To promote lifelong access and opportunity for all individuals within the Autism spectrum and their families to be fully included members in the community through Education, Advocacy, Promotion Of Research, Public Awareness, And Collaboration With Other Organizations.

Description:
This chapter of the ASA is in the process of reinventing itself to best meet the diverse needs of people who have Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). The CDC estimates that 1 out of every 150 children are now affected by ASD; in a short time that will be 1 in 150 adults walking around our community with some form of Autism. Because it is a spectrum disorder you never find two people who are exactly alike; therefore treatment options can vary widely. Right now some of the biggest challenges relate to employment, both for the parents of children with autism and adults who have autism. Currently our agency is offering free training the first Saturday of most months, a support group for parents and professionals on the 3rd Saturday of every month (with child care) and a complete Resource Guide. We would like to expand services as soon as possible given the appropriate support.

History:
This chapter was formed in the late 1960s when the rate of autism was still one out of every 10,000. To date it has been a volunteer-only agency and has never had official office space. At the October 2005 meeting, the officers conducted a brainstorming/strategic planning session to begin the reinvention process. Since that time, through the training sessions and meetings the chapter has directly touched the lives of over 2,000 people. To date, we have not paid our child care volunteers, our speakers, or chapter leadership. We currently have no paid staff. We believe that if we work together we can positively affect much more in the future. This is an exciting time to become involved in this chapter because it allows interested parties to create something from nothing and shape it to fit the needs of our community in unique ways that will live beyond us.

Contact people:

Theresa Diaz, President, (phone), (email) Karen Marvel Shute, Board Member, (phone), (email) Denise Cervantes, Board Member, (phone), (email)

Office fax number: (210) 256-6698

Address:

6914 Forest Park San Antonio, TX 78240 (See a map)

Web Site: http://www.autismsocietysa.org

Directions:

Nearest Metro/Subway Stop: N/A   Nearest Bus Stop: Unknown