Approximately one in 68 births in the United States enter the world with autism spectrum disorder. This is equivalent to about one percent of the American population, totaling close to 3.5 million Americans living with autism spectrum disorder every day, and the prevalence only increases each year.
On the warm spring afternoon of Tuesday, April 26 Longwood University’s Kappa Delta Pi hosted their first annual Autism Awareness Walk on the front lawn of Lancaster Mall. Participants could sign up online for a five dollar donation or seven dollars on the day of the walk, with all proceeds going to support autism awareness.
After gathering around 60 participants, one of the coordinators, Molly Dailey stated, “We’re hoping to break 100 participants next year.”
The walk opened with guest speaker and participant, Dr. Matt Lucas, a Longwood associate professor for physical education, who was asked by the honors society for education to speak on the behalf of the walk.
Lucas also introduced Ronnie, a child who spoke on behalf of his diagnosis of Asperger’s syndrome, a “high functioning” form of autism. Ronnie is very successful with his studies in school, athletics and able to play the trumpet - ending his speech by playing a little music on his trumpet to kick off the walk.
Lucas stated, “This walk is a great way to gain awareness for autism, and there are a lot of misconceptions about this disorder and raising awareness is the best educator.”
The radius for the walk was about one mile, where the participants walked a lap around the perimeter of the campus. As participants walked, they could spot yellow and light blue balloons with ribbons, which incorporated a puzzle piece, hung from the lights poles along the campus. The light blue represents autism and appears in the symbol for the disorder, a puzzle piece.
Autism is not the designated philanthropy for Kappa Delta Pi as a national sorority, but as an education honors society, they liked to put on informative events.
Participant and member of Kappa Delta Pi Rickylyn Cundiff said, “For Kappa Delta Pi’s first walk I felt it was very successful. Ronnie speaking really inspired me to strive to do my best in every aspect of life, just like he is doing in his life with autism.”
Kappa Delta Pi hopes to have this walk become an annual April event, the month dedicated to autism. Dailey also said, “The walk was definitely challenging to put on. However, it went well for the first walk, and I couldn’t have done it without the help of the Kappa Delta Pi members.”
