The Newton Volunteer Fire Department is hosting an autism awareness workshop

NEWTON, Ala. (WTVY) – This Saturday, October 26th, the Newton Volunteer Fire Department is hosting an autism awareness workshop.

Janet Ford will be a guest speaker at this event. She will discuss topics such as recognizing signs of autism, the different needs of an autistic person, and how to plan ahead and help an autistic person in an emergency.

The workshop is public. It starts at 10:00 a.m. and is expected to last about 2 hours.

Kathy Snow, treasurer of the Newton VFD, said they attended the Alabama Association of Volunteer Fire Departments annual conference earlier this year and after hearing a presentation on autism awareness, she realized she had never thought about it how to approach someone with autism in an emergency situation.

“Today, one in 36 children is diagnosed with autism,” Snow said. “It is very important for us to understand how we can help these people in emergency situations.”

This workshop is very important to Snow as he hopes it will help first responders and community members get the right information and tools they need to help everyone involved in any emergency situation.

“As a first responder, you never know when you’re going to run into a situation where you have someone with autism,” Snow explained. “You need the tools and the information so that you know how to approach them…You want to make sure that you don’t scare them and that you know how to communicate with them to be able to help them.”

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