Beyond Awareness

What do young people need to better understand neurodiversity?

We are very grateful to York House School for its generous support of our autism awareness survey and event. The entire Senior School took part in the survey, and students answered the questions with care and thoughtfulness. We received many detailed, high-quality responses.

The responses confirmed something important: young people like us want accurate information, practical communication tools, science-based knowledge, appropriate support, and inclusive systems that make a real difference in everyday life.

Thank you all for taking the time to participate and honestly share your thoughts with us.

The feedback we received will help guide the next steps in our work. With reliable information and practical tools, we can help create schools and communities where everyone feels understood, accepted, safe, and included. 

During early spring, we held an event at Vancouver College High School about neurodiversity. Initially, we didn’t know what to expect at first, but the students surprised us with their enthusiasm and acceptance towards embracing new topics on neurodiversity. Thoughtful questions were asked, honest opinions were shared, and genuine interest was shown in understanding autism and ADHD. It was a deeply meaningful experience for us. We are hoping to bring more of these conversations to other schools. Currently, we are seeking for more volunteers to help out.  

More than 100 community members joined us at Cambie Community Park for Every Mind Belongs, a day created for autistic children, children with ADHD, and their families to feel relaxed, welcomed, and fully accepted.

The event included autism awareness training, thoughtfully designed games, music, and dancing. When autistic children took the stage to perform, the audience responded with enthusiastic applause. Seeing their happiness and pride was a moment we will remember.

We also celebrated the birthdays of three autistic children with flowers, gifts, cake, and candles. One mother shared that her child had struggled to make friends for years and had never had a birthday party. As everyone sang “Happy Birthday,” the joy on the children’s faces and the emotion in their mothers’ eyes touched us deeply.

That day, we saw what belonging can feel like: being comfortable, being celebrated, and being proud to be yourself.

We held a neurodiversity event at Richmond City Centre. A mother of an autistic child courageously shared her family’s personal experiences and the challenges they have faced.

Her story deeply moved us. Many shared that they had never fully understood the realities and challenges experienced by autistic individuals and their families.

Neurodiversity and inclusion are more than slogans; they begin with genuine understanding, acceptance, and action. 

We were honestly surprised by how many students at Burnett Secondary in Richmond came to our Support Neurodiversity event. So many people stopped to learn about autism and complete our survey, and we collected hundreds of responses.

This experience taught us that raising awareness is not just about sharing information. Listening to people’s perspectives is just as important. Their responses helped us see that there are still misunderstandings about autism that need to be addressed.

We felt proud to be a bridge between those misunderstandings and better awareness. It was meaningful to know that our efforts could make a positive difference in our school community. 

We hosted an Autism Awareness Survey and neurodiversity outreach event at Maple Ridge Secondary School (MRSS).

What began with a few curious students soon grew into a group eager to learn and share their experiences. Some were already familiar with neurodiversity, while others were learning about it for the first time. Everyone joined the conversation with openness and curiosity. Students also signed a poster with encouraging messages for the neurodivergent community.

A heartfelt thank-you to Principal Frend and our student volunteers for making this event possible.