UNLOCKING AUTISM
9463 Florida Blvd, Ste D PO Box 237 Walker, LA 70785

Mission and Purpose

Mission

Unlocking Autism, founded in February of 1999, grew out of a concern that children were being diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders at an alarming rate and yet the public was uninformed. Our primary mission for the organization is to bring the issues of autism from individual homes to the forefront of national dialogue. We strive to join parents and professionals in one concerted effort to fight for these children who cannot lift their voices to the nation for help. We work diligently to educate parents about pending legislation, existing laws, as well as biomedical and behavioral treatment options. We assist parents of newly diagnosed children by providing direction through our Parent 2 Parent Network and support hotline in an effort to network families across the country. We raise funds for biomedical research, behavioral research and projects. We work to increase society's ability to work with and understand people with autism. We strive to help those on the autism spectrum reach their greatest potential in leading fulfilling and productive lives in relationships, society and employment.

Programs

Unlocking Autism's programs and projects include the following: The Open Your Eyes National Autism Awareness Project, Wings for Little Angels Flight Assistance program where donated miles are used to transport needy families and their children with autism to treatment facilities and physicians across the country, The UA State Representative Program, A National Call Center & Hotline (active 1/2003), The Power of ONE! National Autism Awareness Rally (held annually), Conferences and rallies held on state levels designed to educate families about the importance of media and the political realm in order to affect change in our community, The Parent 2 Parent Network, a Nationwide Public Service Announcement campaign, The Kidz Korner which provides families of children with autism with creative ideas for activities to increase family interaction and Media Outreach.

Results

Accomplishments for Fiscal Year Ending 12/31/2002

1. The Open Your Eyes Project which was started in February of 1999 to collect 58,000 pictures of people with autism nationwide has to date over 9500 pictures and the exhibit when completely erected is over two football fields long. The initial goal of collecting 58,000 pictures was to at that time represent a total of 10% of the autism community. Unfortunately, the incidence of autism is increasing so rapidly in the United States that once we reach our goal of 58,000 pictures, based on current estimates, it would only represent approximately 3.5% of the estimated 1.5 million people now diagnosed. Once our goal is obtained, the exhibit will stretch the length of 15 football fields. Pictures are arranged alphabetically on boards and grouped by state. Each picture displayed is a standard 4"x6".
2. The Power of ONE! Rally 2002-
   Unlocking Autism coordinated our 2nd (and the community's 3rd) National Awareness Rally on the Mall in Washington, DC on April 21, 2002 with participants that included The Autism Society of America, Cure Autism Now Foundation, ICDRC, Autism Coaltion for Research and Education, The Vaccine Injury Alliance, The MIND Institute, The National Vaccine Information Center, F.E.A.T. Newsletter, SAFEMinds, New York Families of Autistic Children and more. The event gathered hundreds of families in Washington, DC for a day to come together as a community and network as well as provide a forum for each group to deliver their message to Members of Congress and the Senate and general public.
3. Parent 2 Parent Network and Support Hotline -
   
   Our biggest accomplishment and what we have been working so hard for over the last four years will finally be unveiled in January 2003 when we open our national call center. The call center will have trained staff and volunteers on-hand to answer parent's questions and provide them with guidance to resources in their area. We have compiled a database of parents who are willing to donate their time to reach out to new parents in their area. Additionally, we provide internet access nearly 24 hours a day and are proud of our general 48 hour response time to all phone calls and emails. Needy families need answers quickly and we are working hard so that if we cannot answer their questions or help them ourselves, to get them going in the right direction as quickly as possible with the resources that will help them. We are pleased to have an army of volunteers who are ready to take on this task and have been working hard to be as prepared as possible.

Objectives for Fiscal Year Beginning 01/01/2003

1. To implement the National Call Center and Hotline which will provide live, trained volunteers and paid staff to answer the parents of children with autism and provide guidance to resources for people with autism. The center will be open 10 hours a day, six days a week when operating at full capacity and will offer a 24 hour response time to messages left during the off hours. Additionally, we will coordinate the use of our database to connect callers with volunteer parents in their community to get them networked into local resources as quickly as possible.
2. To launch a National Public Service Announcement campaign on television and radio for April, 2003 to reach parents needing assistance that do not have internet access.
3. To send an informational mailer to all day cares in the United States of America for distribution to the parents with guidelines on how to check for early warning signs of autism. The purpose would be to catch the disorder earlier providing a better chance for potential recovery and earlier intervention.

Self Assessment

We know The Open Your Eyes Project success speaks for itself being that the project is now nearly two football fields long. We consistently get feedback from families through phone calls and emails thanking us for connecting them quickly with people in their community. We know that our educational efforts to explain the intricacies of the political system have encouraged numerous people to contact their state politicians resulting in the implementation of new legislation benefiting the autism communities of those states. The national rallies have helped generate media for the autism community both nationally and internationally. We have seen a significant growth in our operating revenue that tells us that people have increased their giving because they like what we do for them, respect our work and want us to continue.

Chief Executive Profile

Shelley Hendrix, President of Unlocking Autism, is a graduate of Mount Holyoke College in the area of political science and art history. She gave up a 10 year career in hotel sales and catering when her son, Liam, was diagnosed with autism to cater to his needs. In serving him, she found that by working to increase autism awareness and taking political action she could make changes to assist him in the future as well as assist other families.

Unlocking Autism was born in February 1999 out of a need to tell the American public about the autism epidemic. The founding members, disturbed that then one in 500 children were being diagnosed with autism, set out to increase public awareness through a picture project called Open Your Eyes and an extensive media campaign.

Since that time, Ms. Hendrix, as well as three other board members: Jeana Smith, Dr. Stephanie Cave and Stephen Shore, have testified before a Congressional Committee. Nancy Cale, or NANCALE, has become one of the most famous grandmothers on the internet spending countless hours counseling the parents of newly diagnosed children and distributing thousands of emails containing information, direction, political updates and more. Dr. Stephanie Cave and Stephen Shore have both published books since 2000 and speak on a regular basis both nationally and internationally to educate parents and professionals who have or work with children and adults with autism spectrum disorders.

Additional Comments

Unlocking Autism has focused primarily on raising awareness through The Open Your Eyes Awareness project. Launched in February of 1999, this project has collected over 9500 pictures of people with autism nationwide which have been assembled into display boards. The project debuted at the first national rally in April, 2000 and has since appeared at many events across the United States. The goal is to collect 58,000 pictures of people with autism which would still only represent a fraction of the estimated 1.5 million people diagnosed with autism in the United States alone.

Unlocking Autism has worked to increase public awareness regarding the spectrum disorder through the press both nationally and internationally appearing in print, television and radio including appearances on the BBC, The Mail on Sunday (London), CNN, C-Span, ABC, NBC, CBS, MSNBC, The Montel Williams Show, Parents Magazine, USA Today, The Washington Times, The New York Times, The Philadelphia Enquirer, The Boston Globe, The LA Times, National Public Radio (NPR), The Washington Times Insight Magazine, and over 250 newspaper articles, magazine articles, radio interviews and television news segments nationwide.

We have worked diligently to encourage the community to contact their Congressmen in an effort to build the Congressional Autism Caucus for Research and Education which now has over 175 active Members of the House and Senate.

We have successfully coordinated the declaration of Autism Awareness Month (and Day) in at least 40 states in 2001 and 2002, as well as having it declared by Congress both years.

We have connected countless numbers of parents of newly diagnosed children with more experienced families in their own communities thereby reducing the new family's time in finding appropriate resources for their children.

We have 250 representatives working nationwide and in several countries to implement the mission of Unlocking Autism. These representatives have been trained to teach their local communities how to affect political change both locally and nationally, how to contact and obtain media to further autism awareness to the public, to serve as a resource for newly diagnosed families, to connect with other autism organizations and offer to serve as a liaison among them and develop programs, conferences and projects in their state that will help unite the organizations located within their state.

Financial Data

From the organization's FORM 990-EZ   Data Accuracy

Revenue and Expenses: Fiscal Year Ending December 31, 2000

Balance Sheet: Fiscal Year Ending December 31, 2000

Financial Comments

Unlocking Autism exists based on the generous contributions of people concerned about autism issues and the purchases of our awareness products.