BRAWLEY — As Autism Awareness Month came to a close, several children on the spectrum, including 12-year-old Austin Morales of Brawley, gathered for a special appreciation moment, courtesy of the Brawley Police Department, the U.S. Border Patrol and city officials on Thursday, April 25.

Austin was not one to be shy or nervous around horses, or other animals for that matter, something that many people with autism have challenges with. His father, Michael Morales, used to be a part of the horse unit for the Border Patrol, and has encouraged Austin and his sisters to try riding horseback, among a multitude of pursuits.

“Don’t ever use your autism as a crutch; use it as a gift,” his mother, Heather, repeats to him as often as necessary. “‘You are Superman,’” she tells him. “‘You might not be like everybody else, but that’s good; you’re different, use it as a superpower.’”

While there is a wide range of behaviors that a person with autism can display, a common phrase repeated in the autism community is, “If you’ve met one person with autism, you’ve met one person with autism,” which essentially means that each individual with the disorder can have widely unique experiences, including specific behaviors and personality traits.

Austin and the Morales family joined friends with Autism Support of Imperial County, all of whom met at the Brawley police station with dozens of people eager to greet the group of horses and officials. The group rode around the town for a meet-and-greet petting hour, with children with autism as the special guests of appreciation. Children from the ASIC group, including Austin, held up a proud banner that listed their core beliefs including: “Accept,” “Support,” “Educate,” “Advocate,” and “Love.” 

Once the horses got their fill of attention, the ASIC group and community members led the group, with the horse posse behind them, all making their way to Brawley’s Foster Freeze ice cream shop where free ice cream was handed out, courtesy of Brawley Mayor Ramon Castro’s family business, Castro Realty Group.

James Gonzalez, president of ASIC and a proud autism dad, was present with other advocates at the Thursday evening event. “We are super excited to come join in this horse ride, and we always love when cities take a step forward and show their love to the community … it is awesome and we appreciate it greatly,” Gonzalez said, noting that they like to spell “awesome” with their personal ASIC touch of “AUSome.”

Austin was among the sugar-filled children who were all smiles after cooling off with refreshing ice cream and hanging out among horses. Over the last few years, Austin has opened up and talked to the community publicly about his autism at various events. He self-advocates, publicly educates and wants to spread awareness on autism to those unfamiliar, and more personally has a goal to empower other children with autism to not limit themselves.

“There’s other people out there in the world with autism and they don’t know how to do stuff like me,” Austin explained his rationale, in a private interview on Wednesday, April 24.

Super-Austin Elaborates on His Daily Life

Austin was an open book the day before the ceremonial ride through town, welcoming a chat about his unique experiences living on the spectrum, a topic he has even given speeches about. 

As Autism Awareness Month is officially over, the autism education doesn’t have to end in April, and Austin is not shy to educate others on how his brain works, empowered by groups like ASIC and parents that have pushed and encouraged him every step of the way.

Austin lives a “high-functioning” life with his autism — according to his parents — a phrase used sometimes in the autistic realms to describe the level of assistance one may require in day-to-day life. While Austin may have needed more tools to help him communicate as he was younger, his development, along with diligent efforts from his family, has empowered the Brawley boy to stop at nothing to reach his goals. The Morales family strives to give Austin a more independent life, which he has high aspirations for.

The 12-year-old said that he just has to take his problems one step at a time, leading a reporter over toward his household staircase on Wednesday afternoon. He said the staircase is a good example, saying, “You just have to do one thing at a time, and then move on to the next, and on to the next one.”

He was proud of the metaphor he came up with as part of one of his speeches. “It works like this till you’re an adult,” he said, climbing the stairs.

“Say you’re in the ‘mad zone’ and you don’t want to hit yourself, you just calm down, and take the steps one at a time until you handle the problem and start to feel good again,” he continued, walking back down the staircase, explaining some of his regulation tactics.

After a long process of fundraising and training, the Morales family was able to provide Austin with a service dog named Pacifica, that helps emotionally regulate him when he starts to have a “meltdown,” the common term for his moments of overwhelm.

“She comes to me when I feel like hitting myself or something. And it doesn’t just rarely show up or like you have a warning, ‘Oh, it’s going to show up.’ No. And it happens a lot, like a lot,” Austin explained.

“Other people have regular brains, but autism is really tricky, it’s tricky for kids,” he continued.

“Even when I do my schoolwork, I get distracted. I get easily distracted,” Austin explained, “I’ll grab this,” he said, grabbing a random object off the kitchen counter and setting it down, “or I’ll move around, or just really do anything else,” he shared, giving examples.

Having Pacifica in the picture has managed to all but prevent meltdowns from occurring at this point, with a close bonded connection to the 12-year-old. The German shepherd mix has helped Austin to be more aware in public, and he has to pay attention to his body and surroundings to protect his pup. “It redirects his attention, so he has to focus on her more, rather than all of the people around him,” Austin’s mom, Heather, explained.

“AUS”-ome Tools and Resources

Austin has been taught a variety of coping mechanisms to implement when he is struggling in various situations, and when it comes to schoolwork, he said, “A chewy helps me focus,” he grabbed a rubberlike Lego-shaped toy that he uses for a textured redirection of energy. Although Austin wasn’t exactly sure why the stimulating toy helped him, he said, “My brain has lots of things going on, so it helps me.”

Another tool to help focus was none other than a dose of good ol’ caffeine, in the form of an iced Starbucks Frappuccino, which serves as a calming agent to the young boy’s brain, allowing him to focus better, a tool that is closely monitored by the Morales parents.

Austin is a busy young boy and is active in jiu jitsu, practicing for a local play (“Wonka Jr.,” where he will be an Oompa Loompa), and even has two sleep-away summer trips planned in the next few months. 

“It’s important for his self-esteem to learn and gain independence,” mom Heather continued, talking about all of the extra curricular activities that she juggles with Austin during the week.

She mentioned that in the beginning, Austin’s attendance in jiu jitsu wasn’t consistent, but in the second year he has tried harder and gotten more interested in the activity and is interested in the discipline and concepts he learns every week. “We want him to be self-sufficient at some point,” Heather said on Wednesday, talking about all the activities that Austin participates in. She added that his goal is to get his license at 16, so they have a lot of skills to work on.

While Austin and his family stay busy with a variety of physical activities, they do attend autism-centric events to connect with other ASIC families, such as the Brawley horse ride on Thursday. Austin’s father, Michael, said, “It was a really good experience, especially in the beginning, with the exposure and community.”

Austin keeps to a routine, something that his brain thrives on. Along with the tight routine, Austin is held more accountable to his behaviors the older he is getting, working toward his goal of independence one day.

“Being high functioning, he understands what he does, and he gets even more on top of what he does, so when he has a meltdown he’ll ask himself ‘Why did I hit myself?’ and I’ll ask, ‘Did it solve the problem?’ ‘No’ ‘OK, what are we going to do instead?’” Heather explained, walking through one of the scenarios that plays out in the Morales household often.

“If we don’t stay on top of him now, it’s going to affect him later,” she said seriously. As far as any advice or lessons the Morales family has learned on their journey with autism, Heather said that it’s important to let kids know they’re autistic, and, “Let them know their triggers. It’s important for their understanding and growth.”

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