Special Feature — Doug Flutie Jr. Foundation “STARS of the Spectrum: NYC”

By Kami-Leigh Agard

Former professional football quarterback, Doug Flutie, is not just known for his accomplishments on the field, but also advocacy for the autism community. Inspired by son, Doug Jr., who has childhood disintegrative disorder, a very rare severe late onset form of autism spectrum disorder, in 1998, the Fluties established The Doug Flutie Jr. Foundation. The organization recently hosted music event, “STARS of the Spectrum: NYC.” In the following, Rockaway local, Patricia Harvey, shares how these voices shed a powerful light on what her nonverbal autistic Jason may want the world to know.

Authored
by Patricia Harvey

On Saturday, November 1, I had the pleasure of traveling into the city with my son to watch the musical event, “Stars on the Spectrum,” sponsored by the Doug Flutie Jr. Foundation. The event featured all autistic performers singing their songs and original music. As the mother of a 31-year-old autistic adult, to see the talent performing on the stage was something unbelievable. I’ve often wondered what is in my son Jason’s head. How Jason feels about people looking at him, how they treat him and how he sees the world. These amazing autistic performers answered a lot of those questions. The music they sang was about their life experiences being on the spectrum—how society sees and treats them. The pure honesty in the music was so moving.

Due to their hard work, these autistic performers now have their own record label and produced two albums: “STARS of the Spectrum: The Album,” and “STARS of the Spectrum: Volume 2.” Both albums can be streamed on Amazon Music and Spotify. This is music that everyone should listen to, not just those of us who have children on the spectrum, but others who care and want to gain understanding of how autistic people feel at any given time.

This is just another example of how incredibly amazing our children are. There are so many talented autistic people, who most times don’t get the credit they deserve. There’s so much that people don’t know about autism. You cannot put individuals on the spectrum in a box. Each autistic individual is so different from the another. Through my own autistic journey as a parent, I have seen how many times educators in Jason’s schools try to teach them all the same. It took a while for some of them to understand why it wasn’t working. They finally realized how different each individual is, and that their strengths and weaknesses are so different. Jason can do the most complicated things and then there are times when he has trouble with the simplest things. I also think it is important for parents to know that just because your child is not doing things the way other children are does not mean you’re doing something wrong. They will all learn in their own way and in their own time. All we can do as parents is just to keep being there to support our children and take care of ourselves so we can be there to take care of them and be their best advocate.

Share your thoughts by emailing kami@rockawaybeachautismfamilies.org

For more info about The Doug Flutie Jr. Foundation For Autism, visit: https://flutiefoundation.org