“We don’t need more awareness. Everyone pretty much knows about autism, so we thought it’d be better to have a march for autism acceptance,” Theodore Coutilish, Eastern Michigan University’s Associate VP for Marketing said.
The Green March for Autism Acceptance at EMU began in the Student Center at 1:00 p.m., Tuesday. Sally Burton-Hoyle and Callie Boik, the creators this this march, said this event took about a month to organize. Around 100 students, most of them dressed in green shirts, showed up to participate in the loop around campus.
A parade of green t-shirts walked over the bridge from the Student Center and along the snaking path around the parking lot in between the Rec Center and parking structure to Circle Drive. The students followed the path to Porter, which was marked by green ribbons tied to poles and lights. Slogans and facts about autism from the organizers had been written in chalk along the route.
Eastern currently has 28 students in its Autism Collaborative Center. Three of them participated in the march. While the ACC provides both academic and social services to autistic students, the organizers of this march wanted to shine light on the importance of accepting autistic students – to not treat them differently than any other student.
Those three students from the ACC made speeches at the march’s stopping point at Porter. Each speech touched on the importance of being accepted as they are.
One of them, Sean Handler, is graduating this semester and was surprised during the march with a plaque recognizing her achievement.
“I was not expecting a program like this and I’m amazed at the amount of support I’ve been able to get,” Handler said.
Kajuan Smith is a second year electronic engineering technology major from Washington D.C. Smith said during his speech that the program helped him with his isolation.
“I thought I was the only one who was different. It turned out I wasn’t alone,” he said.
Alec Butler, a junior, said he didn’t think he would make it this far when he first came to Eastern three years ago. However, he has and he said he couldn’t put a price on the result.
“Autism does not matter. I am a TruEMU student that has worked his way of from the deepness of failing to success for people with autism to follow,” Butler said.
Students for Disability Rights, a newer student organization, was also in attendance at the march. Students for Disability Rights is, according to its Twitter account, “working towards creating an institution that is accessible for everyone.”
The organization’s president, Adrienne Dunlevy, says that EMU is doing the best it can for providing an accepting environment for autistic students and everyone else that attended the march seemed to be in agreement with that.
