Session 4: Autism & Race: Engaging Racially and Ethnically Diverse Communities in Autism Research

Presenters: Sarah Dababnah, PhD, MPH, MSW; Yetta Myrick; and Charina Reyes, MD, FAAP

About the session:

This session highlighted the current understanding of the impact of racism on access to diagnostic and intervention services for autistic people. The webinar focused on the intersection of autism and race on the experiences of autistic people.

About the presenters:

Dr. Dababnah's work focuses on developing and testing culturally responsive programs to support caregivers of children with autism. She is especially interested in improving intervention access for racially and ethnically diverse populations of children with autism and their families, as well as those living in low-resource settings, exposed to intimate partner violence or involved in the child welfare system.

Yetta Myrick is the mother of teenage son diagnosed with an Autism Spectrum Disorder and Intellectual Disability. She is the Founder and President of DC Autism Parents, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization in the District of Columbia. Ms. Myrick served as the Stakeholder Advisory Board Chair of the Patient Centered Outcome Research Institute Grant: A Community-Based Executive Function Intervention for Low Income Children with ADHD and ASD for the Center for Autism Spectrum Disorders (CASD) at Children’s National Hospital from 2013-2017. She then joined the CASD team fulltime from 2016-2019 as the Community Outreach Coordinator where she developed relationships with the autism community by establishing the CASD Stakeholder Advisory Board, leading family workshops, and creating and managing the monthly newsletter. Ms. Myrick has served as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Act Early Ambassador to the District of Columbia since 2016. She is currently leading the DC Act Early COVID-19 Response Team Project funded by the CDC and the Association of University Centers on Disabilities.

Charina Reyes, MD, FAAP is a Developmental Behavioral Pediatrician and Clinical Assistant Professor at the University of Maryland. Her current clinical focus is on the evaluation of children with developmental delays and autism spectrum disorder. Dr. Reyes’ research interests include health disparities and adverse childhood experiences in children with developmental disabilities, quality of life, transition to adulthood in individuals with autism, and health access in LMICs.

Session 4 Materials PDF

Session 4 Slides

Recorded on July 15, 2021