Mission holds third annual autism awareness event at Lions Park

Mission’s third annual autism awareness event drew families and residents to Lions Park, which speakers described as a new all-inclusive park, for a community walk, free food and rides and information on diagnosis and services.

Resident 1, a Mission resident, said, "This is a huge event for our city. It's our third annual autism awareness event. And for the first time, of course, we're having it here at the All Inclusive park. We need to focus on their abilities instead of the disabilities for these children and adults because they're each 1 of them is unique and they all bring something special to us."

The gathering coincided with Autism Awareness Month, speakers said. "So this is a very special day for the city of Mission and all our citizens," said Resident 2. "We're here celebrating autism month and so what a better day to spend it than here at Lions Park, a brand new park that we have here. And we are having a blast. We have free food, free rides, and more importantly we're spending time with each other. So very, very honored, very happy to be here."

Attendees emphasized inclusion and access to information. "Hi. It's, inclusive. So anybody's welcome to come and join the fun like everybody else. Importance is of the education. You can get the information to tell you where to get resources for your child, how to diagnose them, how to identify them," said Parent/Attendee (speaker 3). Another commenter added, "It's very, very important to have things like this."

A speaker who identified an affiliation with Cardinal Pharmacy said the company sponsors the event. "Autism awareness is a beautiful event that we that we sponsor here with Cardinal Pharmacy. We believe that every child is different, and that's a beautiful thing. So we just wanted to welcome everybody to this event and the future events that we're gonna host. And we are thankful for all the people that came here today, attended the event, did the walk with us. It's exciting to see all the beautiful children here and we're very grateful," the speaker said.

Speakers also thanked the city and the police for permitting and supporting the event. "Thank you to Mission, City of Mission, the City Police. I mean, everybody there who have been so awesome to let us join forces and doing this event every year," a commenter said.

Organizers described the event as a mix of celebration and information-sharing: a public walk, family activities, and tables offering resources about identification and services for people with autism. Speakers stressed focusing on abilities and providing support and education for parents and caregivers.

The event's organizers said they intend to continue hosting similar events in the future.