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Culturally Speaking: The South Florida Sunday Podcast
Autism in Black Inc.'s 6th Annual Autism in Black Conference
00:06:18
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- [00:00]
A
Welcome to South Florida Sunday. Today, we're going to Talk about the 6th annual Autism in Black conference that's coming up. And we have Maria Davis Pierre and Dr. Barry Pierre. Welcome to the show.
- [00:12]
B
Happy to be here.
- [00:14]
C
Thank you for having us.
- [00:15]
A
Yeah, thank you. And thank you for discussing this important issue. Tell us a little bit about who you are, Maria and Dr. Pierre, both personally and professionally, and how that connects to the work you do through Autism in Black.
- [00:28]
B
Sure. So I am a licensed mental health therapist here in the state of Florida, and I'm also autistic. And we have three children who are neurodivergent. Our oldest, Malia, who is now 13, got her diagnosis at around 12 months. And through going through all of that, my husband here is an internist, so he's a physician. And going through all of that, we went through many roadblocks in just trying to get her diagnosis and in understanding that this was more of a community issue. We started and founded Autism in Black to really bridge that gap for the black disability community.
- [01:12]
A
All right, well, what are some of the challenges Black autistic individuals and families face that people may not be aware of?
- [01:19]
B
There are statistics that show that when black mothers or black parents are going to healthcare professionals, it takes an average of 2 years for professionals to listen to our concerns. So that leads to the actual delay in diagnosis. There's also misdiagnosis that happens to black children. They're more likely to be diagnosed with a behavioral concern. Behaviors are more likely to be adultified in black children, so they're not getting the proper support. Lack of resources, because information doesn't get to our community as well. And I'm sure my husband can talk some more as well on some of the other issues.
- [02:02]
C
Yeah, I think it typically mirrors what we see in medicine, where when you have a diagnosis that's being diagnosed late, you then tend to have less options for management of care. And I see it all the time in medicine. And with our daughter, we recognize that very early that if we didn't get this diagnosis early, then the interventions happen later, then the improvement happens later. So that's just been a very roller coaster of issues that we tend to find, especially in the black community.
- [02:35]
A
Well, it's really nice and important that you've been doing this for six years now. That's great. Tell us about the Autism and Black Conference and what people could expect there and why it is such a powerful experience.
- [02:46]
C
So I remember coming up to my wife and saying that, hey, we have a community of support that is looking really to get together and to kind of figure out like, hey, what options are available? What is the community that's out there for us? And that was kind of like the brainchild for us to even want to start this conference that we hold every year. We started doing it initially on just from a virtual standpoint, getting experts together, getting my wife and ourselves together, and really just kind of talking about our safe issues, our concerns. And you know, six years later, it's been something that people look forward to. And I think that's what drives such a support for us.
- [03:26]
A
That's great. And how is autism in Black different than, say, autism organizations, other ones and spaces for us?
- [03:35]
B
We really hone in on that intersectionality piece, understanding that our lived experience is multifaceted as a black woman who has a disability, so we don't shy away from those tough conversations. We also are an autistic led run organization. So I'm speaking from the lived experience of an autistic individual, of a parent raising a child who's autistic. And as a professional, who does this work? So those are some of the things that actually make us different. We don't shy away from those hard conversations.
- [04:10]
A
That's great. And who should attend the conference? And how can different groups benefit from being in that space?
- [04:18]
B
Any and everyone should be attending our conference if they maneuver within the autism space. Our conference is for anyone who wants to bridge that gap for the black disability community. Whether you are an autistic adult, whether you are a parent raising an autistic child, an ally, healthcare professional or educator, you are welcome at this conference to learn, and you're going to leave with many skills to go back and reduce that gap for us. What else do you have to say on that, Barry?
- [04:50]
C
Yeah, I think that's a very important question because a lot of times we get that question, like, who should come to this conference? Especially when they hear the name Autism in Black. A lot of times they go, all right, do I have to be black to come to this conference? And that's so far from the truth, because the numbers say it itself. Most of the professionals who are gonna be taking care of black neurodivergent audience are not gonna be black. So we have to understand that, like the audience that we're looking for, whether you be an autistic individual, whether it be a parent, whether you be a professional educator, you're likely going to interact with someone within our community. And we wanna make sure that you're as culturally constant, culturally as diverse as possible. And that's why this conference is so opening and welcoming for everybody.
- [05:34]
A
I'd like to point out, too, for our audience, if you'd like to reach out to this organization or learn more, go to autisminblack.org that's autisminblack1word.org. And is there anything else you two would like to add?
- [05:49]
B
No, we just welcome everybody who would like to attend our conference. It's happening April 17th through the 19th here in West Palm beach or virtually. So come attend and help us spread the word about bridging that gap for our community.
- [06:04]
A
That's great.
- [06:04]
C
All right.
- [06:04]
A
Well, Maria Davis Pierre and Dr. Barry Pierre, thank you both so much for what you do for the community, for autism, for the black community. And we're so happy to have you here on South Florida Sunday today.
- [06:17]
B
Thank you.
- [06:17]
C
Thank you for having us.