This month, our Charity of the Month hits especially close to home. Today is the first day of Autism Awareness and Acceptance Month. Depending on your day-to-day, you may have known this, you may not have.
You might have heard the phrase, “if you’ve met one person with autism, you’ve met one person with autism.” As of December 2021, 1 in 44 children are diagnosed with autism.
In November of 2021, my family joined the autism family when my youngest son, Jordan, was diagnosed. I left the diagnosis feeling lost- not knowing who to turn to or what to do. It was through these early days, that I found Labeled and Loved.
About Labeled & Loved
Labeled & Loved started out as four strangers, women whose lives intersected only because someone they loved was given a label. Within their own families, they witnessed firsthand the isolation that can occur when life doesn’t go as planned following a child’s diagnosis. They also know the beauty of connecting with others and how it changes, everything.
Labeled & Loved mission is to embrace and strengthen families with disabilities by providing connective experiences and educational resources igniting personal growth and systemic change within the community.
More importantly, they serve as a support system for the families as they navigate their new normal. Below is a “Sticky Note for the Heart” that I received just yesterday.
Little reminders like these are so helpful to caregivers, but really to anyone. Finding a supportive community is essential, and Labeled and Loved is that- a supportive community.
While neither I nor Frame USA is associated with Labeled and Loved, My personal hope is that you will learn more about autism. Educate yourself so that when you interact with a little kid, big kid, or adult who is nonverbal, the judgments are cast aside and you learn. When you walk by someone “stimming” in the grocery store, you don’t stop and stare, but you smile. But most of all I hope that whether it is National Autism Awareness and Acceptance month or not, we all try to be better at accepting everyone for who they are, autistic or not.
If you would like to know more information about Labeled & Loved check out their website at https://www.labeledandloved.org/mission/
For the entire month of April, $0.75 from every order on Frameusa.com will go towards Labeled & Love. If you are interested in donating more you can do so at checkout!
– Kelly Ackerman
CEO, Frame USA
