We're here to guide people on their autism journey, ensuring no one is left behind.
About Scenic Route Initiative
Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder have many of the same aspirations as their neurotypical counterparts but their path to achieve their goals is very different. For the most part, their early years are the least disappointing period of their lives. The fact is no 5-year-old child is allowed to stay home alone or play in the front yard unsupervised and everyone in the classroom gets invited to their classmate's birthday party at that age. However, as they transition into middle school and high school, they have to figure out how to interact, socialize, engage, and form relationships with a world they don't intuitively understand. Trying to understand why they're never invited to a birthday party anymore or why nobody wants to sit with them at lunchtime is just the tip of the iceberg of the changes they struggle to make sense of.
As a parent of a child on the autism spectrum, this has been one of the hardest challenges to witness and the Covid lockdown made it exponentially more challenging. Before the pandemic, talking to their peers, teachers, and school staff gave these teens with autism some socialization opportunities and at least a sense that they had actual "relationships" and "friends". During the lockdown, any illusion or impression they had about having "friends" came to a screeching halt. While neurotypical kids mostly adapted to connecting with their friends online and on the phone, kids with ASD were home alone with nobody to connect with. Sadly, given the world we live in, and in light of these kids’ particularly vulnerable nature, letting them socialize with random strangers online wasn’t an option.
Our world is simply not designed to accommodate the needs of those with autism and as our kids transition to adulthood, they are going to discover even more closed doors. Whether it's getting their driver's license, driving, going to college, or getting a job there'll be a myriad of challenges and unique needs that need to be accommodated. Their path to success may be different and much more challenging than that of their neurotypical counterparts but it is not an impossible one.
We named our organization the Scenic Route Initiative as the name embodies what we're all about. The Scenic Route often takes longer to complete and may have more turns and stops along the way, yet it still leads you to the destination. The Scenic Route is often the preferred path; offering a beautiful experience with multiple rest stops along the way to take a moment and recognize the progress made on the journey and plan the next leg. Whether one chooses to embark on the Scenic Route alone or with a friend or a loved one, it promises to be a fulfilling journey.
I started the Scenic Route Initiative and have recruited a group of like-minded individuals with one simple objective: to help individuals with unique needs accomplish their goals, whatever it may be. If the goal is attainable, we're here to help them accomplish it. We have a couple of specific initiatives that we're working on and I invite you to learn about them under our Solutions section. These are just a starting point to get the ball rolling on our mission. It is our hope to remove the obstacles and pave the way to new possibilities, ensuring that no one is left behind.
Peyman Dadmehr, President