Episode 234 — Aviators for Autism
Guest: Antonio Ferarra • Date: December 12, 2024
Episode Overview
Antonio Ferrara, founder of Aviators for Autism, shares essential tips for stress-free air travel with a child on the spectrum. He spotlights a leading airline for special needs accommodations, practical TSA strategies, and how his nonprofit is breaking barriers to make air travel accessible while creating aviation career opportunities for the autism community.
About Antonio Ferarra
Antonio Ferrara, the founder of Aviators for Autism, brings a deeply personal connection to both autism and aviation. As the son of a commercial airline pilot, a parent of a non-verbal son on the autism spectrum, and a professional in the business aviation industry, Antonio was inspired to unite the two most impactful elements of his life. Through Aviators for Autism, he is dedicated to creating meaningful experiences, services, and opportunities not only for neurodivergent individuals and their families but also to highlight the valuable contributions neurodivergent individuals can bring to the aviation industry.
You’ll Discover
Tips To Overcome Travel Barriers for Families (6:34)
Success Strategies for Air Travel (11:23)
An Airline That Goes The Extra Mile For The Neurodiverse Community (19:17)
How The Aviation Industry Can Leverage Your Child’s Superpowers (24:46)
Referenced in This Episode
Full Transcript
Antonio Ferarra | 00:03
Families with a loved one on the autism spectrum don't use aviation for vacations or don't plan vacations in general. And I've seen a need there. I travel all the time. I see parents traveling through the airport with a loved one on the spectrum and, you know, seeing some of the issues that they're encountering in real time right in front of the whole airport for everybody to criticize or judge or whatever it is or offer help. There's tons of amazing people that see somebody in distress and they're like, at an airport and they reach out like, "How can we help you?" But with that being said, there's really not a pathway. For parents and individuals, one, to educate themselves on the things that they should do so they can utilize air travel, but as well as creating opportunities For employment, for me, my industry, there's a severe workforce shortage.
Cass Arcuri | 00:52
Want to truly be the best parent you can be and help your child thrive after their autism diagnosis? This podcast is for all in parents like you who know more is possible for your child.
Len Arcuri | 01:03
With each episode, we reveal a secret that empowers you to be the parent your child needs now, saving you time, energy, and money, and helping you focus on what truly matters most, your child.
Cass Arcuri | 01:14
I'm Cass. And I'm Len. Welcome to Autism Parenting Secrets.
Len Arcuri | 01:30
Hello and welcome to Autism Parenting Secrets. It's Len, and with me today is Antonio Ferrara. He is... Out there spreading his mission of really sharing his passion for aviation and specifically This conversation is really going to focus on what you, the parent, could do to really stack the deck for success. For airplane travel with your child, as well as this whole aviation industry offers up a lot of opportunities that can really leverage our kids' superpowers.
So I'm excited to have Antonio on, and he's going to share his unique perspective as a dad and as somebody whose career is really centered on planes and aviation. And I'm just super excited to welcome Antonio to the show today.
Antonio Ferarra | 02:21
Thank you so much, Len. It's an honor. I really appreciate you giving me a platform here to Get our mission out and just speak about some of the things that are important to not just me, but so many other parents in the community.
You know, you reference My life is kind of centered around aviation. I've always called myself an aviation brat and my father's 39 years at American Airlines as a pilot. For me, I was exposed early. I've been working in the industry myself in the private sector, corporate aviation for about 15 years. But aside from that, most importantly, you mentioned I'm a father and I'm a father to Two children, you know, an adventurous four-year-old neurotypical, we could say. And, you know, an amazing and inspirational nine-year-old who's nonverbal, autistic, with an apraxia diagnosis.
So I felt compelled to really try and do something impactful for not just my son, but for the community. There's tons of parents struggling and You know, I've spoken to you a bit about this and for me, it's more from a place of gratitude As my son was exposed early to aviation, just like I was.
So our largest barrier to traveling on an aircraft is waiting on the TSA line. So we're super grateful and Ahem. Had the ability to, you know, travel the world with our son. He's been to Jamaica. He's he goes to Florida with us.
You know, we're constantly, you know, we have a house down there. But for a lot of majority, I don't even want to say a lot.
I mean, over 80%, I think it's 87 something percent of.
A need there. I go, I travel all the time. I see parents traveling through the airport with a loved one on the spectrum.
You know, seeing some of the issues that they're encountering in real time, right in front of the whole airport for everybody to criticize or judge or whatever it is or offer help. There's tons of amazing people that see somebody in distress at an airport and they reach out like, how can we help you?
You know, But with that being said... There's really not a pathway. Or parents and individuals, one, to educate themselves. On the things that they should do so they can utilize air travel. But as well as creating opportunities For employment, for me, my industry, there's a severe workforce shortage. And a lot of people like to focus on what the autism community can't do. And I like to focus on what they can do. They can provide meaningful and purposeful you know, contributions to the aviation industry from dispatchers to engineers to Air traffic control, data analysts, accounting, you name it. There's so much infrastructure, gate agents that these people could fulfill in more than just a meaningful ambassadory role. So with that, you know, that's what really pushed me to Start Aviators for Autism. And look for different opportunities that we can help support the community. And it's not just the individual, right? I'm super focused on the individual and how we can support them and make their life as impactful and meaningful as possible, but it's to the families. As parents like me and you... Not many parents can relate unless you have a child with special needs or some kind of disability, right? There's tons, but We need more community. We need more support for families. I hate hearing stories from families that they've never... Gone on a trip. They've never done something impactful or that would be a great experience in life for their loved ones. It's really with all those things in mind that we...
You know, decided to start this nonprofit back in May. And, you know, we've just been hitting the ground running and we're going to be working on Lots of different projects here going forward into 2025.
So we're really excited. With what's going to happen and what we're going to do for the families. No.
Len Arcuri | 06:35
No, that's great. No, I want to give you an opportunity to talk more about what your organization's doing. And yes, for anyone who wants to check it out, it's aviatorsforautism.org is the website to go to. And let's start, Antonio, if you're okay with it, let's start with what you touched on, where a lot of families don't travel by plane, right? And it doesn't take much to understand why. If something goes south, ...chantrums, meltdowns, sensory issues... And if you're on a plane, you can't leave. You can't exit. And so it really can be a very stressful experience. Experience if families do pick up and want to go travel. Airports can be overwhelming. The plane can be overwhelming. There's pressure changes on the plane.
So, a parent's listening who Has a child, maybe they traveled and have had a bad experience. You know, from your perspective, what can be done to stack the deck for success? To help not only the child, but the family have a more pleasurable, enjoyable experience.
Antonio Ferarra | 07:43
Yeah, no, for sure. You know, it's funny. I've been leaning on something you said to me a while back in one of our conversations. When I talk to parents and they ask me similar questions, And, you know, it comes down to maybe this is irrelevant. Maybe it's not. But I think it comes down to embracing the things that are inconvenient and To you, right? As a parent. As a caregiver. I know that's something that really stuck with me in our conversations that we've had. And it's real and it's not to say anything bad, right? But what does that mean? How do we stack the deck? We may have to reach out to TSA ahead of time, right? And look to connect with TSA Cares. And TSA Cares , So you call TSA 48, 40, 72 hours before your flight. You give them your information. They'll do a background check. You come in. They'll take you through TSA. Bring you through the airport and kind of give you that exposure that you need.
So we have to initiate that contact. I've heard from a lot of parents, it can be hard. They didn't respond back.
Well, maybe that's where the inconvenient thing comes through. Maybe whether it's me or the wife or somebody needs to get on the phone until we can get through.
So we can accommodate and we can explore this.
Len Arcuri | 09:04
I can guarantee you most people don't know about TSA Care. So I think that's phenomenal that that's available. I'm guessing very few people are even aware of.
Antonio Ferarra | 09:13
It. And I didn't even know about it until about a year ago.
Cause we don't use it. You know, like, My son has I don't want to make it sound all peachy. We just don't have a lot of those issues where we were fearful of going to the airport.
Right? And, you know, my wife, I don't know if your wife's a little bit of the same, but she's She could be not a lone wolf, but she doesn't want to utilize a service that we don't need just to utilize it when somebody else could potentially need it.
So we didn't know about it either. Aside from the TSA, that's where we really hope that we can come in. And create some meaningful fillers in the gaps there. Maybe TSA Cares isn't going to be the end game. Maybe what it's going to be is Aviators for Autism building out the infrastructure across the country working with the airports, handling these tours ourselves as opposed to TSA with all the everything that they're dealing with in a daily basis. You know, another thing when we talk about, you know, really stacking the deck for success is we got to put in the research.
You know, we like to research where we're going, airfare, all these other things. We need to take it a step further. Where are the hotels that we're staying at? Are these hotels? What's the word I'm looking for? Sensory friendly. Are they, going to be in a high sensory demand place, whether you're, you know, if you're going to Orlando, And you see where you're staying or if you're in South Florida and you're in, a busy location, right? Do we kind of dictate where we're going to go ahead of time? We're going to look at the places that we go for activities. Whether it's a Disney or an Epcot or whether you're just going to a baseball tournament. Maybe your son's in baseball and your daughter's on the spectrum. You guys just want to go travel so the family can Enjoy those experiences, right? Finding the hotels, finding the different places, that can cater to your family specific set of needs. That's really important. Those are definitely some key things that we can do to It helps stack the deck as far as getting out there And, taking the leap of potentially utilizing aviation travel for their family.
Len Arcuri | 11:23
Yeah. Yeah. Planning is inconvenient, excessive planning, but it's useful to think everything through. And with particular with respect to the airport, the idea of doing the tour before, yeah, it's inconvenient, but if your child's, you know, kind of, anxiety level would ramp up in a new environment and airports are very stimulating, right? There's a lot of activity, a lot of people.
So to do that tour beforehand to help your child become familiar can definitely help. But outside of that, what else might, from your perspective, what else... Other than familiarity, is there anything else about an airport and that environment? Is there anything else a parent can do with their child to kind of better equip them. And particularly, I think, with the sensory issues, I know my son loves wearing headphones. A lot of kids on the spectrum do.
I mean, is that something that you would say would be helpful just to help reduce the noise level that a child might hear or what are some other tips that you might have?
Antonio Ferarra | 12:33
Yeah, I mean, definitely 100% with a lot of special needs parents, especially autism. Noise-canceling headphones or just headphones in general where they're listening to their tablet, their music, whatever, is pretty common. I would definitely advise parents that is a good course of action to take using that. It's a norm. As far as the airport goes, if we can't get into airports... Because you need a ticket to get into an airport, right?
So aside from buying a cheap ticket on Frontier for you and your son or your daughter just to go through the airport and just to walk through it, to go sit on a plane, to get off of it and walk out. It's totally doable, right? That's a super inconvenient thing. You're, you know, spending money, but you could get two tickets on Frontier for like 40 bucks. And take your kid to the airport and walk through. But I think going to high volume areas, you know, go to malls, go to places where they have to stand in line, whether it's a local amusement park, some places where you can really gauge, how they may react to some of those sensory things if you don't already. I feel like a lot of us parents know But if you've never been in that atmosphere, how would you know?
Like they could be so enamored. By everything that they have a great experience. And they're totally opposite of what you thought. Might have happened going there, but I know... I use that, I say mall because I use that all the time as saying families are like, hey, honey, we went to the mall last week. You've seen how that went. - Sure you want to plan this trip down to Florida? Right.
So I think you can kind of use that in a way to really kind of gauge the how they're going to react in those high volume, there's noise, there's lights, there's people walking every direction, there's food smells. I mean, you name it. It's going on at an airport when you're there. Yep.
Len Arcuri | 14:18
No doubt. And for every child who's so specifically unique. The key is, you know, what are. For that unique child, what would help them feel regulated?
You know, so again, I'm a fan of not using technology excessively, but if an iPad is something that's going to keep your child regulated on the flight, that might be a good trade. You know, some kids, you know, particularly depending on what their sensory needs are, you know, a weighted blanket is super heavy to be carrying through an airport, but that might help as well.
So it really comes down to with curiosity, understanding, You know, what are your child's unique needs, seeing if you can have them met in some way on the plane. And it's come up for a lot of the clients, you know, that I've coached. With respect to if a child is having a meltdown or a tantrum, lots of times it's because there's so much that's happening that's outside of their control and that they need some sense of being able to control their environment.
You know, we're all control freaks, you know, ultimately. At heart. Before the trip...
Like that morning or earlier before you get to the airport, the more you can... Give your child a sense of control over what music's playing in the radio on the way or what they have for breakfast. You kind of look at it where there's a control bucket. And the more we get some agency to control what's happening, the more that bucket is filled for the child, then they can arrive at the airport or board the flight safely. Feeling a little bit looser and more relaxed because they've kind of had their control fixed.
So that's one other thing that you could do. Before getting to the airport, But otherwise, is there anything else that comes to mind as you've you know, I know part of what you do with your organization is having families visit the airport and getting comfortable.
Like, what are you hearing for families that are that they're challenged with? And what suggestions might you have on how parents can do better planning?
Antonio Ferarra | 16:29
Like what you said and - Creating that control for the child, you know, before and after. But I know with a lot of parents, it's a fear of unknown. Right. Most special needs parents are, I don't want to say most, a lot of special needs parents are probably financially burdened.
You know, probably burnt on both ends of the candle, both parents, So the fear of putting all this, investing all this money and time into this vacation to potentially, knocking on the aircraft. I mean, literally we just had here the other day and I got their information. Don't tell anybody.
You know, applying for confidentiality, but they had a whole family. They chartered a jet to Jamaica and one of the sons, he's older, was on the spectrum. And he had a meltdown. And he ended up not wanting to get on the plane.
So him and the nanny went home or the aide went home and the rest of the family went to Jamaica. And like the mother was hysterical crying, like the family was like upset. And... That's obviously people with means, right? It was like 10 passengers. It was a G4.
I mean, they probably paid like $12,000 an hour on a flight down to Jamaica. So just imagine somebody who doesn't have that ability and they want to, right?
So I think it's a fear of the unknown. Is a big thing for parents too. It's how is the airport staff And the airline staff going to treat me and my child. My child going to have a meltdown is he going to end up zip tied to a chair on the airplane or Is he going to get flustered? And have a meltdown in the airport with all the activity going on and us get approached by security or, you know, I speak with individuals who are on the spectrum that are my age that travel. And they share a lot of these kind of issues that the airport doesn't know how to handle them.
You know, when he's reaching out, he's going to security. I'm having a meltdown. Can you guys bring me somewhere where I can just like, Get out of it.
You know, like, you know, decompress and release these sensory issues that I'm having. And they're treating him like he's a burden or he's crazy. And they're just not understanding.
So, I think that's the big thing is fear of the unknown, fear of how the child's going to be treated, fear of how the kid's going to react. So I really think that's just unknown. It's unknown. It's not having the proper tools and, for lack of a better word, education on how they can utilize the industry and maximize their life experiences that they can have with their family. I think that's the biggest takeaway I.
Len Arcuri | 19:09
Get. Yep.
And then do you have any suggestions? I don't want to put you on the spot, but my guess is certain, you know, particularly if we're talking about commercial travel, certain airlines might be better than others in terms of, you know, being more friendly for kids who might be on the spectrum. Do you have any insights from that perspective or does it really matter? It doesn't really depend on that specific flight and who the crew is.
Antonio Ferarra | 19:36
I think it definitely matters on the carrier because all these carriers have their internal SOPs, their GOMs, their operating manuals, right? And if it's not in there, They don't operate outside of that. It's kind of how aviation is, right? We have the guardrails. This is what your manual says. And everybody's manual is different, but That's what gets you in trouble. You wander outside those guardrails, even for a second, something happens and So they're not all the same when it comes to this. And that's not from a lack of care or anything. It's probably a lack of education. Or maybe there's not somebody in the C-suite with a child with autism now.
You know, has a need to bring this to attention. But from my experience, and I've learned a lot more since we have one of our conversations and you're like, hey man, I love what you're doing with the autism community. What advice do you have for me with my son? With his severe nut allergy. And I was like stumped. I didn't know what to say. I thought I had it all figured out.
So, you know, I've definitely been calling around and, I think from the research that I've been doing, JetBlue is fantastic. For sure. The most accommodating of the carriers when it comes to not only special needs, but allergies. JetBlue does have the lanyard, the sunflower lanyard, which is a way to identify yourself as somebody with an invisible disability or you know, similar kind of thing. And from that, they've taken a step further with the nuts and the allergies on the aircraft.
So, you know, with JetBlue, if you book a flight, 48 hours before your trip, you reach out to them and you give them an explanation of your child's or your own you know, allergies. They will put an internal code on your ticket referencing that. And further from there, you can request a buffer zone on the aircraft, which means the rows in front of you and behind you will not be served nut products and the flight crew will those passengers from refraining from eating anything with peanuts because that's Basically, they're It's their operating procedure, so... That's kind of how somebody has to operate within there.
So I think they go the extra mile there to really... Accommodate somebody with an allergy. Now, is that an end-all be-all? Probably not. I would defer to somebody like you who has a lot of experience you know, dealing with preparing against and combating, you know, severe allergies in your child. But I think that, I think, Nobody else is doing that.
I mean, what are your thoughts when you hear that?
Len Arcuri | 22:02
Yeah, no, that says a lot. And again, our situation, my son, Rye, he's got life-threatening allergies, highest possible level to peanut and soy, which are pretty much in everything.
So I love that JetBlue actually goes that extra mile. And if your allergy levels aren't so extreme, that could be very, make a situation much easier. But yeah, with us, because it's so high, it still may not be We're at the risk is just like what we talked about before. The problem that parents fear is if something goes south on a plane, they can't go anywhere. It's the same thing. If my son has a reaction, we got to get him to a hospital and being, you know, traveling in a plane is a risk proposition. And it breaks my heart because he... Loves The geography, the world he wants to travel, and right now everything has to be drivable.
So we're hopeful that his allergy levels come down. And if they do, if JetBlue does those kind of accommodations and takes it seriously, they'd get all our business for sure.
Antonio Ferarra | 23:12
Yeah. And, you know, one of my things I probably mentioned to you, I'm connected in the business aviation space.
So private jets is kind of what I deal with. Not as glamorous as a lot of people think. To me, after this long, they're just... They're just big, shiny objects. But I mean, it's cool. I wouldn't. Wouldn't imagine being in any other industry With that said, you know.
Some of the board members on our nonprofit are Well, let's just call them high net individuals, right? And people that I've met over my career, friends, clients, and they're behind the mission. And hopefully... In the next couple years.
Some of these guys own aircraft and Hopefully we could be doing some donated flights down to Disney or different locations on private jets where we can really control it. And maybe that's another way of getting some families exposed to air travel, right?..
So if that happens, you're going to be the, you guys are gonna be the first ones on.
Len Arcuri | 24:18
All right. No, that sounds great. But no, so let's, I think now with that, Let's shift over. And again, the not-for-profit aviatorsforautism.org, you know, I know you're constantly looking for ways to help, you know, Families and kids on the spectrum have successful airplane trips, but let's shift over to the second part of what your organization is all about, which is having the aviation industry be something that could really leverage kids' superpowers.
So talk a little bit about what you're doing and what you're planning in that sense.
Antonio Ferarra | 24:58
Yeah, no, for sure. I mean... At first, when I first started the nonprofit, I thought, you know, exposing kids was going to be like the most important thing to me. And it's still one of the most important things to me. But the more I dove into statistics on individuals on the spectrum. What I've really noticed, and I've really dived into the stats, I may be misquoting this, but I think it's 85% of individuals with the diagnosis who have a high school or college degree are either unemployed or underemployed. And as somebody with a nine year old on the spectrum, who's eventually... Hopefully going to be employed, right? And I have all the hopes. He's nonverbal, but That doesn't, that's not going to define him. What opportunities... Are out there for them. And it's not as many as it should be. It's not as inclusive as it should be. Forget the buzzwords. And seeing a lot of different organizations here in my local area. That had a focus on workforce training for the autism community It really kind of drove home that I think this could be one of the most single impactful things that we do for the community.
You know, Not just my industry. So I work in the private jet, the corporate business aviation. That's considered 135. Part 135. Part 91. 135 is charter. 91 is owner only. Terriers of Part 121.
So... Our whole industry has a workforce shortage. Mechanics are probably the biggest, but a lot of the other infrastructure needs a lot of things to be fulfilled.
So like I mentioned, dispatchers, ATC, gate agents, I mean, custodians, engineers, data analysts, I think... I think business aviation has a really good runway, let's say, pun intended, for the autism community to start. Because a lot of these offices were small. My company here that, you know, I'm part of the management team, Talent Air. 250 as far as employees go, but that's with 100 plus pilots, right? We probably have 75 office staff type people. A lot of that's pilots, mechanics. And with that, we're tight-knit offices.
So the corporate office environment, I think, is a really great place to build some pilot programs and give some people on the spectrum opportunities. To thrive and use some of their superpowers, right? Precise, they're focused, they're dedicated, right?
So you put them in some clerical positions and They're going to own it. And they're probably going to work just as hard, if not harder, as your typical... Typical person.
So I think the business aviation industry is great for that. But I think there's a lot more in the 121 space as well. One of my business partners, she's on the executive team of our nonprofit. Her father's a retired Delta mechanic. She's based in Atlanta. And she's currently working on, she's been speaking with Delta has the Propel program. What the Pell program does is flight schools that are signed in on the Propel program, their students can get funding for their flight training, as well as potential interviews and job placements within Deltas Pilots. How they get their certificates.
So our plan is to basically create a Propel program for infrastructure jobs for the neurodiverse community. And hopefully we can build that out with Delta. And that means... People at the street, you know, taking bags and checking them. Gate agents, custodians, ramp. Who is... You've met one autistic person, you've met one, right? They all... Don't have a lot of sensory needs. There's people on the spectrum that can be mechanics because they can go outside and deal with the noise, right? There's people that can... Be pilots. I will never say that somebody with autism can't fly a plane. I promise you there's probably a couple pilots on every carrier. That would... Qualify as a diagnosis or maybe diagnosed as it is, right? Whether it's an Asperger's or something.
So I really think that the unique set of skills that the autism community has you know, their loyalty, their focus, their dedication and their yearning for an opportunity. And that's what most of these individuals just want. Give me a shot. Put me in, coach.
Like I can, you know, let me get an opportunity to show you that I can contribute. I think that's going to be one of the you know, the biggest things we do. And I really think That what that's going to do is we're not just training individuals on the spectrum on how to get employed and do these jobs. We're going to train the employers on how to interview these people. To set them up with a proper interview. You may not be able to interview this person the same way you interview a neurotypical person, and that's okay. There's nothing wrong with that.
And then let's take it a step further, providing the proper let's say guardrails within that company so that they can provide a safe and meaningful workplace for them, right? Like maybe that means there needs to be some signs up in the building. Maybe that means his job description, he needs to have a breakdown of what his duties are throughout the day, right? That's all he needs. If that inconvenience is too much for a company, I mean, I don't know what to tell you, right? Most companies biggest problem is people following procedures. You give an autistic individual a procedure, And it's their Bible. They're going to follow that.
Len Arcuri | 30:32
Yeah, that's part of their superpower in many cases, you know, where they're extremely focused at times and extremely disciplined. And so, again, there's lots of superpowers that... People may have and you're right that the change has to be both ways, particularly for the company, for them, if they have SOPs, right, procedures, ways of doing things to re-look at that and see, How can things shift? Not to make room for kids on the spectrum, but to happily leverage gifts that those individuals bring.
So there's a mindset shift where this isn't just an accommodation. This is a win-win for everyone. And I think it's fantastic that you're taking the industry that you love and figuring this out probably before many other industries really give the attention to this because it truly is... A phenomenal opportunity for both the companies and the individuals as well.
Antonio Ferarra | 31:39
No, I mean, I totally agree. I'm not tooting my own horn at all. I always thought I was a pretty selfless person, probably not as much as I thought, you know. But I just... I felt like if anybody can make this impact, it's me.
You know, like this is all I've ever known for better or worse. Born into aviation. My father rammed it down my throat. I'm not saying it in a bad way. I'm just saying like in his mind, there was no, he, I was going to be a pilot to him. That's not what happened. I didn't want to be a pilot. But I'm still in the industry... And this is. Basically, my whole professional career in the last 15 years revolves around this industry. And if anybody has not just the experience and knowledge to get it done, I think I have the motivation. My son is this community. This isn't for my son. It's for the community. I have...
You know, nothing but admiration for what every parent with a child on the spectrum indoors daily from Presses. Guilt. Judgment from other people.
You know, it's... It's the lonely road that we walk as families. And If I can do anything to help families at least experience life to its fullest. By traveling, by potentially having a career, in an industry or striking a passion in a hobby.
I mean, I've had people come here and do tours and the father's like, how do I start flying? And now he's taking flight lessons and bringing his autistic son in the airplane with him. This is probably something they're going to share for the rest of their lives.
So there's just tons of ways that Families can benefit from this and not just through travel, but through careers, through community, through you know, what it is that we do as a community, right? We just support each other.
Like, The one thing I've learned about the autism community could be a little hectic sometimes and a little, You know, everybody's got their opinions, but when it comes down to it, everybody's there willing to catch and help each other. Because we know everybody knows what the other person's kind of going through.
You know? And we don't judge.
Len Arcuri | 33:51
So true. And again, I love what you're doing. Again, for anyone listening, I can tell you one thing. Antonio is extremely curious and passionate about this.
So if you have insights or things that you think that his organization can help with, you can reach out info at aviatorsforautism.org. And I know you're early on, Antonio, in terms of like What specifically you're going to be focusing on, both to help Yep. For more enjoyable plane travel for the family, as well as from a career standpoint.
So yeah, I'd encourage people to reach out. I'm sure you'd be thrilled to hear from some of our listeners. And again, Wishing you and your organization continued success. I think you're looking to really solve a problem that truly can be solved if the right minds are focused on it.
So I appreciate what you're.
Antonio Ferarra | 34:48
Doing. 100%. I appreciate, you know, the opportunity to come on here. I appreciate my conversations with you. If you can't tell, I've kind of leaned on a few things that we've had in our conversations because they're true, they're meaningful, I think that, you know, I want to echo those sentiments and kind of make sure we're building that same mindset out there. And I would just like to add, if anybody... Needs any support, if you're just curious and you have questions, don't hesitate to ask. My industry is 24/7, so I don't mind supporting the community 24/7. If I don't care if you're in California or you're in Arizona, if you're, thinking about traveling or doing something, or your son is passionate about aviation, Whatever it is, please reach out. I have connections all over the country. I'm happy to... Make any important, meaningful, impactful introductions that I can or provide any information or knowledge. I'm here, I'm a resource, parents, family members, people on the spectrum, so... Don't be afraid. Reach out to us.
Len Arcuri | 35:51
All right. Wonderful.
Well, hey, thank you so much for taking the time today. And again, how you're paying it forward is phenomenal.
So again, best to you and your organization and your entire family. You Your child wants you to transform now.
Antonio Ferarra | 36:02
As well, Len. Thank you so much.
Len Arcuri | 36:08
And the fastest way to do that is with personalized support. To learn more, go to allinparentcoaching.com/intensive.
