Sharing care: how Autism Surfs helped one boy

Gatlin has autism, and like many with autism, doesn’t get to experience the same activities as other kids. Autism Surfs changed that. All summer long, this organization gives Gatlin and other kids the opportunity to have fun and be themselves.

Transcript

00:00

RHONDA AYERS SWAFFORD: I think our family for Autism Surfs is so close because we're all the same. Gatlin gets to be part of something

00:06

that he's left out of always. It's a free time-- no judgment, no ridicule. Just be a kid, be happy, and surf.

00:14

[MUSIC PLAYING]

00:23

Gatlin is my youngest. And he is autistic, traumatically brain injured, nonverbal, and has a syringomyelia hole

00:29

that goes through his spine. I have to make decisions for Gatlin in everything that I do.

00:39

Autism is one of the most gut-wrenching kick in the teeth. Some days I do great, and some days I cry myself to sleep.

00:47

But it's one of the most wonderful things in the world because what you see is what you get. He's just trapped in there somewhere.

00:54

And we spend every day trying to figure out how to get it out of him. Autism Surfs is absolutely a fantastic organization

01:03

made up of the sweetest people in the world. Ricky Weeks is a friend of mine. Ricky's child is Christopher.

01:11

He's nonverbal, autistic also. And I knew that he surfed with Christopher. And I asked him if he could take Gatlin surfing.

01:18

So then I started showing him different autism surfing sites. I'd say, hey, look at this. Look at this. Look at this.

01:24

And he came in one day, and he goes, you know what? I'm going to do it. It's my purpose. RICKY WEEKS: This isn't really about a cure.

01:30

This is about us as families understanding we're not out here alone. We're going to make their days as full as possible.

01:38

RHONDA AYERS SWAFFORD: Gatlin loves surfing. He can't stay out of the water. It's a wonderful feeling for parents because we finally feel like they belong somewhere.

01:46

RICKY WEEKS: When you see them what it's like for them to stand up on the surfboard, and when they catch their first wave, and you're riding with them,

01:53

you see it in their faces. When they turn around, and you know they're ready to go again, you know you got something going on there. RHONDA AYERS SWAFFORD: Gatlin is a blessing to me.

02:02

I wouldn't give him up for a million dollars. He knows that I love him, and I know that he loves me.

02:09

[MUSIC PLAYING] He is-- he's Gatlin, and he's perfect.