Autism Behind Closed Doors

We sit down with autism advocate and nonprofit founder LaShawn Toney to hear the raw reality of raising a nonverbal autistic teen while navigating a dual diagnosis and constant caregiving. We talk about building Jorgia’s Impact so families feel seen, get real support, and stop carrying the hardest parts alone. 
• Jorgia’s Impact and why it is named after Jorgia 
• Autism-friendly events that make families feel safe 
• Feed a Family and respite support to reduce caregiver stress 
• What autism is, how the spectrum varies, and what nonverbal can look like 
• AAC devices and how technology helps communication 
• The unseen toll on parents, marriages, and autism siblings 
• Hospital challenges, cystic fibrosis realities, and long stays 
• Loneliness, burnout, and learning to direct anger at autism not the child 
• Bullying, disability awareness, and children’s books that teach empathy 
• School support wins plus gaps in training and safety 
• Why bus driver training and classroom accountability matter 

Please give them follow and subscribe to the channel on YouTube at Jorgia's Journey. Instagram and Facebook @Lashawn.Toney and TikTok @Jorgiajourney. 

Follow us @ brokeboyz_ff on Instagram and TikTok
Intro Music by Rockstar Turtle- Broke Boyz (999)
Christmas Intro Song by Nico

Transcript

Meet The Guests And Mission

SPEAKER_04 0:00

Welcome back to another episode of the Broke Boys. I'm Arn. I'm DJ. And today we have a special episode. And I would like for you guys to please introduce yourselves to the cameras.

SPEAKER_02 0:10

What's up, Broke Boy community? It's me, Kesi Marquise. Y'all might know me, you know, seeing me around with the Broke Boys. And um I'm here with somebody I've been knowing for a long time and who's watched me grow into, you know, the personality that y'all experience. And also someone who is a very um prominent resource here in the city for mental health, um, autism awareness, and also entrepreneurship. And as this story goes, I want y'all to really just take the time and empathize and listen with the reality, right? That people is just unaware of, right? So uh I'm gonna go ahead and let you introduce yourself at this time. Beautiful. Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 1:11

Thank you, thank you so much, um, Casey and Broke Voice for having me. I'm so excited to be here. Um it's so much to be uh learned and understood about autism and neurodiversity. Um basically more of what we go through as parents behind closed doors because people forget about that.

SPEAKER_02 1:31

What is your name?

SPEAKER_01 1:32

I'm so sorry. My name is LaShawn Tony. I am an author, an advocate for autism awareness, and also um, I guess you can say I'm also a content creator because we do have our own YouTube channel on social media as well as Instagram and Facebook and TikTok. Um I am also a mom and a wife. So I wear a lot of hats. It's not easy, but I wear a lot of hats.

SPEAKER_02 1:59

What is the name of the entity you're representing? And like just tell us a little bit about it, and um, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:08

Okay. Um so my nonprofit organization is called Georgia's Impact, and that's J O R G I A. It's named after my daughter, um, who is uh autistic um as well as she was also diagnosed with cystic fibrosis at birth. Um so my organization is named after my daughter. Um we when we do social media and we do other things, um it's under Georgia's journey because this is a journey. Let's get real. It's um my life is a journey, I live it every day. Um but Georgia's Impact, we do what we do because we want to impact the community, um, not just bringing awareness, but doing events um and bringing our autism community together. Um so we have so much that we do through Georgia's Impact Autism Support Group, um, events, and we have some other programs that are coming up that I want to tell you guys about. Um so I don't know if I should do that now, but we're gonna get into it. Yeah, we'll get into it. We got we got this in a bag.

SPEAKER_02 3:07

It's already starting off good. Absolutely, absolutely organic. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_04 3:11

Let me go ahead and let's uh insert the intro and then we'll get right into it.

SPEAKER_00 3:17

We them broke books from the hood. We on the mention is understood. We always winning like we just we fly. We butterfly up to the sky. No way you're catching us good, we make it a lot.

SPEAKER_04 3:35

You were talking about events. Yes, please go ahead and express yourself more.

SPEAKER_01 3:39

Awesome, awesome. We just finished our first annual um every piece matter Christmas event that was so well, and you guys were there. So thank you so much. Uh, all the support. Yes, yes. And I wanted to do that because Shout out to Nico.

SPEAKER_02 3:51

Shout out to Nico that did his thing that whole night.

SPEAKER_01 3:55

Oh, he did his thing. I'm so proud of him. Um, but I wanted to do that because we as parents that have autistic kids, um, we don't always get invited to things because people don't understand our kids and how they act and um, you know, the aggression and the screaming and all that stuff. Um, so to be in one place um with each other uh as a community, we don't have to worry about that because we all are experiencing the same things. So that's why it was so important for me to do this because I wanted the parents to feel at home and I wanted them to feel comfortable and not have to worry about what this person thinks or what this person think or, you know, worry about their child embarrassing them or anything like that. Um so that's why I did the Christmas event. The other event uh will be our first annual Autism Awareness Walk and Autism Awareness Day. Um so I'm so excited to bring that to the community. Uh we used to do walks, I don't know why they're not around anymore, but I'm excited to bring it back. Um so our um uh um autism awareness walk, I'm sorry, will be April 18th. I will be posting about it, and I'm so excited we're gonna have Nico there again, and hopefully we'll have Broke Boys there. And um, there's gonna be a lot of um games and prizes and informational booths and vendors, and it's gonna be so amazing. And I hope you guys all come out. Um, I do have two other programs that I will be um speaking about and posting about, and it's so near and dear to my heart, which is the feed a family program. And let me explain real quick um when I lost my mother, I'm an only child, I lost my mom two years ago. And my thank you. My family and friends showed up to my door with dinner. For an autism parent, that means the world because we don't have to worry about that's one thing less we have to worry about cooking dinner and worrying about what we're gonna feed the kids and this this and that. So I wanted to create Feed the Family program because I want to show up on a parent's door with dinner to feed their family so they have to worry about worry about it. Just less stress as an autism parent. Um and that program will be uploaded to my website, which is www.georgisimpact.org, where you can register. The entry fee to um enter for the program is a dollar and it's five entries per person, and we will be feeding a family every month. So I'm excited about that program. Um the other program is um every family deserves a break, which is very similar, same concept, except instead of dinner, you will get a hundred dollar gift card to go towards your respite or babysitting so you can have that well-deserved and well-needed break that you need from your kids. Whether that's go out with your husband, go get a hotel and sleep for a day, it doesn't matter. But um, we just want to help in that way through Georgia's impact. We want to create those services and support for our autism community.

unknown 6:56

Wow.

New Programs That Reduce Stress

SPEAKER_04 6:57

That's beautiful to hear. You know, I want to take away and take you back to the beginning. Absolutely. As a parent, yes, how was that like? What was that like in the beginning dealing with uh as an autism parent? Yes, autism parent.

SPEAKER_01 7:09

Um, so it was it was uh very I don't want to say traumatic, but it was um caught me off guard because I heard a lot about autism back then, but there wasn't a lot um of knowledge.

SPEAKER_02 7:25

What is autism for people who don't know?

SPEAKER_01 7:27

Don't know. Autism is a neural divert, a neural um disorder that affects the brain and their ability to speak and comprehend and communicate. Um there is a wide spectrum with autism, though. Um so your child could be go from severe to moderate, moderate to severe. Um my daughter is very severe. Um she is nonverbal. Although she says little things, um she's still not able to um talk about her day or uh talk about anything that's happened or ask for things. She's learning to speak with her device, which is the augmented alternative communication device, AAC device. Um she's learning to speak with that. But then you do have your high-functioning autistic um kids or adults as well that are able to still function but have that social anxiety or um things like that. So, yes, as a family um from the beginning, my daughter was first diagnosed with cystic fibrosis, which is um a disease that attacks all of her major organs. And she was diagnosed with that at birth. Um, so we didn't know about autism until she was probably about two or three. And as a mom with four other kids before her, you kind of know when something ain't right. She wasn't meeting her milestones, she wasn't doing the things that she should do, and I knew something was not right. Um, so it really affected us as a family. It was um it was hard to accept. Um, so the research started and trying to find out more about autism and uh what we needed to do as the as a family to um give her the best life possible.

SPEAKER_02 9:08

And what inspired you to start the foundation known as Georgia's Impact?

SPEAKER_01 9:14

Um, what inspired me is going through the things that I went through with my daughter um on a daily basis and seeing how it affected my husband and my kids. Um, because believe it or not, your kids are affected too, your other kids are affected too. Um and we call them autism sibs, but they're often pushed to the side, they're forgotten about, not purposely, but your focus is so much on your child, you don't realize how much focus is not being put on your other kids. Um my kids were great though. I mean, they they didn't look at her different, they treated her the same, but um just going through what I went through behind closed doors as a parent and all my experiences and my struggles, I thought I was alone.

SPEAKER_02 10:01

Was it like a key moment where you were like, I just want to turn this into a platform that can was it a key moment or was it uh wasn't really a key moment, but I could say it was key moments.

SPEAKER_01 10:12

And I think the the first thing that really catapulted me into doing this is when I wrote my first book.

SPEAKER_02 10:19

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 10:20

Um, Journey of a Real Gift Inside Autism, which spells Georgia.

SPEAKER_02 10:24

That's pretty.

SPEAKER_01 10:25

When I wrote that book, which can I show you? So when I wrote this book, which is my bio, that's when I said I have to do something for this community. I know that I can't be alone in this, but I have to speak up for other parents, and I have to speak up for the parents that are afraid to speak up or afraid of what people might think or um that need help and not aware of how to get services or um where to go to get started when they see the signs of their child maybe having autism and not understanding, like that's what I want to be for Georgia's Impact. So when I wrote my bio, I wanted to write this book because I wanted people to understand more of what we go through behind closed doors, as I always say. Um but I wanted to write this book, I wanted to put it out there, and I wanted it to be raw and real. Because I'm not telling a story, I'm telling about my life that I live every day, and it doesn't stop, it don't go away. Um, so I wanted to be raw and honest as possible. Um, and and I've had people that say, when I read that book, it feels like I'm right there with you. I'm crying, I'm laughing, I'm crying, I'm laughing. And you know, the most part that really gets people in the heart. My daughter, like I said, she's nonverbal, she doesn't speak, she doesn't write, she doesn't do anything, and she signed every copy. Wow, I can see her signature. Thank you, Georgia. Um, so that's so special to me, and I I wanted to show that because um it's all the small accomplishments that matter.

unknown 12:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 12:04

Oh my god, it's so heartworking, heart warming, right? And I'm glad my guys is here to experience this because the other day we were talking just a week ago, yes, and uh you know, I've been writing the outline for the movie. We're working on the documentary about Georgia Piller, yeah, for sure. Uh but um you were reading me some of the book, and it is so dynamic and powerful and overwhelming, thank you, and traumatizing that you feel it, you feel the emotion coming off the words. Like even if you did like a uh audiobook, that would be insane because your voice and how you uh uh transfer the emotion is pretty cool, right? Um, I'm we're gonna get some good questions because they are popping in my head. But one, I really want to talk about I want to talk about Georgia. Tell us who Georgia is, and I also want to know like, is she aware of what you're doing for her?

SPEAKER_01 13:13

Quick quick quick answer, no. I don't think she's aware, but I think she comprehends a little bit that something is going on because uh funny, uh she plays, she loves music. Oh my god, she loves music music, she loves being on her tablet. So she runs across herself on YouTube all the time. And I'll catch her every now and then watching some little stuff or hear my voice, and I'm like, what in the world? Where am I? I'm like, Georgia, are you watching yourself? You know, so I think she knows something, but she don't really comprehend what's going on. But Georgia is a smart young lady now.

SPEAKER_02 13:50

Um how old is she?

What Autism Is And The Spectrum

SPEAKER_01 13:52

She is 17, and I can't believe that. 17, y'all. 17, and I can't believe it. Um, I still say she's my baby, and everybody's like, she is not a baby, she's my baby. Always gonna be your baby. Um and I tell people all the time that um I'm trying not to cry, y'all, but I had to become care for you. I had to become Georgia to understand Georgia. Right, right. Um, so when I say she's my baby, I almost mean that literally. Um, and the reason I say that is because she's not able to care for herself as well. Um, she wakes up during the night, she still wears pull-ups at night. So for me, it's like having a baby for 17 years. Just imagine that.

SPEAKER_03 14:36

Right, right. And to speak on that, what was it like in the earlier days, like obviously being an autism parent? What was the support like from your family and your friends?

SPEAKER_01 14:47

Oh, the support from my family was absolutely amazing. And you don't get that all the time. Me and my husband have been together almost 30 years. Wow. The support from my husband, uh, I can't even, there's no words to describe.

SPEAKER_02 15:00

Shout out to Hubby, man.

SPEAKER_01 15:01

Thank you, Gary. I love you, baby. Um, but yes, the support from him is absolutely amazing back then, even to this day. I haven't cooked dinner in two years. He cooks dinner. He cooks dinner for me every night and serves it up. That's right. I don't even have to get up. What do you want to drink? What do you need, baby? Give me some sugar. I don't know. Gary, we coming to dinner. Ready. Shout out to Dinner Lee, because that's where he started. He started with Dinnerly and he absolutely fell in love with cooking, and now he's doing his own thing, adding his own thing. And he loves it. He gets off work and he cooks dinner. My kids, absolutely amazing. I love all my children. Shayna, Shamari, Garin, and Garrison. Garrison actually grew up in the house with her because he was my youngest son. And try not to cry again. That's okay.

SPEAKER_04 15:50

No, it's okay.

SPEAKER_01 15:52

But um, I didn't forget about him, but he was pushed to the side because I had to focus so much on Georgia. But he is absolutely the most amazing kid. He's in college now. He, but let me go back, let me say this. I didn't forget about him because I did make special moments for him. Um, and what I mean by that is I would pick him up from school when he opened the car door. There's Burger King in the scene and Starbucks, you know. He's like, thank you, Mom! You know, and he remembers those moments. We think they don't mean a lot, but those moments he remembers to this day. Um, bad for me because I had to spend money on him every day because he was expecting it. But I just wanted to show him that he mattered. Right. Um, so uh yeah, my family was absolutely amazing. I had friends that were very supportive as well. Um, but what was so hard is that there was still so much in the community that wasn't understood. So there wasn't a lot of support from the community. That's also why I wanted to do George's Impact.

SPEAKER_05 16:58

Right.

SPEAKER_01 16:59

Because I know how it feels to not have that support and not have that outlet. Right. Um, there's no support groups that I was aware of until later. Um, there is a one support group that I did start going to. Um, but it's hard for us because we're not able to always find babysitters or get away to go to these support groups. Right. So that's why with Georgia's Impact, I created my support group, but it's also virtually and it's in person. The virtual is on hold right now because I you know, got to find a staff to be able to help me with that. But um it will be virtual and it will be in person for those that are don't live in locally or live out of town or live out of state, right? Um, they can still join us virtually because um they have autistic kids and they need support as well.

SPEAKER_03 17:50

In terms of the technological advancements over the years, um, I mean, being an autism parent for over 17 years, you've been able to see how tools have developed to help with kids with autism. Do you feel like it's helped out a lot more in your life? Or do you feel like there's things that are still really needed as far as like basic necessities?

SPEAKER_01 18:13

It's definitely advanced. Um, there's more understanding, more things happening in the community to um help autism parents. Um still a long way to go though.

SPEAKER_03 18:24

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 18:24

Um, one thing that's really helped um that parents may not be aware of is I don't know if you guys know, but at Valley Children's Hospital, it's called Georgia's Pass. Not after Georgia. Everybody always think that, but it's after the draft, George the giraffe. Um if your child is autistic and you let them know when you get there that I'm part of Georgia's Pass, um, you get to go in front of the line, whether that's for a doctor's appointment, ER visit, because let me tell you, there is nothing like sitting in the waiting room with an autistic child that's sick, and you expect me to sit here for eight hours to ten hours, that ain't gonna happen. So, seeing that through the years and what we went through with that, um I think they um knew they had to do something about it. Right. And it helps so much because now when I show up with Georgia and I'm like part of Georgia's past, oh, let us get you right back. They get her back, get her done, we're out of there. Um, and it really helps. I mean, it's it's amazing. And I really thank Valley Children's Hospital for that because we spent a lot of time with their, as I said before, with her cystic fibrosis. Um, she was in the hospital a lot.

SPEAKER_05 19:36

Right.

SPEAKER_01 19:37

A lot. Um, and I don't know if I even said what cystic fibrosis is, but it's a disease that attacks all of her major organs, and for her, it attacked her pancreas and her lungs. Um she spent a lot of time in the hospital being bound because autism didn't go away. She was snatching out IVs and attacking nurses and doctors. Talk about it in my book. Right. What we went through as a family. We spent Christmases in the hospital, Easter, New Year's, anniversaries. We ate in the cafeteria on our anniversary many years because um she was in the hospital. And when they go in the hospital with CF, they have to automatically stay 16 days. It's what's called a tune up.

unknown 20:19

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 20:20

Um, so that was hard, you know, especially when you're almost at the 16th day, you ready to go home and she relapsed or she's not ready, you know. Or so yeah, it's a lot to our story, guys. It's we've been through a lot as a family. A whole lot of people.

Family Support And The Forgotten Siblings

SPEAKER_02 20:38

Yeah. And uh I got two questions. One to kind of piggyback off of that one, and then another one to, you know, open it up a little bit. What part of the journey felt the loneliest, even with, you know, the support around you? And how did you overcome it?

SPEAKER_01 21:01

I wouldn't say that there's a specific time that was the loneliest. I I would say that I definitely have my lonely moments, even though I'm married, even though I have my family. Um, and I guess what I mean by that is my husband works every day, except Saturday, Sunday. I'm typically at home with Georgia 95% of the time, all day. I can't work, I don't work, I can't work. Um those are the moments where I feel the loneliest. Um, especially when she's having her hard days or hard moments, and she's being aggressive or screaming, and I can't understand her, or I can't, or she wants something that I that's not available, you know, and she's having those really bad moments that back when she was younger, these moments used to last an hour, maybe two, and they would have Happen probably six, seven times a day. So for me, even when I go to get her off the school bus, you don't know what you're walking into. You don't know what autism got waiting for you. Sometimes I get to the bus and she stands up and I see her smiling and laughing. I'm like, whoo, thank you. It's gonna be a good day.

SPEAKER_02 22:19

Right.

SPEAKER_01 22:20

Um but autism can also change in a matter of seconds. She'll she can go from smiling to laughing to and it's like, here we go. Um so you just don't know what you're gonna get. And those are probably the most loneliest moments because I'm like when you're done, it feels like you literally been in a boxing match. My body is exhausted, I'm tired, I'm weak. I'm exhausted, and she's over here now, she's laughing and playing like nothing ever happened. Wow, and I'm just exhausted. Sometimes I have to go upstairs to my room and I just cry. Um, and I show these videos on my YouTube because I want people to see the reality of our story and what we go through. And I don't hide it. I've I've said in my book that there's been times when I in the younger days, I've felt like I hated myself. I hated God. I felt like I hated her because I felt like she ruined my life. She took away everything I wanted to do because now I could no longer do it. I always say there's so much out there in the world that I want to see, I probably will never get to see or experience. I've never seen snow. I've never been on a plane. Oh, wow. Will I be able to do those things? I don't know. Um, and I felt like I felt trapped and I feel imprisoned in my own home.

SPEAKER_02 23:45

Do you want to do those things? Do you want to go to the snow? You want to travel?

SPEAKER_01 23:49

I would love to see snow, not the plane so much anymore. Too many going down. I'm good. I'm good on that right now. Uh we can wait on the plane. I'm not in a hurry.

SPEAKER_03 23:59

I got a question.

SPEAKER_01 24:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 24:01

Does that tie into the reason you started those programs?

SPEAKER_01 24:04

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_03 24:05

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 24:05

Absolutely. I want to do whatever I can do through Georgia's Impact to help that parent not feel alone, to help that parent not feel like they have to walk this journey by themselves. Because we are all in this together, believe it or not. When I tell my story or say things, they're like, oh my God, I'm going through that right now. Oh my God, I feel the same way. Um, but I don't want to leave you hanging saying that I hate my daughter. I don't hate my daughter. Let me let me fix it. I think we took it as you fix it. I started to learn later in my journey as she got older, as I um lived with autism for 17 years. I started to realize it wasn't my daughter that I hated. It wasn't myself that I hated. It wasn't God that I hated. Because let's be real, I would not make it through this journey without him. Amen. But I learned that it was autism. Autism is what I hated. And I had to arm myself with the tools I needed to fight against this horrible disease.

SPEAKER_02 25:04

That's honest.

SPEAKER_01 25:05

And that's what I started to learn. But I know there's parents out there that felt or feel like I feel. Right. Um, and we don't hate our kids. Um, but we do have our moments where it's um it's difficult, it's exhausting. Um, especially like I said before, sometimes we're on two hours of sleep, if that. There's times when I've watched the sun come up and never go to bed.

SPEAKER_02 25:29

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_01 25:30

Um, because they're having they don't sleep, they're on medication. Some of them are on medication, you know, but um it's it's a lot.

SPEAKER_02 25:38

Let's talk about the good stuff, right? What are some good things that come out of this and who are some of the people who helped you, you know, uh stimulate that motivation? Like it could be people in the community, people outside the community. I'll let you express that.

SPEAKER_01 25:58

Um, I would probably say um good some of the good things that came out of it for me is my books. Um always my family helps me a lot. Um, I can speak on them about every every time you mention help, it's my family, my husband, my kids. Um, I don't go a lot go out a lot, so I don't really have a lot of friends, but there are friends um that showed up um and supported, um, like Tricia. And um I I've had a couple of friends that that have just been there for me. And I've got any partners are you want to recognize? Suzette Kelly. Thank you, my girl. Mrs. Claus, come on, girl. Yes, Mrs. Claus. Um, but I mean I can't name everybody, but um, I've had support. Um, but like I said, the good thing came out of it is I want to tell you guys about is um my second book that I wrote is called Don't Bully Me Because I'm Different. And the reason I wrote this book is because I personally was bullied in school when I was younger. Um, not because I'm always autistic, um, but I I suffered from plaque psoriasis.

SPEAKER_02 27:03

What school you went to?

SPEAKER_01 27:04

I went to elementary school, it was Lincoln. Okay. I went to Tyoga. Okay. Awani. Okay, President Native and Edison, AT Killers. Graduated from Edison. Go, Tigers! Uh, but um, I was bullied a lot in school because people didn't understand psoriasis. Why did I look the way I I looked, and why was this happening to my skin? And you know, back then there was not a lot of medication.

SPEAKER_05 27:30

Right.

Tools That Help Plus Hospital Realities

SPEAKER_01 27:30

Um, and unfortunately, Georgia suffers from plaque psoriasis as well. And I don't know if anybody knows this, but when you are autistic or you're diagnosed with autism, um it usually 99.9% comes with a dual diagnosis. You have something else. Um, I run across people all the time on social media that has autism in Tourette's, autism and CF, autism and something. Um, so but anyway, I wrote this book because I wanted to bring awareness not to just us as adults, but also to our kids, our children, to show what bullying can do and how it can affect someone. Um and this book is about a girl who is um a little older girl who is on the spectrum, but she's high functioning. How she was bullied and what happened in this story and how did it affect her and her mother. Um, very good story. Um, I don't want to say too much because I don't want to ruin it, but you have to read it. All these books are available on my website as well, um, georgia'simpact.org. Um, my third book, which just came out, this is my newest one. Um, it is actually my first autism awareness series, and it's bringing awareness to um a little boy who is autistic. He's a he's not high functioning, he's not um low, he's kind of in the middle, I guess I can say. Um he has a problem with communicating. He can communicate a little bit, but he speaks with the device just like Georgia. So I wanted to bring awareness to the device and how it helps our kids, and also through his eyes and what he experiences um at school and being autistic, um, the different things and challenges that he faced as as a as a child. Okay. Um and his pictures, it's his name is Arden. Arden. Um, and the reason I say it's a series is because um it's a two-book series, which I believe a two or three book, I can't remember. Um, but it it doesn't end. It's kind of like a to be continued until the next one comes out.

SPEAKER_02 29:32

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 29:33

Um, so this book really um is a quick read and it really is good for kids because it'll feel like they accomplish something when they're done reading. So it's a children's book and it's good for them, uh, brings awareness to them um and what our kids' challenges are and seeing autism through their eyes.

SPEAKER_02 29:53

Nice.

SPEAKER_05 29:54

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_01 29:55

Okay. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 29:56

All right. Um, so growing up in Fresno, did you ever experience autism or did you like, do you are you aware of maybe any disability experiences like when you were younger that you may be able to share that are uh I guess relatable now, like looking from the other side?

SPEAKER_01 30:23

You're talking about like uh dealing with it within myself or my family or seeing it.

SPEAKER_02 30:28

Just like younger, like, okay, so I went to Fresno High, and I remember like, you know, RSP and like all the different programs, and in our school, you couldn't make fun of mentally this, you get beat up. Like they that's it was a lot of gangs and stuff, but right we knew the boundaries of who interacting, right? You know, what people was really on. So I'm just asking, like, did y'all like when you was growing up, did you see it from that side ever? Like, and then like to come and become a mother of uh children, child with the city.

SPEAKER_01 31:02

You know, to be honest with you, I didn't even know about autism growing up. I didn't even hear about it until I was a little older, maybe high school.

SPEAKER_02 31:10

I started to hear a little bit about it, but like any disability or health conditions in general, disabilities.

SPEAKER_01 31:17

Yes, you would see a lot of back then, they don't say it anymore, but back then it was all the retarded kids, you know. But I don't like that word.

SPEAKER_02 31:26

Yeah, we never used that word, but back then unless we was talking about somebody who was fully functional that we didn't like. Yes, yeah, right. You know, like a dumbass.

SPEAKER_01 31:32

But I did see a lot of Down syndrome kids and stuff like that. And I never made fun of anybody, right? But in my head, I was just like, oh, what's wrong with them? Like I didn't understand disability. No awareness. It was no awareness. No awareness at all. Um, I did not like to see them getting bullied or talked about or laughed about. It it hurt to see that. Um, but I dare not say anything because, like I said, I was bullied. Okay. I was laughed at. So I guess being on both sides of the fence, seeing it and also being bullied, it just kind of like humbled you. Okay. You know, it just kind of made you go, you know. Um, but yeah, now being a mother of a child with a disability, it does make you more passionate and make you want to go even harder because of your experiences and the things that you saw.

unknown 32:21

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 32:22

And the segue of that question is how have the school systems helped you or failed you in that manner? As far as, you know.

SPEAKER_01 32:32

Um I've been blessed, I guess I can say, because Georgia has had amazing teachers and amazing support um within Central Unified School District. I'm blessed on that end of it. Now, I have ran across a few uh one or two teachers that, you know, felt like they did not have to listen to what my request was when it came to my daughter because I'm one of those parents I will pull up and I will watch. And I pulled up one day, and just to say, my daughter with cystic fibrosis, she can't be out in the cold. Um, she gets sick really quick. So they were told that when she goes outside, she needs to have her hat on, she needs to have her coat on. I pull up, I'm sitting in the parking lot, I see her come out of the class, go to the bathroom with nothing on. And um, I am also one of those parents that I will speak up for my child and I will say something. I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna not say anything.

SPEAKER_02 33:35

Bite your tongue.

SPEAKER_01 33:36

Um so I did bring it to the to their attention.

SPEAKER_02 33:39

Um it addressed it. They addressed it and did they acknowledge it? They did. Okay, nice.

SPEAKER_01 33:44

Um, and also with CF, my daughter cannot be in the same room or same vicinity with someone else. With CF, they will trans transfer uh germs or yeah. So they were wanting me to transfer my daughter out of the school because there was someone else. And I said, she's not going nowhere. Um as long as they're not in the same class or they're not eating lunch at the same time, they're okay. So there's a lot of different aspects to CF, but um back to the question. Um, yes, the school, I don't feel, I don't feel like I don't want to say they're they failed me, because I don't feel like they failed me, but I feel like there's so much that needs to improve within the school district. Um, like I was saying, our bus drivers, um I feel like it's unfair to them that they are not aware of the kids' disabilities and what they're uh what they can do or what um how they can react or what can trigger them when they're driving our kids around. They're not aware of like neurodivergency manners. They're not aware of the the things our kids are capable of. Okay. Um, this is a bus driver that is driving our kids.

SPEAKER_02 34:54

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 34:55

My daughter is very capable. If she's not buckled in, she will get up and she will attack you. Okay. We can't have these kids attacking our bus drivers when they're driving. That's dangerous.

SPEAKER_02 35:03

Jeopardizing everybody.

SPEAKER_01 35:05

Um, I feel like there needs to be more training with our bus drivers. Um, it doesn't hurt to have someone like me to come in and speak with our bus drivers and let them know about autism and the different things that can come along with that. Um, the same with any other disabilities that our kids have, they need to be aware of who they're transporting and what they're capable of. Um and I feel like cameras should be in these classrooms. There's so many kids that are being abused and treated very badly in these daycares and school systems, um, and there's no cameras. These, when they know they can get away with it, it gets worse.

SPEAKER_02 35:44

Um, some of these stories you've been telling me off camera about that is it's just horrific, right? Yeah, it's very horrific. And if we all had to watch it, it wouldn't be the easiest, right? So I just want to do this exercise with everybody, and just really for everybody watching. On the count of three, everybody say neurodivergency. One, two, three. Neurodivergency. So we're bringing awareness to this, right?

SPEAKER_01 36:19

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 36:20

After that, you're gonna look it up. You should go find some type of interest in why we're emphasizing on this because it can be, you don't know how this works, it can instantly be a part of your lifestyle, you know what I mean? And you can't just cut it off, you can't resolve it. You know what I mean? This is this is serious, right?

SPEAKER_01 36:40

So my thing is taking for granted. Um, that was big for me, is taking for granted I have four kids before Georgia.

SPEAKER_02 36:46

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 36:47

You can't take for granted having a child. Right. You know, people is popping off babies and having babies, and oh, oh, I'll just have another one. I want to have a little my thing was I wanted to have another little girl. Right. Because I had one daughter, three sons after her. I want to have another daughter. I want to have another daughter. Um, and we can't take for granted having a normal child, especially nowadays. Right. Um, and I feel like at first I didn't feel this way, but now I do feel blessed, and I feel like Georgia is here for a reason. She's here for a reason. But when she was diagnosed, when she was born, and I got that little girl, I was so happy.

SPEAKER_02 37:24

Let's go.

SPEAKER_01 37:24

I was like, God finally heard me, heard a prayer. Thank you. I got my daughter. I was so happy until I got that phone call. That changed our lives forever. And all I'm saying is never take for granted having a child that don't have disabilities. Don't take for granted life. Don't take for granted the things you are able to do because I'm not able to go take a nap. I'm not able to eat dinner in peace. I'm not able to just go to sleep. I'm waking up every hour, every two hours. It's like having a baby for 17 years. So all the things we take for granted in life, we can stop this, what we're doing right now. Everybody can go home and probably take a nap. I can't. My life keeps nonstop. I have to go home. I have to see, does she has she pottied on herself? Do I need to change her? Um, sometimes she can't feed herself, she has motor deficits, she can't dress herself. I'm a care provider, I'm a nurse, I'm a doctor, I'm everything.

SPEAKER_02 38:28

A mom.

SPEAKER_01 38:29

And everybody goes, how do you still smile? How do you even get through the day? How do you still be able to keep going?

SPEAKER_02 38:36

The grace of God. And with that, I want to ask this final question. And you, I hope you say the answer that you told me.

SPEAKER_05 38:44

So on the spot now.

SPEAKER_02 38:46

On the spot now. I really want to make this the content piece that really engages on a level where it's sincere and just it just it changes. Like it really brings, like, yo, this is the topic for the conversation. What has Georgia taught you that no one else could?

SPEAKER_01 39:04

Strength.

SPEAKER_02 39:06

And she answered it. Perfect. I'll let you allow it. Come on. Come on.

SPEAKER_01 39:11

Umest people I've ever met in my entire life. The things that this little girl has gone through that I speak of in my book, I don't even know how she got through it. And um, that's what helps me keep going every day because I'm like, if she can get through that, I can get through this. I literally pull my strength from her. Um I talk about the things I go through and my experiences and my challenges and my this and my that. But she's the one living with autism. What is life like through her eyes? I can't imagine. But I know one thing, I'll never leave her side. I will be right here fighting for her and with her as long as I live. Because I I I I just cannot imagine what autism is like for our children. How do you just imagine being somewhere and seeing something and wanting to say something but can't? Wanting to express how you feel that something is hurting or something is bothering you and you can't. That's what life is like for my daughter. I have to figure it out. I'm like, what's wrong? Why are you crying? What's a I'm gonna tell you a quick incident that happened. She came home from school on the bus, and I got her off the bus. Um, I was getting her off the bus, and I noticed her hand was covered in blood. And she was crying and screaming, and I go, What's wrong? What happened? I'm thinking, did she scratch herself, or didn't the bus driver say, I don't know, it must have just happened. And um, I said, Okay, you know, I get her in the house and I clean off her hand, and um and I noticed she had like cuts on her finger, and I'm still wondering what happened.

SPEAKER_02 41:09

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_01 41:09

Now I'm starting to get mad. You know, what's going on?

SPEAKER_02 41:13

Right, how nobody don't know.

Loneliness Burnout And Hard Truths

SPEAKER_01 41:14

So I don't know in that moment what happened. I want to say she smiled or she thought something was funny, and her tooth was chipped in a circle. And I remember the bus driver saying, right when I turned on the street, she started banging her head on the bus window. So when she was banging her head, she chipped her tooth in a perfect fang. And my daughter's go-to thing is her finger when she's mad. So imagine chipping your tooth into a fang, and now you're biting your finger. So she was splitting, just cutting her finger up as she was biting it. I had to call the dentist. Emergency dental visit, because there's no way I can leave her tooth like this. Thank God for Dr. Conko at California Kids Dentistry, the best dentist for autism kids. He said, get her in here right away. He bought my books. He is such a supporter. I love it. Um, but I got there, he fixed her tooth, it looked like nothing ever happened.

SPEAKER_02 42:15

Let's go, Dr. Conko.

SPEAKER_01 42:17

But that's just one of the things living through a child living with autism. Like, you know, it could have been something hurting her or bothering her, and she can't express it, so she aggresses. Yeah. You know, or it could be a child on the bus that is screaming that will trigger her. We don't know. Um, so yeah, she's definitely my strength. Um, I I can't, I don't even want to talk all day, but there's there's just things that she's been through being in the hospital so many times. Um, my daughter has really tiny, tiny, tiny, rolling veins. So every time she goes into the hospital, they have a hard time finding her vein to start IVs. I stopped counting one time at 22 times.

SPEAKER_02 43:08

22 times what?

SPEAKER_01 43:09

Trying to get an IV in.

SPEAKER_02 43:11

Oh.

SPEAKER_01 43:12

I stopped counting at 22 times. This was just one time. Every time she went to the hospital, it was this. They cannot get an IV in. She's dehydrating, she's vomiting, can't get an IV. They were poking her in the foot, in the hand, in the legs, and they end up having to put one in her neck, and it broke me. When I tell you I broke down as a mom, my daughter does not talk. I talk about this in my book. I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_02 43:38

It's in the book.

SPEAKER_01 43:39

I broke down in the I was in the hallway because I could not be in there to see them put this IV in my daughter's neck who cannot speak. And do you know my daughter spoke that day? I can hear her in the all hallway screaming, all done, all done, all done. And I just broke again. Because she could take a lot. She has a high tolerance of pain. But for her to say all done, she was hurting. She was tired. We have been going through this all day. We had ultrasound text coming in trying to get IVs in. And I tell y'all that right before the neck incident, they got an IV in. And my daughter ended up, her hand started swelling up because the fluid was going in her arm. And her hand looked like a baseball. So they had to take it out and we had to do it again. So that being said, I told them I'm not leaving this hospital until you put in a metaport because I can't keep going through this. So they did end up putting a metaport in her chest. So now they could just activate the port and not have to poker again. But that's what I mean by my daughter has been through so much that I just I don't even know how she got through it. I know the grace of God and having a good mom like me by her side helped, I'm sure. But some things you just can't do. But she's been through. Yeah, you can't explain it. The best way I can explain it is in the book.

SPEAKER_02 45:08

And with that being said, the book is available on Georgia's Impact.org. Georgia with a J J O R G I A S.

SPEAKER_01 45:17

Georgia's Impact. Journey of a Real Gift inside autism. Journey of a real gift inside autism. Because I want people to understand, even though it's autism, it's still a gift. Find your gift.

unknown 45:32

Wow.

SPEAKER_04 45:34

That is beautiful.

SPEAKER_03 45:37

Yeah, I mean, thank you again for allowing us to interview you, and thank you for being on the podcast because I mean that's a story that I feel like a lot of people need to hear. Absolutely. The recognition of autism, um, the acknowledgement of it, the lack there is of it in this current day and age, even even with as big as social media is right now, I think um it needs more recognition and it deserves it. And and and I just wanted to say thank you for allowing us to be on this here on this podcast and telling your story.

SPEAKER_04 46:08

And we appreciate you educating everybody that's listening and watching um because it is important. And what you do is important and it's impactful, and we're blessed to be a part of it. Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 46:19

We need you, absolutely. You know, is that again traumatic, it's uh it's an understatement, but yes, the experience needs to be talked about in the most extreme manner so people can wake up, right? You know, if it's just lala la, people can take it for what it is, but when it's like, nah, this is serious, yeah. I think that kind of help people engage better and start at the beginning and say, okay, let me get involved. Because it's a lot of good people in the world that they just don't know where to initiate the engagement. So with extreme measures come extreme causes. So that's beautiful.

SPEAKER_03 46:56

I hope the right audience finds you as well.

SPEAKER_01 46:59

Yes, I was gonna say please find us on YouTube at Georgia's Journey. J-O-R-G-I-A, Georgia's Journey. I'm on Instagram and Facebook, Lashawn Tony, and TikTok, Georgia's Journey. Don't ask me why it's like that, but it is. Um, but follow us, find our story on YouTube. I'm vlogging our journey every day. Um, you're seeing Georgia, you're seeing me in the rawness and honesty of this journey. Um, I am also uh I also have my own podcast, Embrace the Impact. You can find us on YouTube, uh, Sierra and LaShawn Embrace the Impact. Sierra is my co-host who's also an autism mom. Um, I'm also Georgia's Impact here in the community in Fresno. Um, like I said, April 18th, we will be having our autism walk and autism awareness day. So please come out and support. I will be posting the flyer on my social media with all the information and the other programs as well. So thank you, Brogue Boys, and thank you, Kesi, for inviting me. We will keep advocating and speaking about autism because our journey never ends.

SPEAKER_02 48:09

Come on, absolutely. Shout out to Georgia for being so strong, girl. Thank you. And give us a reason.

SPEAKER_03 48:15

I just wanted to ask one last thing. If you could leave a message for anyone, um, any autism parents that are out there currently dealing with battles that may relate to you, uh, what's the message you would leave to them?

SPEAKER_01 48:26

Uh my message would be you are definitely not alone. Georgia's impact, especially. Um, we are here because we see you, we hear you, we understand. And we will not stop fighting. Don't stop fighting, don't give up because there is hope. I never thought that um Georgia would speak as much as she's speaking now. Um, I never thought Georgia would be doing the things she's doing now. Georgia has a job now. She works at Waldo one hour a week through her program at school, and I am so proud of her. A lot of people wouldn't think that's much. But for us, as I always say, it's the small things that matter. So don't give up. There is hope. Keep believing in yourself, believe in your child. Don't give up, keep speaking, keep fighting, and just know that we are all in this together. Wow. Well said, well said. Well said. Nice. Oh my God, can I please say thank you so much to Jalen Johnson from the Chicago Bears for making Georgia's Impact Foundation part of my cause, my cleats this year was such an honor. And I just want to say thank you so much, Jalen. It meant the world to us um to advocate and support us in that way. So thank you so much. That's all. Sorry. Thank you so much. No, you're good. Yeah, thank you.

SPEAKER_04 49:53

Thank you to everybody uh listening. We appreciate you guys. You guys have a good night. Peace. Love you.

SPEAKER_01 49:58

Bye. Thank you.

unknown 50:01

Woo! It was insanely good. Oh my gosh. Thank you.