By BROOKLYN BROWN
One Feather reporter
CHEROKEE, N.C. – On the afternoon of Sept. 18, Dinilawigi (Tribal Council) held a work session to discuss autism awareness on the Qualla Boundary. Chairperson Mike Parker thanked Candy Ross, Family Services manager at Qualla Boundary Head Start/Early Head Start, and Amanda Bradley, Family Support coordinator at Qualla Boundary Head Start/Early Head Start, for organizing the work session.
Ugvwiyuhi (Principal Chief) Michell Hicks gave opening remarks, “One of the things that I’ve heard from many of the parents in the community is just simply having a place to identify with the centralization of services,” Hicks said.
“There are roughly 250 students with IDDs (Intellectual and Development Disabilities) or autism. That’s a big number, and that big number needs a lot of focus.”
Hicks said a site visit of the old Tsali Care Center to map out potential centralized services is underway. “Another issue that’s raised is space and facilities. What can this look like? I think we have an opportunity. We’re still working through the old Tsali Care. There are some other children’s crisis ideas around that. There are other Family Safety related services. All child related. How does autism fit in this model? We’re going to be working that out.”
Several families spoke about their experiences and struggles in finding resources for their Cherokee children on the autism spectrum. Many shared the sentiment that localized resources are a dire need.
Karyl Frankiewicz, dressed in crown and sash as the current reigning Miss Supreme International, shared her testimony of being diagnosed with autism. “I didn’t want to admit to anybody that I was on the spectrum,” she said. “With help from Ms. Kathy Dolby, I was able to continue on with my schooling, graduate from high school, and I’m still in college working on my associates in early childhood education, but I had always kept that in the back of my mind, ‘Don’t show that I may be slower than everybody else.’”
“I ran for Miss Cherokee, won that, was able to keep up with the schedule and that stimulated me. Whenever I became Miss Indian North Carolina, one of my events was the autism event here. I ended up talking to this one little girl and I told her ‘I’m on the spectrum, too.’ I finally came out and admitted it. And they were like, ‘If you can be a state ambassador for Indigenous communities, I can be that, too.”
Frankiewicz is now using her platform in pageantry for autism awareness, “I’m on the spectrum. I should be proud of that. Whenever I became Miss Native American USA, my platform was called, ‘See the Able, not the Label.’”
CeAna Jackson shared her process of still discovering how to help her child navigate being diagnosed with autism. “When she got diagnosed, I felt like I was alone. I felt like I had nobody. I didn’t know where to go, I didn’t know who could relate to what I was going through,” she said.
Jackson credited Krisztina Teglassy, Certified Registered Nurse Practitioner (CRNP), with being the first person to answer her questions about her daughter. “Just like everyone else said, I’m very protective of my child. We need more doctors like her up there who can answer questions. We need help here.”
The work session ended with an action item for EBCI Public Health and Human Services (PHHS), Cherokee Indian Hospital Authority (CIHA), and other tribal entities to work toward expanding consolidated services for families on the Qualla Boundary.
