As parents and advocates within the Autism community — with family, friends, and deep personal ties to Ukraine — we created Autism Unity, a Boston, Massachusetts-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization in response to the humanitarian crisis caused by the war in Ukraine. Our mission is to support autistic children and their families impacted by displacement, instability, and severe psychological stress.

Through our close relationships with families in Ukraine, we saw how children on the autism spectrum became especially vulnerable to the realities of war: air raid sirens, violence, sudden relocation, crowded shelters, interrupted schooling, and the loss of critical therapeutic care. For many of these children, overwhelming sensory experiences, uncertainty, and the collapse of familiar daily structure created an even deeper emotional and developmental challenge.