ASGO’s 20th anniversary celebration featured an Autism Art exhibit.

April is National Autism Awareness Month—but as far as the Autism Society of Greater Orlando (ASGO) is concerned, autism awareness and acceptance deserve to be promoted all year long. They’ve also been working toward that goal for two decades, having celebrated their 20th anniversary in March.

“It seems just like yesterday that this organization was started with just a handful of families,” says ASGO President Donna Lorman, speaking at the group’s milestone celebration on March 3. “Today, we literally serve thousands of families each and every year, providing training, information, support and awareness.”

Consisting of a dedicated core of volunteers and donors, ASGO is a not-for-profit 501(3)(c) organization funded in large part by the generosity of local residents and businesses. (And for the record, 100 percent of donations to ASGO stay in Central Florida.) Rather than push specific treatments or services, ASGO offers family support, education, advocacy and public awareness to help ensure that all Greater Orlando residents with autism have the opportunity to be active participants in our community. If longevity is any indication, it’s safe to say they’re on the right track.

“Today’s celebration brings all of us together to celebrate this huge success,” says Lorman. “It’s not easy in this day and age for a non-profit to survive and flourish after 20 years, so we must be doing something right.”

Held at Mercedes-Benz of Orlando in Maitland, the anniversary celebration featured an Autism Art exhibit showcasing the work of local artists with autism, ASGO highlights and displays, live music, and a silent auction and raffle. It also attracted scores of enthusiastic attendees, many of whom the organization has helped—including Maryann and Bob Sasso, who say ASGO has been a blessing for their adult son Michael.

“It gives Michael so many things to do,” says Maryann. “We have all the activities, all the support, and [Lorman’s] a wealth of information. Anybody who has a question about anything [related to autism], if she doesn’t know the answer, she probably knows someone who does, which is very important.

“But we just enjoy going out with other people who have someone with autism, because then [Michael] isn’t ‘the strange man.’ If he does anything out of the ordinary, nobody here notices. And that, I think, is the most important thing.”

Rebecca Noll hasn’t just benefitted from ASGO since she and her autistic daughter relocated to the Greater Orlando area from Texas nine years ago—she so believes in the group’s mission that she joined the board of directors in late 2015.

“[My daughter] was one of the first ones in the group, and the first girl,” says Noll. “It’s opened a whole world for us that we didn’t have where we came from. They had no clue how to deal with a child like her. So we came here, and I sent her to school, and I was like, oh gosh, here I go again.”

And then, Noll says, she discovered ASGO and met Lorman, which made all the difference. “She was there to support me, hold me up and give me information. It’s been amazing.”

ASGO President Donna Lorman addresses attendees at ASGO’s anniversary party.

Of course, ASGO couldn’t accomplish so much without the help of sponsors, which include WMMO, Fifth Third Bank, Lakeridge Winery & Vineyards, the aforementioned Mercedes-Benz of Orlando and Gator’s Dockside, among others. It’s a decidedly personal investment for the latter, as three Greater Orlando-area Dockside general managers have children with autism.

“I have a daughter with autism,” says Robbie Tierney, general manager of Dockside’s Waterford Lakes location, “so the ASGO is very good for our family.”

“We definitely think it’s a great cause,” added Gator’s Dockside Director of Operations Joe Foranoce, “and we’re excited to fund ASGO and all of the wonderful things that they’re doing. We just love being involved with them and supporting them.”

Speaking of ASGO’s doings, perhaps none is more unique than Autism Art, which is spearheaded by program founder Diana Jones. Participating ASGO members with autism are given the opportunity to create original works of art and then display them at galleries, art shows—and of course, ASGO events. Per Jones, “I help them find their niche, their special place, where they can understand the structure of their art.”

The participants get to keep the money from any art they sell, but Jones sees the potential profits as secondary to the program’s real benefits. Instead, she says, they involve “the friendships they’ve been able to build with the other artists in the studio, being able to learn how to manage money and budget correctly, being able to even have conversations where they have pride and ownership in something that they can represent to the community at large.”

Also notable is ASGO’s community training, which is available to law-enforcement officers and first responders. The program teaches participants how to recognize and interact with autistic individuals, and it’s free to all eligible professionals who are interested.

“There’s never an officer that we will charge a penny to in order to get this training,” says Lorman, who also noted that the program has reached more than 10,000 professionals representing 105 different agencies.

ASGO’s other outreach initiatives include social skills groups for individuals with autism ages 2 through adult; the annual Sea of Dreams event at Sea World, with 2016’s edition taking place April 2; the Autism Walk, next scheduled for April 9 at the Orange County Convention Center; and partnerships with the Orlando Magic, Orlando Predators and Orlando Solar Bears sports teams.

To learn more about ASGO, including volunteer and sponsorship opportunities, visit ASGO.org.