Endeavoring to bring further awareness and support to children on the spectrum and their families, Gov. Arnold I. Palacios and Lt Gov. David M. Apatang signed a proclamation recognizing the month of April as Autism Awareness Month yesterday at the Pedro P. Tenorio Multi-Purpose Center in Susupe.

Along with Autism Society of the CNMI, Disability Network Partners, University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities, and the Unique Pieces in Different Colors CNMI ‘23, several dignitaries joined the proclamation signing including Saipan Mayor Ramon Blas “RB” Camacho and several members of the 23rd CNMI Legislature led by Senate President Edith Deleon Guerrero (D-Saipan) and House Speaker Edmund Villagomez (Ind-Saipan) to show their support and love. The venue was crowded with families and community members as they showed their support in the campaign to not only raise more awareness about autism, but create a better and more inclusive environment for our brothers and sisters on the spectrum.

One of the highlights of the event was the showcase of talent on the spectrum, as three individuals and their family members got on stage and spoke on the amazing abilities of their loved ones who have autism, gifted, whether in music, book knowledge, and even extensive knowledge of dinosaurs and birds.

In a conversation with Clarice Arriola, president of the Autism Society of the CNMI, she shared that just seeing the amount of support in the room made her feel grateful.

“It’s always an incredible experience seeing or being in the room filled with all our community members from different agencies, aspects, but more importantly our families that come out. It means so much to us parents and caregivers. We want to just continue to promote autism awareness and we realize that our community is doing so much more in being more accepting and inclusive. However, we still feel that there are needs that we need to strive for, especially considering that we have very limited resources and professionals on island So as long as we communicate and kind of help lift each other up through their challenges, and more importantly, through their milestones, it really fills the gap for us parents.”

As a parent of a child on the spectrum herself, Arriola isn’t a stranger to the challenges many parents like her face. When speaking on what she hopes to see in the future in regards to bettering services for those with autism she shared, “Due to the limited professional fields we have on island, I want to say we need more therapists. I know we do have the Public School System that has very prominent and strong-willed employees. However, the student-to-therapist ratio is very, very high, and so a lot of times we have to seek online services. PSS uses, if I’m not mistaken, TinyEye, and so students have to engage virtually to get some of their therapy sessions in. It would be really great if we can kind of recruit more therapists on island, whether it be occupational and speech therapy just to kind of give our students the hand-on, one-on-one experience because I’m sure it will be more meaningful than a virtual session,” said Arriola

She shared that the Autism Society of the CNMI will be having several events upcoming and invites community members to join.