We were lucky to catch up with Emmanuel Arowolo recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Emmanuel thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Let’s kick things off with talking about how you serve the underserved, because in our view this is one of the most important things the small business community does for society – by serving those who the giant corporations ignore, small business helps create a more inclusive and just world for all of us.

We saw a need to create a service for fathers of children on the spectrum. There are plenty of groups for mothers but very few for fathers. As such, a new group was created by 3 fathers of children on the spectrum, we called the group “Autism Dads Social Club”.

The group aims to create opportunities for fathers in the Houston area who parent a child on the spectrum to engage and support each other as we help each other nurture and guide our children through their life journey. We aim to network and engage with each other through social activities such as meeting for coffee or lunch, golf, billiards, fishing, etc.

Further, we seek to aid our children in developing social skills through organizing playdates and group activities. According to Autism Speaks, children on the spectrum “often have the desire to interact with others but may not know how to engage friends or may be overwhelmed by the idea of new experiences.” In this vein, we desire to facilitate recreational and fun activities where our children can play together and establish relationships with peers outside of the ABA or school setting. These opportunities are rare for ASD children. As such, we want to expose our kids to different types of social interaction, through various recreational activities such as kickball, tee ball, frisbee, basketball, miniature golf, laser tag, etc. We hope to organize dads to work together to provide the instruction, coaching, and support our kids’ social needs.

We desire to meet our kids where they are with grace and understanding. We piloted this initiative in January 2022 and have been holding events every month since. It has been incredibly enriching so far and we believe there are great prospects for continued growth.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers?

I like all members of ADSC, am a father of a child on the spectrum. My 8 year old daughter was formally diagnosed at age 3 and we have fought and struggled to get her to where she is today. The period after we received diagnosis was a very difficult time. It was filled with a lot of uncertainty, fear, confusion etc. I met one of the other cofounders of ADSC at an ABA center my child was attending and we often spoke about creating a group for parents struggling to raise children on the spectrum. Ultimately, we wanted to create something that would help parents who maybe just received a diagnosis and don’t know what to do, don’t have anywhere for their children to interact with other kids in a free open social setting.

How do you keep your team’s morale high?

For us this has been easy. We get a massive morale boost every time we see kids on the spectrum smiling and enjoying themselves. I think on a more macro level, the best way to maintain morale is to refocus on why you are doing what you are doing, refocusing on your mission, on the passion behind your endeavors.

How do you keep in touch with clients and foster brand loyalty?

Email, calls, social media, networking events

Contact Info:

• Website: http://www.autismdadssocialclub.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/autismdadshtown
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AutismDadsSocialClub
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/autism_dads