Autism Awareness Day in Harlingen

Last year my wife and three boy went to the Autism Awareness Day in Harlingen and had a great time. They were there for 2 hours and all 4 of them had a great time. It's hard to have all 4 of them have a great time at anything. So, this year I looked forward to going with them since I didn't have to work on Saturday. 

Sadly, I was disappointed. There was only about 12 vendors there and some of them didn't seem to have anything to do with autism, such as, taxes and banking. I have nothing against the taxes and banking companies. I just wish more autism-centric vendors would have been there. 

As I look back at the advertisement, I'm left wondering what happened. The flier stated:

Fun for the Whole Family

My 9 year old had some fun line dancing in the street with about 12 other people. There really wasn't much else for the rest of us. 

Meet First Responders 

There were a few nice police officers there. Harlingen PD does a good job mixing with local activities. I feel comfortable with them there and not like I'm going to be the next story about police brutality on the national news. 

There was a fire truck as expected but I didn't see anyone around it. It was away from the rest of the activities and didn't see like it was open to the public. I was hoping my son could get on it. He really loves being in the front seat of cars. I think he would have had a blast in the fire truck. 

I never saw the ambulance.

Learn About Services in the Community

There was a few doctors offices and a dentist office there who were supposed to be autism friendly. They also had the ID station from the police department, which apparently you have to go get printed on your own somewhere else. If the event was to show what the city offered for autistic children, then it's basically zero. At least I know some of the Harlingen PD knows about autism, unlike some police officers in other cities who have a reputation for shooting people with autism because they aren't following orders.

I'm not sure why this year was so different than the last but I would like to thank everyone who did show up and those who tried to make it work.