Carol Tebay’s oldest son was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) when he was in Grade 5. She said it was challenging to understand at first.

“I didn’t really understand some of his behaviours, why he was reacting the way that he was and when we got that diagnosis, it was like this big lightbulb moment of like ‘okay, this is how he’s wired, he’s overwhelmed in these situations, this is why he’s responding that way.”

Tebay said more people need to understand what autism is because more kids are getting diagnosed with it.

“The more awareness that can be brought to the community, the more it can help with understanding and with acceptance.”

Tuesday is World Autism Awareness Day, and to celebrate, people are wearing blue. The United Nations started this international movement in 2007 to speak out against discrimination and to encourage the full inclusion of people with autism.

Tebay, who is the development coordinator at Autism Services of Saskatoon, said one in 66 people in Canada are diagnosed with ASD.

She said every person with autism is different.

“There’s a saying that says ‘if you’ve met one person with autism, you’ve met one person with autism.’”

People with autism often have difficulty reading social cues and are extremely sensitive - or not sensitive at all - to stimuli such as loud sounds and big crowds.

Tebay’s son has used the social programs and clubs at Autism Services of Saskatoon.

She said this not only helped her son, but it also provided her with support from other parents with autistic children.

“Having a child with autism can be really isolating because people don’t understand what’s going on. For my son, he looks like any other kid, so he might get overwhelmed in a situation, start to react, people are wondering what’s going on, I’m feeling embarrassed.

“It really makes a difference knowing that there’s parents who have gone through the same thing that you’ve gone through.”

The province’s new budget includes a $700,000 increase to the Autism Spectrum Disorder Individualized Funding Program. This increases the annual funding per child under six to $6,000 from $4,000. Autism Services of Saskatoon will receive an annualized funding increase of $100,000.

Tebay said they will be using this funding to develop a program that focuses on one-on-one therapy.

“One thing we’ve noticed is that people with autism experience mental illness more so than the regular population and youth – it’s four to five times more.”

She said people with autism often experience stress and anxiety in social situations where they don’t know how to react.

Saskatoon Public Schools partnered with Autism Services of Saskatoon to encourage students to wear blue for World Autism Awareness Day.

“It’s important to help kids in the school system understand the challenges that their peers are going through,” Tebay said.

The SaskTel Centre, the Prairie Wind Sculpture at River Landing and the Holiday Inn Express University will be lighting up blue Tuesday night in support of World Autism Awareness Day.

“I’m touched that there are more and more organizations in the community that recognize that there are all these people out there that have autism and we want to stand with them and bring that level of acceptance into the community,” Tebay said.