Our virtual meetings are growing and open to fathers everywhere to participate. Our Philadelphia based group at the AJ Drexel Autism Institute has become national and international. Participation can come in the form of solely listening or actively contributing to our conversations. Mark your calendars for this Saturday, June 27 at 10:00 AM, Eastern US.
We stand at the intersection of celebration and sorrow. On one hand, summer has arrived. Summer represents – for many of us – an opportunity for reprieve and more engaged family time. We just celebrated Fathers’ Day and we are so grateful! Many of our families and partners celebrated our contributions and support we provide our families. At the same time, the pandemic and systemic racism are not taking a vacation, so we invite you to join us to talk about how to support each other facing these realities. In the midst of these moments, as we ponder the dangers in sending our children back to school, there exist countless opportunities to step up and become better men, fathers, partners, brothers, and friends. We continue to be transformed by the journey of raising children on the spectrum, as we support each other in a multi-racial, multi-ethnic, and multi-faith group of fathers.
Our group has broached and acknowledged the disparities that children of color and their families face getting an ASD diagnosis as well as the vital intensive services necessary for our children’s success and quality of life. In our last meeting via Zoom, we talked about how to explain the protests against systemic racism to our children. One father shared the difficulty in explaining the curfew in Philadelphia to his son. It’s difficult. Another father, who is an immigrant, shared how his son with autism was told to go back where he came from even though he has only lived in the United States. This was clear evidence that racism is alive and well in our most intimate communities. As a group we shared our deeply seated fears about the added vulnerability dealing with the police and the criminal justice system that our children, especially children of color, live with every day. Our meetings give us time, space, and safety to help make sense of our world. We honor the men who have engaged with us so far, and invite you (if applicable) and your father friends to engage with us in this historic time.
Stay Safe and Peace brothers,
Michael Hannon & Robert Naseef