ECS Teacher Shines a Light on ‘Autism Acceptance’
ECS Teacher Shines a Light on ‘Autism Acceptance’
For more than 30 years, the month of April has been dedicated to autism awareness, a movement that began with the Autism Society’s first annual National Autistic Children’s Week in April 1972 and grew into Autism Awareness Month every April. However, in recent years, many organizations have recognized April as Autism Acceptance Month, a shift that Ellicottville Central School special education teacher Kristin Rocco has incorporated in her own classroom.
In Rocco’s words, “The shift from autism awareness to autism acceptance is something I only learned about in the last year or so. I really dived into having conversations with autistic adults about how they feel about the month of April.”
What Rocco learned surprised her. “What I’ve learned in the last year is that many in the adult autistic community really do not resonate with the puzzle piece symbol,” she explained. (The rainbow puzzle piece has become a well-known symbol for autism awareness over the past few decades.) “It was initially designed in the early 1960s and the initial idea behind it is ‘Until all the pieces fit’,” Rocco said. “It implies that there is some kind of a cure or something to be figured out about autism, which really isn’t the case.”
This year, like many others involved with the autism community, Rocco and her students are moving beyond the idea of autism awareness to autism acceptance, a movement that is supported by the Autistic Self Advocacy Network (ASAN), a non-profit organization run by and for autistic people. Rocco explained, “Many are pushing for the #RedInstead movement in which people wear red in the month of April in an effort to bring about acceptance over awareness. Many feel that there’s a lot of awareness now, so let’s move forward with acceptance and supporting all neuro types, including neuro divergence.”
Rocco is the first to point out that she was one of the biggest proponents of the puzzle piece symbol. “I did activities with it, had shirts with the puzzle piece, you name it!” she said. “I still appreciate the history and the importance of the puzzle piece, and there are many people who still recognize it. I just recently learned that many prefer the rainbow infinity symbol and #RedInstead. I think focusing on acceptance and inclusion is really important now.”
Toward that end, Rocco and her middle/high school special education students are going to be creating a display for the Ellicottville Elementary School foyer. Each year during the month of April, Rocco plans an activity to recognize autism, and this is her first year using the rainbow infinity symbol. Rocco explained, “Each grade level has a different color infinity symbol. I’m creating activities for all elementary teachers and their students to talk about inclusion and acceptance with their students. Each student will write how they are inclusive on their symbol, and we’ll be making a giant rainbow infinity display using everyone’s symbol.”
Rocco’s students have also been busy reopening their coffee shop and delivery services, an important part of the Life Skills Program, and an operation that was paused when the pandemic began last spring. “We started this back up right after the February break,” said Rocco. “My students do a coffee cart delivery service at the elementary school, and at the high school level, we have an actual coffee shop out of the concession stand that we run once a week called Julie JAM’s Java.”
The coffee service is named in memory of Julie Ann Mendell (“JAM”), the sister of elementary P.E. teacher Chris Mendell. “Julie was 47 years old when she passed away earlier this year due to COVID-19 complications,” Mendell explained. “She was a special needs student, and she always liked being included. When she passed, our family thought it would be a great way to remember her by contributing to Kristin Rocco’s Special Education Life Skills Program.”
In lieu of flowers, memorials were made to Rocco’s Life Skills Program at ECS. “Our wish is for Kristin to use the money in any way she sees fit, whether it’s supplies for her students, field trips, special activities, or the coffee cart,” said Mendell. “Our family really wanted to do something for this program, so we purchased a stainless steel cart that we’re in the process of customizing for Julie JAM’s Java.”
Mendell thanks everyone who made donations to the program in memory of his sister. “The donations were just unbelievable,” said Mendell. “We’re so grateful to everyone and to Kristin Rocco, because without her, this kind of program wouldn’t be possible. When my sister was in school, special education isn’t like what it is now, and we want these students to be able to experience what my sister couldn’t.”
Donations in memory of Julie Mendell are still being accepted, said Mendell. Checks payable to Ellicottville PTO - Julie JAM’s Java Cart can be sent to Ellicottville Central School, 5873 Route 219, Ellicottville, NY 14731.
Despite the challenges posed by the pandemic, Rocco has been pleased to teach her students in person and to share the importance of acceptance for individuals of all abilities, in April and all year long. “We’re trying to focus on the idea of inclusion and acceptance by really talking to students about what that means and what that looks like,” said Rocco. “I think the important thing to understand with any student is to include everybody. I think our school does a great job of making sure everyone is included. My classroom gets invited to everything - it’s so important to not just preach about inclusion, but to model it.”