Autism Speaks’ new advertising campaign, “Maybe”, is targeted toward Latinos and African-Americans, and aims to help parents notice early signs of Autism in their children, NBC Latino reported.
Jesse Mojica, the executive director for Family and Community Engagement in the Department of Education in New York City, noticed changes in his son Adam’s behavior when he was around 18 months old.
“It’s tough to encapsulate in words how difficult it is to see your child slipping away from you,” Mojica said. “You feel like you don’t have the power to hold onto them, he was slipping into a world you could not reach him.”
Mojica is a proud supporter of the new ad campaign, hoping that it will reach other families who have similar questions about their children’s change behavior.
“We went through a lot of maybes, maybe Adam is losing his hearing, maybe Adam is shy like me, we went through all the maybes and never thought he had autism,” she said.
Autism Speaks will be creating English and Spanish advertisements, as well as working local with communities, churches and partners to reach as many parents as possible.
In a recently study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the largest demographic of children diagnosed with autism are of African-American and Hispanic descent.
President of Autism Speaks, Liz Feld, stresses the importance of early detection.
“Early diagnosis are so important because if we can get a child by 2-years-old, in most cases, with help that child can go to regular kindergarten,” Feld said. “The window between 2-5 years old in the most important time to deal with treatment.”
Now 14-years-old, Adam attends school with a bright smile on his face everyday.
“My son is a blessing to me, he has taught me more than anyone on this earth,” Mojica told NBC Latino. “I am just a better person because of him.”
(Photo by Autism Speaks)
