There are a series of events scheduled to raise awareness of autism and celebrate the accomplishments of those who have it.
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The local agencies that serve individuals with autism don't want to just raise awareness in April. They want to celebrate what those individuals bring to the community.
On Friday night at AdLib, the College Internship Program. Glee Club showed that off. The club took to the front of the room to sing songs and play guitar.
Next to them was a display and pieces of artwork created by local residents with autism — a tie in with the First Friday Art Walk program the city runs.
Later in the month, there will be gymnastics, yoga, support groups, and conferences. All of it is part of April being Autism Awareness month.
"Autism is important enough that it deserves monthlong of activities," said Allison Billard, the program director at the Housatonic Academy, Hillcrest Educational's therapeutic day school.
The local GO BLUE campaign is a collaborative effort of autism services providers Hillcrest Educational Foundation, College Internship Program, AdLib, Autism Connections, Berkshire County Arc, and UCP of Berkshire County, with assistance from Downtown Pittsfield Inc. and First Fridays Artswalk. It involved a whole slate of events intended to celebrate those with autism and connect with the community.
Locally, Hillcrest started celebrating the month by lighting Park Square up blue two years ago. Both City Hall and Park Square featured blue lights, as places throughout the world do. Last year, Hillcrest branched out and put together a resource fair with other agencies. Meanwhile, businesses downtown joined the effort in lighting up their storefronts.
"This is the third event I've been involved in. In 2015, our autism awareness event started very small. It was something Hillcrest organized, we did a nice little celebratory event in Park Square. Last year, we decided to expand on how it started and we got a couple other agencies involved," Billard said.
This year the Go Blue campaign has expanded again. A letter went out again asking downtown businesses to light up their storefronts blue for the month.
"All of the agencies, we do so much with each other to respond to the needs of families and individuals with disabilities and autism," said Berkshire County Arc Chief Operations Officer Maryann Hyatt.
That relationship between the various agencies is about to get even closer.
Behavioral Specialist Supervisor for BC Arc Sopheap Nhim said there is a lot of resources for families and individuals with autism, but often families don't necessarily know where to go to access each service.
"We thought it would be great to form this group. We are a group of providers committed to connecting the community with resources and our goal is to better streamline our services through collaborations with other agencies," Nhim said.
The Autism Collaborative of Berkshire County is the next logical step. Next Friday, various organizations will come together for the first time to look at how they can more closely align. The first step is for all of the services and material to be compiled into a single packet of information for families. From there the organizations will consider ways to help provide the services better.
"The collaboration efforts that have gone on until this point is small compared to where we are going to go as time goes on," said Hillcrest President Jerry Burke said. "It is all about trying to make sure the needs of the community are met and we clearly have a wealth of talent in all different aspects of disabilities."
At the end of April, a rally will be held in Park Square on April 28. That will cap off the month of programming and promote the accomplishments of individuals with autism.
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Dalton Select Board Argues Over Sidewalk Article
By Sabrina DammsiBerkshires Staff
DALTON, Mass. — A heated discussion concerning sidewalks during Monday night's Select Board meeting resulted in the acting chair calling a recess to cool the situation.
The debate stemmed from the two articles on the town meeting warrant for May 6 at 7 p.m. at Wahconah Regional High School.
One proposes purchasing a sidewalk paver for $64,000 so sidewalks can be paved or repaired for less money, but they will use asphalt rather than concrete. The other would amend the town's bylaws to mandate the use of concrete for all future sidewalks.
The article on concrete sidewalks was added to the warrant through a citizen petition led by resident Todd Logan.
The board was determining whether to recommend the article when member John Boyle took the conversation in a new direction by addressing how the petition was brought about.
"I just have a comment about this whole procedure. I'm very disappointed in the fact that you [Logan] have been working, lobbying various groups and implementing this plan and filed this petition six weeks ago. You never had any respect for the Select Board and …" Boyle said.
Before Boyle could finish his statement, which was directed to Logan, who was in the audience, Chair Joe Diver called point of order via Zoom.
Between disagreements about site design and a formal funding process not yet established, more time is needed before a decision can be made.
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The Ordinances and Rules subcommittee on Monday unanimously supported a pay raise for election workers, free downtown parking for veterans, and safeguards to better protect wetlands.
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A parking study of North Street will be presented at Tuesday's City Council meeting. The design maintains parallel parking while expanding pedestrian zones and adding protected bike lanes. click for more
Amy Schirmer was recognized as the Volunteer of the Year for creating a weekly therapeutic art class at the George B. Crane Center to help those in recovery from substance use. click for more