LADUE, Mo. (First Alert 4) – The 2026 Community Autism Expo saw hundreds of people make their way through the doors of the St. Louis County Library Clarke Family branch.
More than 40 organizations from the St. Louis region are working together to provide resources and information to individuals with autism and their families.
“We are seeing so many people with autism thrive in our programs,” said Jessica Ingraham with music therapy group Different Dynamic.
This event is important to mother, Olaide Oluwole, “If we are just aware, we can know more about it, we can help them. Because every person with autism is different.”
Her son Dami was diagnosed with autism at the age of five and believes it’s important for others to learn more about the layers that come with it.
“You can’t just use a big blanket, but most of the time they are invisible and every family that has a person with autism can only tell you their own story, you don’t know what they are going through until you interact with them,” said Oluwole.
According to non-profit Autism Speaks, 1 in 31 children in the United States have autism. In that same study, they found millions of adults also live with it.
However, a late diagnosis is still possible, a situation all too familiar to this event’s founder, Adam Rosen.
“I received a late adult diagnosis at the age of 37, which is really something that is rare not everyone on the spectrum who gets through childhood with a diagnosis is able to do that but because I work at the library, which is a resource oriented organization, knew that I was in the position to make a difference and I decided in 2018 to go to my managers at my library branch which is one of the smaller branches and i proposed an outreach program, I wanted to reach young adults especially because once you age out of high school there are not a lot of resources available, although that is starting to change!”
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