(NewsNation) — If you’ve stepped on a public transit system this month, you may have heard some new voices broadcasting announcements from the speaker system.
“Hello passengers, my name is Morgan. I would like to let you know this is Autism Awareness Month. Please remember, stand clear of the closing doors,” echoes a recording by Morgan Calles
Calles, one of New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) fans, is one of nearly 100 kids and young adults on the autism spectrum who recorded public announcements for transit systems in New York, New Jersey, San Fransisco, Atlanta and Washington, D.C., as part of the Autism Transit Project. April is Autism Awareness Month.
Calles shared the honor with his best friend, Benjamin Ruiz, who is also on the autism spectrum.
“I was like scared to share my voice with the world,” Ruiz said.
Jonathan Trichter, co-founder of Foundry Learning Center, launched the Autism Project in New York City in April 2022 to highlight inclusion. He said children with autism often focus on trains and other machinery. Some children on the spectrum also have language disorders.
“Neuroatypical kids can come to language differently,” he said. “It’s not unusual that a child on the spectrum who has language learning differences will have his or her first sentence be something like, ‘Stand clear of the closing doors, please.'”
Trichter said this project was personal to him.
“We see the kids really coming into their own and being prideful and self-assured because they get to share something they love with the rest of the world,” he said.
The Autism Project is generating hope for the next generation of transit workers around the nation
The project hopes to expand internationally, with Tokyo in 2024.