"I attended the Profound Autism Summit for the first time this year with my mom and another autism parent who is a family friend. I learned a lot at the lectures, but the most meaningful part for me was connecting with others with similar experiences and learning from them. I have always found it challenging to explain to people who haven’t met my brother Max what he is like and what my experience is as his sibling, so it felt comforting to be in a space where everyone automatically understands. Even though each family’s experience is different, all of us could relate to most core experiences of having a family member with profound autism. Beyond this element of connection, I was able to learn a lot from others’ experiences and what had worked or not for their family throughout different life stages. As Max will age out of school in a couple of years, my family is thinking about what his adult life will look like, so it was very helpful to hear several different experiences from others who had gone through this transition out of school.
To name a few specific highlights, I was very inspired by the siblings panel because each sibling had a very unique story, and each were very eloquent in sharing their approaches and challenges in navigating their experiences. I enjoyed the dinner with strangers because I got to talk with and learn from many people I wouldn’t have met. I also really enjoyed the siblings dinner because I was able to share experiences and learn from others who more closely mirrored my experience than parents. Overall, the conference was a great experience both in the sense of learning useful logistics which will help me to effectively support and care for Max in the future as well as being able to connect with others sharing similar experiences."
- Rose Porta, Sibling