Testimonials

“As an autistic individual, I know the value in being part of a community that offers unconditional acceptance, understands our unique needs, and fully supports those needs – THAT is the community we have already built right here in Southeastern Wisconsin. However, our path has not always been an easy one. Since 2020, our organization has had to overcome many challenges brought on by the after-effects of the pandemic. Our Board began to focus on longer-term sustainability. We knew we provided amazing supports to our community, but we needed to rethink how we fund those supports and how our organization operates with the other two affiliates in our state. Ultimately, our new direction did not align with our national organization’s vision, and we had to part ways. But, today is a new day! Rebranding as our own individual entity provides us with unlimited opportunities to serve our community and puts us in a better position to be financially sustainable for the long term. We are leveraging our deep expertise and connections we have developed over our 50-year history as the State’s largest autism entity as we move forward into our next chapter. As part of this, we are thrilled to host our own 2025 Autism Conference, which will pay homage to the original Wisconsin Autism Conference we co-founded 36 years ago. This is just the start of big, exciting, and innovative program offerings we will be rolling out in the short-term. I am confident in our new path and eager to bring what we do best in Southeastern Wisconsin to the rest of the State as we move forward together as Autism United of Wisconsin!”

Kelly Backes, Board of Directors President