Meet Unlocking Autism

Unlocking Autism was founded in February of 1999 by two mothers and a grandmother who came together for one primary purpose – to obtain information about how to help children with autism and to get that information as quickly as possible to the parents of newly diagnosed children.

At that time, the numbers of children being diagnosed had increased from 1:10,000 children, which had been the norm for decades since it was first discovered in the 1940’s, to nearly 1:500 children over a period of only ten years. With that realization, the need was evident to create a greater awareness of the disorder on all levels local, statewide and national.

The number of children diagnosed with autism has increased exponentially since our children were diagnosed back in the late 90’s and the inception of UA. Now, nearly 1% of the nation’s children are being diagnosed with this lifelong disorder or 1:150 children.  The Centers for Disease Control has declared an autism epidemic and the United States Congress has "declared war on the disorder" by declaring autism an epidemic in 2002 and passing the Combating Autism Act in 2006. No genetic epidemic has ever been recorded in history, therefore although there is clearly a genetic predisposition, our belief is that something else, a trigger in the environment, must be causing this dramatic increase.

When children with the right mix of genes are exposed to that environmental trigger, the results are devastating.

From the very beginning UA moved quickly to adapt and develop a variety of different projects as we have learned more about the needs of our community. The needs of children vary as much as the disorder affects them personally. Each child with autism is like a snowflake and treating their disorder, and helping their family, is a very individualized process. Because autism is a lifelong disorder in most cases, as our own children have aged, we have become more aware of the issues surrounding families at every stage in life from infancy and early childhood development to the critical elementary school years to the compounded problems of adolescence and then transition to adulthood.

As we grew, our organization boiled its primary focus down to service within the autism community. By expanding those resources, we believe that we could be a driving force that would not only assist families in determining treatment options for their children but serve the community by funding scientific research that could be potentially curative, preventative and palliative as well.

We currently serve new parents by being available to them day and night to answer the many questions that they have through our hotline which is open seven days a week, twenty-four hours a day. We educate parents of children of all ages about biomedical, behavioral and sensorial intervention options that can make a difference in their child’s lives. We educate parents on the importance of grassroots political involvement so that they can affect change and not only help their child, but other children in their immediate community. We educate the general public on the issues of autism, as well as work to provide educational information regarding the safety of vaccines, which we believe could provide an environmental trigger for a cohort of these children. We work with families to strengthen them so that they don’t succumb to the pressures families face with children with autism and break under that strain into divorce. We assist in providing a spiritual outlet for families who are secluded in their homes because of their children’s inability to leave that home environment.

Several members of our Board of Directors have testified before Congress urging them to address these issues. We have held annual events in Washington, DC to raise awareness and have worked diligently to keep the issues of autism alive in the press on a local and national level.

Our organization and its mission are constantly evolving to meet the needs of the autism community.

Based in Baton Rouge, LA, after August 29, 2005, we realized in our mission to serve families of children with autism that we were needed to help with families who lost everything during Katrina. Out of that experience, we realized an unusual need for these special families who need specific and extraordinary help in the time of crisis following a natural disaster. Additionally, the aftermath of Katrina exposed a new population of families that need our help that has fueled a new passion–educating the parents of children with autism in poor communities and in the inner city and increasing our desire to take our mission to a global level, to serve children in other countries that couldn’t afford help and relief that many of these expensive treatment options bring.

Our organization is based on 100% volunteer efforts.  No one receives monetary compensation for the work that they do.  Our over 250 state representatives are present in nearly every state in America and operating in nine other countries around the world to date. They are always at the ready to serve new and existing families in any way they can. 

Our ultimate goal is to be out of business by halting and reversing the ever-climbing diagnostic rates worldwide.

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