L-R:  Commissioner Henry Mead, Barbara Slutsky, Exec. Board HAAPE, Commissioner Chris Eddy, Dr. Larry Rothman, Founder HAAPE, Mayor Margaret Brown, Jamie Udell, Commissioner Byron L. Jaffe, Commissioner Mary Molina-Macfie, City Manager Donald Decker, Sylvia Gil, Advisory Board HAAPE and Owner Neuro Consulting Services, and Dean Wood, Exec. Board HAAPE.

On June 21, 2022, Weston was recognized as an Autism Friendly Community by the UM-NSU Center for Autism and Related Disabilities (CARD) and Helping Adults with Autism Perform and Excel (HAAPE).

Key personnel have been working with Silvia Gil, Manager of The Daniel Jordan Fiddle Foundation Transition and Adult Programs at UM-NSU CARD and Dr. Larry Rothman, Chairperson and President of HAAPE, over the past year to train city staff to be Autism aware and Autism friendly. This is an on-going effort and does not stop here. 

Our next step is to create Social Scripts so individuals with Autism and other disabilities can visit the website and view our facilities, in visual and written detail, and know what they might experience sensory wise when they do get there, to ease any anxiety ahead of time. 

Weston now has a webpage dedicated to Autism Friendly Community and Other Disabilities. This site will be refreshed with new information as it is developed. Please visit our website to discover how the partnerships collaborated and worked together on this initiative to the benefit of so many. 

It is our hope that through this initiative, other businesses and organizations in Weston will follow our lead, creating Autism Friendly spaces and/or consider hiring autistic persons. 

 View photos from the City Commission recognition: