Walk to shed light on autism

By Al Beeber - Lethbridge Herald on July 13, 2023.

Herald photo by Al Beeber Brandon Rudics has personal experience with autism after both he and his son were diagnosed.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDabeeber@lethbridgeherald.com

Brandon Rudics knows first-hand the world of autism, an experience which has given him both insight and compassion.

Both come into play in his work with Autism Society Alberta and as president of the Chinook Autism Society which is staging its annual Superhero Autism Walk on July 22 from 2 until 5 p.m. at the horseshoe shelter at Henderson Lake.

Rudics is the father of a 10-year-old boy who was diagnosed as autistic at the age of two.

Rudics had himself tested in June of 2020 and discovered he also is autistic. The results gave him peace of mind and an understanding that the beatings he said he endured as a child were not his fault. There was a reason for his behaviour that he now realizes so many years later.

Rudics is now estranged from his family and hasn’t seen any of them from years – to his knowledge, though they may be still alive.

“In the ’90s, spanking was so prevalent,” said Rudics Tuesday at his office in the Southern Alberta Ethnic Association.

“There was an actual reason why I was the way I was,” he said. “Just to have peace of mind, to just know that’s what it was.”

By learning about his son’s diagnosis and his own, he has learned what not to do to his own children, he said.

“It’s taught me everything what not to do for my kids,” said Rudics, who said he remembered getting physically abused from spankings and slaps to the face.

He credits the personal development of his son to Program Unit Funding which utilizes support from speech pathologists, behaviour specialists, trained educational assistants, teachers and others to work with autistic children.

He said he’s a huge proponent of PUF, “which is basically a few years of pre-school but where they have a speech pathologist, behavioural therapists and they help those skills to talk.”

Rudics’s son, he recalls, was verbally non-communicative until he was four years old and told his father for the first time when he was four-and-a-half that he loved him.

“If it wasn’t for that PUF program, I don’t know if I would have ever heard those words,” said Rudics.

“That PUF program saved our lives and many other families around town.”

According to the Lethbridge School Division website, PUF programming is available to approved ECS operators and school authorities for children who are “2 years 8 months and less than 6 years of age by September 1 and who have been identified with a severe disability/delay.”

The upcoming walk will be the first major event staged by the Chinook Autism Society since 2019.

Its a chance for families with autistic children and the community to connect, get to know each other and for people who may wonder if they have an autistic child to learn more about it from people who deal with it on a daily basis.

Through his work with Autism Alberta, Rudics’ role is provide people with the help they need. If people need a weighted vest or a weighted blanket, which are both expensive, he can help arrange for those to be provided.

Those devices can provide comfort to, and a calming effect on, someone with autism, acting somewhat like a hug, he said.

ASA, says its website, “is a grassroots organization within the autism community connecting to its provincial members through regional partners and networking with agencies and associations throughout the province and nationwide.

“ASA is dedicated to increasing public awareness about autism and the day-to-day issues faced by autistic individuals, their families and the professionals with whom they interact. The Society and its partners share a common mission of providing information and education, as well as supporting research and advocating for programs and supports for the autism community.”

It has numerous partners in the province including the Chinook Autism Society.

Autism, says the ASA, “is a lifelong neuro-developmental condition that affects how people communicate, interact with and experience the world. It is simply a different way of being. The term spectrum reflects the unique strengths and challenges autistic individuals have; no two people will experience autism the same.

“At different times in a person’s life, they may have low support needs and/or have higher support needs. Children and adults on the autism spectrum typically have some combination” of several challenges to differing degrees. Those challenges include communication, social, sensory, change and interests.

Rudics says “everyone is completely different,” noting that if someone has met one autistic person, that’s all he or she has met.

“Everyone has their own quirks and sensory and yes and no’s.”

From his own experiences, Rudics knows that social interaction can be difficult, loud speakers and noises as well.

He said growing up, looking a person straight in the eye was expected and being autistic that was difficult.

Rudics says he and his son have reached a place where they can now go to a Lethbridge Hurricanes game and feel comfortable despite the crowds, the loud talking and the crowds.

“Thousands of voices can be a trigger,” said Rudics who had no idea what autism was until his son was diagnosed.

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