Over this week of time, I got the opportunity to see some of the innerworkings on how our state is run, I made many friends who is still talk to after our week together. This week was important to me as I learned to further advocate for the health care needs of rural communities and those with food allergies.

At 10 years old I received a diagnoses for a tree nut allergy. I have volunteered for the Autism Society of North Carolina for years and have noticed that many children with autism also have allergies. I created social stories for children with autism, which are a tool used by parents, educators, and medical professionals to explain concepts to people with autism. I hope this will help people with autism better understand and manage their food allergies.

After creating the social stories, I have been attending events and spreading the resources to other organizations. In the attached picture I am sharing the resources with Autism Resource Specialists for the Autism Society of North Carolina. They are the first person a family calls when they need help for their child with autism.

I researched the important aspects of social stories and developed the four that I wanted to write (I Have a Food Allergy, I Have a Peanut Allergy, I Have a Tree Nut Allergy, and Food Allergy Symptoms). I worked with a designer to design the content in a visually understandable way. Then, I wrote a blog to explain the need for social stories and to educate parents about how to help their child with autism and food allergies. I presented this information to the Autism Society of North Carolina where I volunteer and the blog is the featured article in the May newsletter which is Allergy Awareness Month and the social stories are a resource on their website.

This National Asthma and Allergy Awareness Month. I wrote a blog and created social stories to educate people with autism on understanding their allergies. The blog and social stories were posted this week and the article was the featured topic of the newsletter this month. I will also be sharing this with FARE which is an organization for food allergies and education. Here is the link to the social stories: https://www.autismsociety-nc.org/social-narratives/ Here is the link to the blog: https://www.autismsociety-nc.org/autism-and-food-allergies/