Paul Cimins :Raising Autism Awareness: The Impact of Hope Saves the Day Podcast and Autism Radio

Welcome to Why Not Me the World? Podcast hosted by
Tony Mantor, broadcasting from Music City, USA, Nashville, Tennessee. Join
us as our guests tell us their stories. Some will
make you laugh, some will make you cry. Real life
people who will inspire and show that you are not
alone in this world. Hopefully you'll gain more awareness, acceptance,
and a better understanding for autism around the world. Hi,
I'm Tony Mantor, and welcome to Why Not Me the World.
Today's guest is Paul Simmons. He is the founder of
Autism Radio and Hope Saves the Day podcast. His stories
are going to be stories of inspiration and never giving up,
and I'm just so happy to have him on our show.
Thanks for coming on, Paul, No, thank you. So tell
us a little bit about Autism Radio and Hope Saves
the Day.
So, Autism Radio actually started in twenty ten, that's kind
of when we became a nonprofit five oh one c
three organization, Hope Saves Day, which is our podcast that
started in two thousand and seven actually when podcasting was
very very early on. Again, just you know, I was
sitting on the couch had surgery, recovering from surgery and
was thinking about there was an organization called KOSEK at
the time, which is now Autism New Jersey, and we
got to go to some support groups which were really
great roots support groups and got some great information and honestly,
we felt not so alone, right, I mean, I think
that was the big thing for me, was just having
some other parents that we could talk to that have
been through, you know, the diagnosis of autism and actually
had kids that were even you know, almost teenagers at
the time, so they were dealing with it much much
longer than we were. And that really resonated deeply with myself,
you know, having that information. But the hard part was
I found, you know, finding the time to go to
a support group when you work a full time job.
You need a babysitter, right, And it was this whole thing.
And and I started learning about podcasts and I was like, oh,
this whole thing about podcasts. I wonder if I could
put a podcast talking about autism, kind of like the
support group, but putting it online. And that's kind of
where the idea sparked from, you know. And it was
a thirty minute show and it was kind of like
basically was trying to get some information out there, but
also sharing from where people didn't feel so alone. I mean,
that was the whole correlation for me being a parent.
I love the fact that you use the term not alone,
because I've been using that for quite a while. And
part of the reason is because I talked with a
twenty four year old kid that was diagnosed autistic at
eight years old, and he told me that he was
bullied and felt alone through high school because of it.
And in this world, we should not have anybody that's
ever feeling alone. So I think there's two things that
we need to do. Is correct that so that people
don't feel alone, and then the next thing is to
bring more understanding into it so that maybe people will
realize what's going on with autistic people, so that they
can help them, guide them, be nice to them, and
just generally help them through life so that they don't
feel alone.
No, that's a big point, Tony. I mean, I think
that's huge because under standing is part of our journey
here too. At Autism Radio is also to talk about
the topic of autism, but to break it down into
different layers so that a lot of the narrow, typical,
you know, people understand it, right. You know, you get
somebody off the street and they see my son making noise, right,
they have no idea what's going on, or maybe he's
acting out. They think he's just misbehaving. Well, you know,
obviously there's a cognitive development disability there that he has,
and really need to educate people on that and that
and I usually take that opportunity if I get the
dirty looks or something, rather than getting mad and upset,
I try to talk to the person and educate him.
Sometimes they're receptive, sometimes they're not, But I try to
do it in a in a nice kind way where
just to you know, educate somebody that may not understand.
And by the time they walk away, they're like, wow,
you know that's I didn't know that and uh, and
that's and that's a good thing.
Yes, that's a very good thing. Because the more knowledge
that you can pass along to others, and the more
knowledge that people can find out just will help make
things a little bit easier so that when they do
see someone this autistic out and about and they might
have an episode or whatever, they don't feel as threatened
or they don't feel as as if they're going to
take and say the wrong things and insult anybody.
Yeah, no, that's I think it's great. I mean again,
I know we got a chance to talk the other
day and get to know one another with your background
and again, you know, someone that's not directly connected to autism,
and the fact that you want to you know, raise,
like you said, awareness, acceptance and understanding. Coming from someone
that really doesn't have a direct, you know, connection with
autism directly, you know that that's a big that's a
big deal because you know, I think you can do
something very special with that. Again, just bringing that awareness
and acceptance and under standing from from a different perspective
because myself, again you know, coming from a parent's lens,
it's it's gonna be a little bit different. You know,
I've I've kind of like lived a life, and you know,
everybody that has a child with autism has a child
with autism because they're all individuals and they're all very different. Yes,
there are some correlations and some similarities of maybe a
situation I've been through similar whereas other parents may not
have gone through that situation. And I think that's what
you know, really stands out when you talk about the
mysteries of autism because they're they're they're very different, you know,
and you have individuals where you know, there is a
lot of changes too with with autism because you know,
when I first heard the word autism, I mean the
first thing I thought of was the rain Man movie,
which you know Tom Cruise and Dustin Hoffmann. I mean,
that was the only really correlation or understanding I had.
And you know, it's very different, you know, kind of
interpretation by Hollywood that shows a totally different side of autism.
And I couldn't relate because when I looked at my
son and the things he was doing, uh, there was
no there was no you know, likeness like that, you know,
is very different. So again, there's so multiple different levels
of the autism spectrum, and that's why it's such you know,
it's such a broad spectrum, you know, and you have
like you talk about, you know, celebrities that have autism.
They say, like Elon Musk, one of the most famous
individuals you know out there, super smart guy and super wealthy.
You know, he says he's on the spectrum. Right. So again,
temp doctor Temple Grant and who's a personal friend of mine,
is one of the most successful authors, and and you know,
she she did things that you know, having such a
special mind and the way you know, she calls thinking
in pictures and that's how her work, where she was
able to make calculations in her brain where she could
literally see the vision and you know, figure out a
way how to bring cattle through you know. Again, I
know it's probably not a fun topic, but to the
slaughter houses, but she found a way to bring you know,
cattle and they were relaxed in a much more comfortable manner,
which led to actually better quality meat and just a
better experience for the animals itself, you know. And again
she developed this all in her mind, the brilliant woman,
you know. And she also talks about a lot of
insight on autism, you know, from a different perspective of
growing up with autism because when she was first you know,
when she was born and she was developing, you know,
she had limited speech and almost was like nonverbal at
that time, and she really lacked a lot of skills
in her mother. She gives her mom a tremendous amount
of credit for really pushing her outside the limits because
I think again back then, you know, they would probably
put her in some kind of a mental you know,
institution put her in a room because that's how they
kind of dealt with disabilities and stuff back then, which
was really sad. And we've progressed, you know, a long
way these days with special needs and just how we
approach it.
Yeah. Thanks have changed so much over the last several years,
and that's really good. Now, your son was diagnosed and
that was about the same time that you launched Hope
Stays a Day.
Is that correct son was diagnosed, which was about two
thousand and seven, right around the same time the idea
and this podcast, you know, Hope Saves a Day that
I developed and started and we syndicated our program and
we got lucky enough where a program got syndicated in
two thousand and nine and we reached a lot of people.
Yeah, that's always great. I'm sure you must have some
good stories from that.
I think one of the big things that always stands
out was one of my first listeners. It was a
single mom had actually out of Dallas, Texas. I'll never forget.
I got an email because we had a Gmail account
at the time, which was you know, kind of new too,
and you know, she sent me an email and she says,
you know, she listened to the show. It was like
two o'clock in the morning, and she was going through
a really hard time, you know, being a single parent.
And you know, she again said that she was going
to a really dark place and she heard my story
and again it really resonated with her that she didn't
feel alone. And that's that was a real life example
of someone going through something really difficult and actually listening
to the program and got something out of it and
connected with her and she reached out to me and
we've been in contact for since two thousand and seven.
I mean, that's incredible. It developed a relationship with her
and her son is now twenty three years old and
doing very very well. We actually were able to provide
her services over the year years as well for speech
and language and the one, the one really cool story
I like to share one of the first families we helped,
it was her. We got her an iPad and a
speech pathologist to come into her home and work with
her son, and within nine months of using the iPad
and the therapy, she was able her son was able
to say Mommy, I love you on the iPad to her.
That's such an awesome story and all for the price
of an iPad. Money well spent. That must have just
made you feel so good.
That was a very special moment for me and realized
I was onto something. It's like, you know what, I
need to be able to do more, And that really
was the driver behind us wanting to help more people.
And again we're one hundred percent volunteer organization. I've been
doing this since twenty ten. But again, you know, it
was like we weren't even ones rain I wasn't even
born at the time. We were just a podcast, but
you know we wanted I just took money out of
my own pocket and I did this, and I said,
you know what we got. We got to become an
profits that we can do more.
Well, that's something to really be proud of. And it's
really awesome the accomplishment that you've done with Hope says today,
being a tremendous podcast and now you've got Autism Radio
where you speak with people that help people all time.
You know, I think the big thing for me too was,
you know, once after a certain point, started bringing some
experts on our program. You know, we've had a lot
of I've told you a lot of celebrities have kind
of on our show as well and sharing stories of
hope as well and inspirational stories. But you know, just
having a lot of the experts come on the program
and having our listeners right in you know, questions for
them and being able to answer them on the show
where was real, real big deal too, because you know,
coming from a professional lens and some of the parents
were able to apply some of that you know kind
of feedback or information and it actually helped them, which
was which was really special because again, it's all about
connecting the dots. I always kind of consider myself, you know.
I know a lot of times, you know, you hear
autism is a puzzle, and I know some organizations a
lot of people use the puzzle pieces. And I always said,
you know, I just want to be a piece of
a puzzle. And if I can help connect some of
the dots or connect that puzzle, you know that that
I'm doing my job, you know. And again, I love
what we do. Again, I do this as a volunteer.
And you know, who knew our program was going to
reach over eight two million people worldwide? Now, I mean
it's incredible that it's a monster number. And you know,
been doing it a really long time now, and you know,
kind of became, you know, the first radio syndicated radio
show in the world that talks about autism. So I'm
kind of proud of that, obviously.
And it's a great thing to be proud of. You've
done some major accomplishments in helping people. And I know
you feel this way just as I do after you've
talked with somebody or or felt like you've helped somebody,
Just to that warmth that you have that you know
that you've done something that's made a difference for somebody
in their life.
Yeah, No, it's a great feeling. It almost becomes like
a drug, Tony. I can tell you, like once you
start doing it and getting some people again giving you
feedback that you've helped them through something, you know. I
remember my daughter, at one time I was doing I
probably recorded two hundred episodes and it was a lot.
I mean, because you know, I'm doing a show every week,
and again, being syndicated, you have to do a new
program every week. That's part of the contract obligation. So
it is a lot of work. And my daughter and
I said, you know, I don't know, I want to
do this anymore. My daughter says, what Dad, you know?
And again, I have a daughter who's two and a
half years older than my son. She was probably about
twelve at the time, or thirteen, and she said, Dad,
you got to do this. People rely on you, like,
you know, what are they going to do without you?
And I was like, oh man, she just pulled it
to heartstrings. And I was like, you know, you're right.
Well, if she sees it at twelve, that says a
lot because most twelve year olds they're not paying attention
to what their dads do, and they're paying attention to
their friends. So I can say that, yeah, what you're
doing is really awesome and helps a lot of people,
no doubt.
Well, I brought her into the charity, right. You know.
She did a lot of the volunteer events that we
had and a lot of the fundraisers we used to have.
You know, every year we'd have like kind of like
a almost like a prom and it was like a dance,
and she would volunteer and come and we would just
you know, the kids would have a blast, and that
was really well, it was all about and actually the
parents could go off in the section and kind of
relax and we had tons of help on the floor,
you know, between aides and therapists and stuff and people
that volunteer at their time where we were able to.
You know, this is like, it's funny because Tim Tebow
Foundation does this big thing every year. We did this
probably ten years before Tim Tebow even existed, you know,
so but you know, we were probably one of the
first ones to start doing these proms back in the day.
It's been a big, big help to the community in
a way to celebrate the end of the year or two.
Well, that's awesome because I've always been a supporter of
help your local community as much as you can. So,
how old is your son now?
So my son is actually twenty years old. He'll be
twenty one next year. That's and that's a scary thing
because any parent that knows that's listening to your program,
you know, at the age of twenty one the age
out of the educational system, and there really is a
lack of services after your childhood's twenty one. There's very
few far in between facilities that have twenty one and
over available to them. You know, depending on anywhere you live,
you know, some states are better than others that have
some facilities and places, but there's really very few. It's
a shame. So, I mean one of my goals and
I think I maybe I shared this or maybe I didn't, Tony,
but you know, I've had plans. About five years ago,
I put together a plan which hopefully is going to
come to Fruition one of these days. Really trying to
work on it. But whole village where the whole village
would be developed for individuals that are twenty one and
over have a place to go, whether it's a day program,
they can go there for the day, whether parents are
working or even have you know, again some apartments where
they can have some living quarters. So that that is
kind of my vision again working in the senior living
realm world for the last you know, almost ten years now,
you know, learning that kind of side of the business
and understanding that is I would like to kind of
replicate almost that model, but into you know, disabilities, you know,
where they have a place to live.
And the unfortunate part is there's very few of them
around the country.
Yeah, this is true, This is true.
So have you heard of our place.
Nashville, Yes, yeah, I've heard of it.
Well, I've spoken with her several times and she tells
me that she's one of the few places in the
country that does what she does, and that's GOOT Housing
for autistic people and special needs.
Yeah, and it's it's it's really it's almost like an epidemic.
We're not really discussing honestly, because you know, you think
about in you know, national it's one in fifty five.
You know, children are being diagnosed with autism now. Again,
depending on where they are in the spectrum depends on
their level of care. Someone like my son, he needs
high level of care, so he needs you know, he
can't live on his own, so he's going to require
full care. And I think the greatest fear for me,
and I always say this, is that when I'm not here,
what happens to them? You know, who's going to take
care of them? And that, you know, because I'm not
going to live forever. Unfortunately, I hope I live a
long time. But you know, I'm taking care of him
and that is a that is a big fear because
I am his caregiver. You know, I do all his
hygiene and I brush his teeth, I give him showers.
You know, I'm responsible for a lot of a lot
of his care. Sure, and you know, he's unable to
really take care of himself, you know, in a lot
of ways. I mean, now he can do some things
which you know, to some people they take for granted,
Like now he can tie his shoes, he gets himself dressed,
he remembers to put on deodorant. He still doesn't know
how to brush his teeth right, so he needs help
with that. He needs his teeth brushed by me or
my wife, you know. And again he can't feed himself really,
I mean, he'll eat anything. He doesn't realize what he's eating.
He'll just eat. So we do all his cooking and
you know, making his food. So he needs a lot
of can.
Yeah, there's a lot of things healthy that we take
for granted. And I think the biggest thing we need
is understanding and discussion, because we need more people to
understand what parents like yourself have to go through. And
if we can just get people to the table to
discuss it and get a better level of understanding of
the needs of artistic people at different levels, because there
are different levels of the spectrum, as you were saying,
then maybe we could make progress and really help those
that need to be helped.
You know, you think about this and most people don't,
you know, obviously, you know, we're not talking about autism
being a disease. But like when you look at other
things like cancer, and you look at other you know,
there's so many centers, there's there's billions and billions of
dollars being raised, and then when you look at autism,
it's like the lowest one when compared to all the
other charities and all the causes. But yet we have
one of fifty five being diagnosed with autism. That's a
huge number.
That's a huge number. I've also heard that one in
seven people worldwide either know someone or have someone this
autistic in their family.
I know, those are big numbers, and I think it's
just being you know, I think sometimes and again maybe
you know, obviously working in this world in the autism
field for you know, sixteen years now and doing the show,
you know, I look at autism obviously. You know, April
it gets its kind of highlight for the month of April.
You know, we kick it off with World or Autism
Awareness Month, and then of course, you know, then we
have Autism Awareness Month, and then we have World to
Autism Awareness Day, you know, which is April second every year,
and you know it's good that we have that, but
then what happens as soon as April goes away, It's like,
well forgot, you know, And the thing is the year,
you know, we're still going through this each and every
day and we live it, so you know, it's a
little different. And I guess you know, you think about
cancer obviously, just using that obviously we've probably all had
somebody unfortunately either died or had cancer at one point.
It's very you know, it's very prevalent. We understand that,
and definitely we need to come up with a cure
and treatments, better treatments and all that. It's very very important.
I just lost an aunt recently to cancer, unfortunately, and
you know, it's it's you know, but I almost feel
like autism needs as much attention as something like that,
because it is an epidemic today.
Absolutely. My opinion is this. When I was working on
my video, I told a friend of mine I was
going to include autistic people from Nashville in my video.
She says to me, how can you do that? My
response was, why would you ask that? She says, well,
autistic people look just like you and I do. So
I think that people have a hard time digging into
their pockets to give money to a charity that the
face of that charity is, well, looks just like you
and me. So the only difference is is they don't
realize that part of the issues that need to be
addressed is on the inside, not just the outside.
Yeah, it's interesting because you know, we talked about I
was talking to a parent who has a child with
Down syndrome and autism. You know, so as dual diagnosis.
Obviously was born with Down syndrome, and you know, they
raise actually more money for Down syndrome than autism. And
because I think you can identify, you can see, it's visible.
Yeah, and that's unfortunately what makes it really rough for
charities that support autism to get money. But it does
make us creative, and the more creativity we can come
up with, hopefully, the more money we can raise to
help the autistic charities.
No. Absolutely, and you know, one of my favorite things.
I don't know if I got a chance to tell
you this, but we do hope for the holidays, which
this year we did one hundred and thirty five families
that were able to help for the holidays, and that
was like so cool. We picked twelve families this year
to go to their houses and we brought gifts, you know,
Sandy comes with the elves and everything, and it was
really just a really awesome moment to be able to
go and then also give the family some money that
they could use it for whatever they want and food,
you know, whatever it was, and you know, we were
able to do that, and it was just it was
just amazing when you get to go in someone's house
and actually see their situation and be able to give
them some relief and some help, you know, real help
that makes a difference around the holidays and putting a
smile on her face is you know, to me, it
is worth it. You know, nobody could give me an
amount of money to replace that feeling. Honestly, somebody could
hand me a million dollars. I don't think I'd be
as happy as I was that day, I gotta be honest,
because it was. It was the most gratifying. Just fills
your heart with love and just I can't I can't
even put it towards but just it's a special moment
to be able to do that, And honestly, I consider
myself lucky to be able to experience that in my
life because you know, I always say to myself, you know,
those moments are forever ingrained in my heart and my soul.
Yeah, and those type of moments you can't fake, you know,
they're they're real there. They make a difference in people's
lives and make a difference in your life. And it's
just something that's that some people never get a chance
to feel that kind of special.
Yeah, now it's funny you say that. So I got
an email from one of the moms that we helped.
We went to her house and she says, you know,
you have no idea, like we'll never forget this moment,
Like you came in and it was and it seemed
like it's always interesting when you go into someone's life
and help them. It seems to be at the right time,
the right place. Like they were going through really like
dark times as a family and everything, and we just happened.
You know. The one mom has two disabled children and
you know, the grandmother was sick, and it was just
like the perfect storm and we went in there and
we gave them money for all kinds of things, and
we brought tons of presents wrapped and gifts, and it
just like it just looked like a weight was lifted
on mom for that moment. And I could feel it
in the hug when she gave me the hug, like
you could just feel the warmth and the love and
it was like, oh my god. And it was like
such a tearful special moment, like oh my god, it
was just it was amazing. It was like it was
almost like the magic like you know, you see these
movies in Hollywood, like these Christmas stories and all these things.
That was the real thing, Like it was the real deal.
And it was like and to this day, I still
hear from her like she still hasn't forgotten. And Christmas
was what how many months ago, you know, and she's
still like on a high from that. She goes. That
got me through every day, like I think about that
day and how special it was. And her daughter, you know,
she could speak, but she's limited, but she's she loves Santa.
And it actually was again it was like a perfect
moment because the day before, Santa was supposed to come
by in a fire truck and I guess she was
waiting outside for hours and it didn't go down that
street and never saw them. And then Santa just happened
to show up at her house the next day with
gifts and spend time in her house, and her daughter
just blown away and she says, my Mama sanding it
at my house, San and she was so excited. It
was just an amazing special moment.
Yeah, and it's moments like that that they will remember,
but so will you, because it's just not every day
that you get to do something that's just that good.
No, it's true. I mean, just telling you a story,
like I could feel the warmth in my heart because
how that felt. Like even for me, I need to
sometimes remind myself of that moment too, because you know,
we go through our days. We were busy, we're stressed
or this or that, and like, when I think about
that one particular family, I mean, they're all special, but
that one particular family with that situation, it's just like, Wow,
that was just one of the best, one of the
best days of my.
Life, and I'm sure it was probably one of the
best days of that family's life as well.
You Know, one thing she said to me is that
I think it gave her faith of humanity again. You
know it really it showed her that, you know, there's
there's people out there that do good things.
Well, I really uh, I really like what you're doing.
I think what you're doing is is you know, not
just for your your son, but what you're doing for
other people, you know, with your with your charity and
with your with your podcast. I think, uh, you know,
I think that makes a difference. And if you can
make a difference at the end of the day, you know,
then then it's a win.
Absolutely. And Tony, you want to got to come on
Hope Saves a Day too and be a guest on
our show and talk about your your journey again. I
know we're talking a little bit about it in your
show here too, but uh, you know, you're you're a
pretty interesting guy and done some pretty amazing things and
how you got here with this platform is kind of special.
So you're doing good work too. Remember that.
Well, I appreciate that, and I really do appreciate having
you join me on this show today. Uh. Just a
great conversation, great information, and there's just so much more
I know we could have got, but we just unfortunately
ran out of time. So thanks for being here.
Oh well, thank you.
Thanks for taking the time out of your busy schedule
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