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Southern Park Mall hosts Autism Awareness Fair
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Neighbors | Amanda Tonoli.Many hands-on activities were provided at the Second Annual Community Autism ad Disability Resource Fair at the Southern Park Mall in Boardman.
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Neighbors | Amanda Tonoli.Jill Williams helped work with animals and individuals as part of the Second Annual Community Autism and Disability Awareness Fair at the Southern Park Mall.
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Neighbors | Amanda Tonoli.Karly Pallante (left) showed Teegan Deaver (right) an activity on the iPad brought for activities for the event hosted at the Southern Park Mall on March 21.
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Neighbors | Amanda Tonoli.Zane Schenk and his family came to the Southern Park Mall for the Second Annual Community Autism and Disability Awareness Fair on March 21.
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Neighbors | Amanda Tonoli.Aundrea Cika (left) and Jen Gonda (right) celebrated a kickoff event for Autism and Disability Awareness month at the Southern Park Mall in Boardman on March 21.
By amanda tonoli
The Southern Park Mall hosted the Second Annual Autism and Disability Awareness Fair on March 21. Parents and children came to the fair to get information, share information and to merely have their children come and play – activities were provided by The Autism Society.
Jen Gonda, a staff member of The Autism Society, said they had a huge turnout throughout the day of inquiring people and those wishing to help and get help. This fair was a kickoff event for April, Autism Awareness Month.
“We didn’t feel like we had a place for everyone to come together and connect,” Gonda said. “So that’s how this idea came together... We wanted to get our information out to as many people as possible.”
Aundrea Cika, director of the Mahoning Valley Autism Society, said this was a source that everyone seeking more information could come to, it wasn’t just limited to a certain people.
“We’re not just little kids. We are all ages, all levels,” Cika said.
Cika went on to say that there is so much misinformation out there now due to sharing of personal stories, websites dedicated to help others and purely situational data that just doesn’t suit everyone with a child who has a disability – the organization was started to help those searching for answers find them.
“Back in the day the cause of Autism was labeled as unfeeling mothers,” Cika said. “No one wanted to admit to having a child with a problem because that is what everyone would think.”
The Autism Society has staff with a goal to better decipher accurate information from the inaccurate and disseminate the accurate information as efficiently as possible to mass amounts of people.