Older Brother Raises Autism Awareness

There are protective big brothers—and then there’s Ardsley’s Nick Lombardi.

Now a 16-year-old junior at Ardsley High School, when Nick was 9, he was bothered that people stared at his younger brother Joey, who has autism. Since Joey looks “typical”, as Nick said, people were often critical when Joey would act out.

“When I was little, no one understood Joey,” said Nick, who’s two years older .“People stared at Joey. We’d go to a mall, and Joey was very difficult. We’d be chasing him and we’d get the look, ‘Why can’t you take care of your kid?'”

So Nick thought, “If people just knew, people would understand and be kinder.” He came up with a button, using the blue puzzle piece symbol for autism, which says “I’m not misbehaving. I have Autism. Please be understanding.”

With 1 in 110 children diagnosed with autism, there’s clearly a need for this kind of communication, especially for those children who can’t speak. Nick has raised more than $50,000 for Autism Speaks, Inc., an autism advocacy group.

 “Awareness is the key element to what I do,” said Nick. “Everyone could be understanding. The point is not to judge.”

Nick’s compassion and concern, not only for his younger brother, but for other children with autism, brought him media attention, from local TV and news programs. That’s not why he volunteers at the Scarsdale JCC Sundays to help teenagers who are in a social skills group, or serves as a teen mentor for the JCC sibling support group that he had joined when he was younger. Nick also volunteers with Hartsdale’s “Miracle League,” which runs a basketball program for children with special needs.

“I greatly enjoy helping people and doing advocacy,” said Nick.  His volunteer and advocacy work earned him the Youth Leadership Award from ARC and recognition from Autism Advocates as well, where he was named to the list of top 10 advocates in 2007.

At Ardsley High School, Nick also manages to have a typical experience of friends, classes, and team sports like Lacrosse and wrestling.

Currently a summer intern with State Assemblyman Thomas Abinanti, in the local district office, Nick wants to major in political science or history in college, as a pre-law student, and hopes to ultimately go to law school.  Not surprisingly, he said, “I want to do advocacy work.”

As Nick acknowledged, “This is a 24-hour deal. It’s not a bother or a burden. It’s just part of our life. It’s always something I think about. It’s something I understand.”

For more information about how to order an autism button, please check www.autismbutton.com or www.autismspeaks.org; to see some of Nick’s work  with the Family Network TV website, check  www.familynetworktv.com/episode/my-brother-my-friend