Letter from Our Executive Director: March 2016

Dear Friends,

As we approach Autism Awareness and Acceptance Month this April, I’d like to share with you how Madison House is serving the autism community. Government surveys report what many of us already know – more than one in three families are or will be impacted by autism.  

For families just beginning the journey, we are learning more about understanding this condition and the children who are born with it.  

For those who are now adults with autism or other special abilities, however, the realities are stark – the chance to live outside the family home, work or volunteer, or engage in simple human interactions is increasingly diminished as the numbers of people impacted grow.

Madison House is making a difference, and I invite you to join us. Please honor your own loved one or friend facing adulthood on the spectrum with a gift during National Autism Awareness Month, April 2–30.

Lend your talents or treasures to one of our many transformational initiatives:

• Help underwrite or contribute to the first and only web platform, the Autism Housing Network. connecting people with autism with providers and project starters. Financial support and programming assistance will help this project connect people across the country and around the world.
• Lend your voice to our work across the country to improve policies and funding for special needs housing. Close to a million adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities are already living at home with caregivers who themselves are over 60. What will happen when caregivers can no longer provide that care?
• Support and enjoy the innovative Madison Fields and housing projects benefitting people with disabilities and wounded veterans. Visit this beautiful tranquil setting, enjoy hiking and riding, volunteer, and contribute to support our animals and activities.
• Support arts for autism benefiting the arts, audiences, and artists on the spectrum. Our programs are helping artists with disabilities find their voice, connect, and earn money.

Your gift and volunteer support are helping us help families and organizations across the country. We are one of the few, if only, national non-profit focused solely on helping to improve the quality of life for adults with autism and other I/DDs.

Please make your gift count during this month of national awareness. We cannot do this work alone. Thank you for your generosity.

Best wishes,