An 11 year old’s wish for the world

My daughter Brianna is 11 years old and just graduated from elementary school. She’s four years younger than her brother Joseph but always has been like a “big sister” to him because of his Autism.

She had an assignment at school to write about something she would change in the world to make it a better place and right away she thought about her brother. She’s so keen to make people more aware about Autism. It was all her idea as is the wording in her story!

She has her own issues with anxiety, so she is very empathetic to kids with disabilities or issues themselves. It is very tough for her having an older brother with Autism, she often feels like an only child, especially since her brother lives in a children’s residency to get the 24 hour care that he needs, but on a good note it is less than 10 minutes from home and she sees him very often. – Annie

If I can change one thing about the world today it would be to make more people aware of Autism. I would want my family and friends to join me on a walk-a-thon for Autism research in my community. I would also create a charity jar in which I can place part of my allowance each week until the jar is full, then choose a Autism charity for donation. I hope that more people will donate money for Autism research to help people like my brother live better lives.