The Thunder Bay Autism Hub is officially up and running as of Wednesday.
Described as a “one-stop shop,” the website connects Ontario families with autistic children to a range of useful resources.
“I am the parent of an autistic child, and I know what it’s like to make this journey,” said Robin Cooper, a founder of Thunder Bay Autism Hub and member of the Kiwanis Club of Westfort. “It’s challenging. Every autistic person is different. There wasn’t really one place you could go. You had to do a lot of searching, and a lot of people don’t have the time. I thought, ‘this is something I can do to help other families.’ I wanted to pay back families who have helped me.”
Thunder Bay Autism Hub is sponsored by the Kiwanis Club of Westfort and developed by members of Autism Northwest, a nonprofit organization for parents of autistic children.
“The idea for this website came from [an Autism Northwest] meeting, where we were sharing a lot of information and someone said, ‘You know, we need a manual,’” said Karen Armstrong, treasurer of Autism Northwest. “So we got together with chart paper, Post-it notes, and a lot of pens, and threw ideas around. Then Robin [Cooper] took those ideas and turned them into this beautiful website.”
Cooper says parents can turn to the website at any stage of their child’s autism journey—from diagnosis through to late teenage years—and find valuable support.
“I’ve broken it down into sections and focused on what people ask the most questions about,” she said. “I’m trying to find all the little things that can make it easier for families. There’s such diversity, so any one service provider isn’t going to know everything, right? So this way we can work together collectively to share that information with the community.”
The website is designed to grow over time as more information and resources are added.
“It’s pretty amazing to see that it’s actually there,” Armstrong said. “From the privacy of your own home, you can reach out and get important information. [Robin’s] adding more stuff to it every day. It’ll be exciting to watch.”
Cooper said the next step is adding more resources for autistic adults.
“Once you’re 18, you age out of the Ontario Autism Program, then you’re looking at disability services and things like that. That transition to adulthood is really important. You need to start at 16, not 18, because it does take a while. So those are the kinds of things I’m looking to add to the website as well,” she said.
