The Annual September 26th Project for 2022 Has Launched — Watch and Share

Written By Jill Escher, President


Catherine Sproul’s story of losing her son Davey is featured in this year’s September 26th Project video.

Dear friends in the autism and special needs community,

Last year we launched The September 26th Project, the annual emergency preparedness reminder for our families, created in commemoration of Feda Almaliti, founding VP of NCSA, and her son Muhammed, who died senselessly in a house fire on September 26, 2020, and embracing all who have faced such tragedies.

This September we again urge all autism and special needs families to take just 10 minutes on or around September 26th, to take steps to prepare for crisis and emergency. We are not asking for perfection, but for just one or two things that may help avert disaster. Don’t have a fire extinguisher? Now is the time to buy one. Haven’t checked your smoke/CO alarms? September is the perfect time to do it. Haven’t created a family emergency and exit plan? Go for it. Install a keypad lock where it would be helpful and safe. Or register with your local first responders, or create an emergency kit, charge back-up batteries, or attend a CPR class. Just one or two things, each step when taken year after year will make a big difference.

To get started, please watch (and share!) our 2022 September 26th Project video, where autism families who have suffered horrific tragedy share their stories — but also inspire you to take action, just 10 minutes, this September.

With best wishes,

The September 26th Project Committee
Maysoon Salah, Jill Escher, Kelly Bermingham, Lubna Salah

The 2022 September 26th Project Video

The Inaugural (2021) September 26th Project Video

Jill Escher, President

Jill Escher is president of the National Council on Severe Autism and the mother of two children with nonverbal forms of autism. Through the Escher Fund for Autism she promotes and funds research on the genetic toxicology of autism and related neurodevelopmental conditions, and she has served on the governing council of the Environmental Mutagenesis and Genomics Society, where she co-chairs its Germ Cell and Heritable Effects special interest group. She was president of Autism Society San Francisco Bay Area from 2013 to 2019 and, through her family business, Claradon Properties, provides housing to adults with developmental disabilities in the Bay Area. See more of her work at jillescher.com.

https://www.jillescher.com/
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