it's
going to make for a much moreaccepting world and it won't
(20:32):
seem like such a you know nuanceto see someone who is maybe
talking to themselves orflapping their hands or walking
on their tippy toes and talking,or you know just these these
things that some of our autisticchildren do.
And so you know, yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:47):
You know it's so interesting because I have this
situation that happened over thelast probably three years.
I think about three years ago Iordered a bunch of
noise-canceling headphones andwe sent some off to like an
event that was in town and thenwe kept some and everywhere we
(21:08):
go, my son loves to wear them.
He loves to wear his headphones, and I didn't realize it until
maybe a few times in.
But we get a different responsefrom people when he's wearing
his headphones.
When he wasn't wearing them,I'd often get the look of you
know what the heck and whateverelse is going on.
But when he has his headphoneson, I can see this going on.
(21:32):
But when he has his headphoneson, I can see this softness in
people.
I can see this better.
Yeah, exactly, it's exactly.
It's an identifier, and youknow there were times where my
husband and I struggled withwell, do we need to get him a
vest that says I'm autistic?
Please be kind?
Do we need to like?
And we, the same way you did,came up with, all of you know,
these books and safety kits andall of these things that we
(21:53):
implemented in our own community, and just for that same reason,
we want to just be at the store, having a grocery store,
without having to explain why weare who we are.
We're just people walking downthe aisle, why we are who we are
.
We're just people walking downthe aisle Like why do we need to
(22:13):
explain what kind of behaviorwe're having that you don't
understand?
Speaker 1 (22:19):
You know, some of our children don't want to be a
walking billboard.
Just, why don't you just showkindness?
Yes, I don't have to have alabel for you to be kind or for
you to look at me.
All of a sudden it's a doubleedged sword, isn't it?
It really is.
It's like, yeah, it really is.
And it's hard because you knowsome people you know will wear
(22:40):
their, you know will proudlyspeak up and self-advocate.
But then there are some who youknow they don't want to do that
and it's their prerogativethey're they're autistic.
They can make whatever decisionthey want, but I kind of agree.
Like they shouldn't have to bea walking billboard for you to
show kindness, right.
Like that should just beintrinsically as a society.
(23:02):
It doesn't cost anything to benice, a human law.
It's a benefit of a doubt, youknow, yeah, it's the benefit of
a doubt you know, yeah, it justdoesn't Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (23:12):
And you know, you and I know, especially with your
education background and thingslike that, that you know right
now, one in 36 is the number ofdiagnosed autistics in the
United States, of children thatare diagnosed.
Now those numbers don't includelet's be real undiagnosed,
(23:37):
obviously under diagnosed,underserved communities, females
so many In your opinion andpeople.
This is not fact data oranything you need to take, but
what do you think the numbersare closer to Dr Anneke
Vandenbroek?
Speaker 1 (24:16):
So, you know, have as autism to this big spectrum,
right, and we know that autismdoesn't come alone, right?
Most of the time, autism hasanother co-occurring comorbidity
, now known as co-occurrings,that come along with it, and so
autism really does, you know,they say, as they say, if you've
(24:37):
met one child with autism,you've done exactly that You've
met one child with autism.
Because it really does manifestdifferently in every individual
because of these otherco-occurrings, right?
Whether it's, like in my son'scase, autism and ADHD, autism
and epilepsy autism and apraxiaautism and OCD autism and
(24:57):
sensory, you know, processingdisorder, like there's.
So some people have two andthree diagnosis, right, yeah,
and so it's really hard.
And then I know that there'sthis fight within the community
which really gets me, you know,really even outraged, because
instead of us coming together,you know, to raise awareness
(25:20):
together, to get our needs mettogether, between employment and
housing and disability, youknow, and accessibility and
medical and all this other stuffwe're fighting with each other
about within the community thatwe shouldn't be doing that, you
know, about whether you knowhigh support needs versus you
(25:40):
know less support needs and how,you know.
Just, you know they don't wantautism to be called a disability
, but it is a disability, anddisability should not be a
shameful word and it should notbe a bad word, cause it's not.
It's, you know, the environmentthat disables people.
It's not them themselves, youknow.
So I feel very strongly aboutthis and I very strongly about
(26:01):
this, and so I just feel likeit's hard for me to answer that
question, because I'm number one, I'm obviously not a medical
professional, but I will saythat we know that the numbers
are not exact.
Yeah, because there's peoplewho still don't even have access
to a diagnosis, or they'rewaiting one and two years on a
(26:21):
wait list, or they don't havethe financial means, right.
So the numbers are definitelynot completely accurate.
But then, on the flip side,sarah, there are people who are
self-diagnosing themselves, andA a because maybe they don't
have access or because of theiryou know, for their parents it
(26:44):
may have been a taboo, or theyjust weren't educated.
You know, they're so culturallyI'm latina, that's very
cultural, right, there's a lotof things, right but I think,
too, some people areself-diagnosing themselves who
are not autistic, and that'sjust, you know.
I'm just going to be honest,like you.
And so, as someone who hasworked with ADOS, which is the
instrument right, and who hasworked with cards and all these
(27:06):
you know tools in the field thatI was in and who had taught so
many, worked with so manyclasses on this?
Like you know, you're not a modfive, which is the adult
testing.
As much as you say you are.
You're not.
So I think you know, I thinkit's hard for me to say that and
I won't speak as a non-medicalprofessional.
Speaker 2 (27:27):
I just want to be honest.
Speaker 1 (27:28):
You know, I see so many people who we know are are
not diagnosed.
And then we see people whoclaim that they are, that we
know for a fact that they're not.
Speaker 2 (27:39):
Oh, that's really interesting, wow, and I guess,
with a lot of exposure to thecommunity itself and to the
families and things, and youwould get that perception and
view of that, that some, thatsomebody don't.
Well, I think we have likethree minutes left and and, um,
I am excited to hear aboutwhat's to come and I mean, I
(28:01):
know obviously you're takingthis all the way to Congresses
and Senates and things andeverywhere it needs to be.
What is Autism Heroes Projectnext step that we can check out?
Speaker 1 (28:14):
So I'm excited because we have a first
responder documentary that Ijust produced and we're going to
release it I believe the dateis November 16th.
It's going to be a publicviewing with legislation in the
room, police chief, angel sense,police officers who have
autistic children, who are inthis documentary and we're going
(28:35):
to really work to mandate.
You know certain states alreadyhave mandated autism training,
but we want to make thisdocumentary part of um police
officer school, like the academywhere, before they even get out
on the street, that theyunderstand what good policing
and the signs to identify autismto avoid what could be the
(28:58):
worst scenario which we've seenso much of that just this year
alone, if you've been followingwhat's going on in the community
, and this is something that'svery important to us.
So we're working withlegislation and we're going to
make mandated and you know westart in one state and then we
we take it across the nation andthen later this year November
is my birthday month and theaudio book for For the Love of
(29:21):
Autism, you know, with a lot ofthe authors who have recorded
their own chapters, oh wow, andyou can find the book right now
on Amazon and then the audiobook will be coming out soon too
.
So a lot of great things thatwe're doing.
I would invite everybody to goto autismheroprojectorg to kind
(29:41):
of learn more about us, getinvolved.
We have social media.
We have like 70, almost 75,000followers on Facebook.
We're on LinkedIn, instagram,tiktok, youtube.
Subscribe to our channel.
You can watch some of the mostamazing videos about the work
that we do.
The documentary for firstresponders won't be up there
until November, after we unveilit publicly, but at least you'll
(30:05):
get to know what we do in thecommunity, and we're expanding,
so I'd love that.
Speaker 2 (30:11):
Oh, thank you so so much for being my guest today,
Tamika, and like she said,please go to
autismheroprojectsorg.
You can also go to sjchildsorgto go find out more information
about me and connect with usboth.
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