When John Touchette was first diagnosed with autism at just two years old, his mom Kelly kept getting referred to the same program. It seemed everyone in her sphere, from John’s doctors and the staff at his school to friends and family, had the same recommendation: “Every time we turned a corner, we were hearing ‘Easterseals Parent Training.’” In February of 2020, she made the call to Easterseals, and by March, they were attending Parent Training courses in person.
The family worked with Anna Duke, an autism specialist, who immediately changed their perspective on the class. This course was for her to learn how to best communicate, and the impact was noticeable from the very first day. “To see Anna work with him…” she recalled, “Wow. He is capable of so much more.” Kelly put in a lot of hard work throughout the program, knowing that she was learning the tools that she would use every day to set John up for the rest of his life.
Those tools weren’t the only thing she took away from the program, however. Another participant in the class was a single mother, who was working night shifts in order to attend the two-week course. Because of the workload and her own responsibilities, this mom was not able to complete the program. For a portion of her life, Kelly herself was a single mom, and she knew first hand how hard it could be, so she decided that she wanted to make changes in her community to help other families attend programs like Easterseals’ Parent Training regardless of their situations.
Her efforts started after attending an autism walk in Forest Park; she was amazed at the involvement in the community and how wonderful the event was, but as a resident of Millstadt, Illinois, it was a far drive for her to be able to attend. She wanted to build something closer to home, so in February of 2022, she began to plan the first Millstadt Autism Walk for April of that year. With the event only a few months away, she anticipated maybe a hundred attendees and set a modest fundraising goal: she wanted to have an accessible swing installed in the park.
By the time April came around, almost 1,000 people had registered for the event, and it raised over $33,000. This amount was matched through a grant, and instead of purchasing a single swing, they were able to begin plans to build an entire new playground with accessibility in mind. The success of the event evolved into the Millstadt Autism Foundation, which is working to make Millstadt a certified Autism Friendly Community, an effort which has resulted in three local businesses, including their library, becoming certified as Autism Friendly.
