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Full Spectrum hopes to create residential farm for autistic adults
By Stephanie Salmons
After 27 years of experience at various non-profit organizations, Harold Watson is now directing Full Spectrum Farms, a non-profit organization that serves autistic adults who live in Jackson and other Western North Carolina counties.
Although Full Spectrum currently only offers a day program, the organization is working on locating land to begin a residential farm program that would include the day component, Watson said.
A native of South Carolina, Watson earned his bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of South Carolina and his master’s in religious education for the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.
He served as a full-time staff member in Baptist churches for 10 years and was the state executive director for Mothers Against Drunk Driving in South Carolina. He also directed Alzheimer’s associations in South Carolina and Florida as well as the National Commission Against Drunk Driving in Washington D.C. for five years.
“You don’t go into non-profit work to become rich,” Watson said. “You go into working in a non-profit environment to make a difference in people’s lives. I have a real genuine passion in my life to make a difference in the lives of other people. I feel a real calling (to do so). That’s why I’m doing what I’m doing.”
Full Spectrum was begun almost seven years ago by a group of parents and other individuals concerned about the region’s autistic adults, Watson said.
Autism is a disorder that impairs communication and social interactions and can cause repetitive, restrictive behaviors. It is a life-long disability which Watson said does not change much as the affected individual ages.
The number of those diagnosed with autism is increasing; currently one in every 150 births results in a diagnosis of autism, he said, adding that there are about 30,000 individuals in North Carolina with autism. Adults with autism are an under-served population, he said.
“When someone (with autism) is school aged, there are programs,” he said. “But there aren’t as many programs, alternatives and options for parents who have adult-aged autistic children who have finished school. This is filling a real gap and taking care of a viable need.”
According to Watson, autism effects not only the individual, but the whole family. Aging parents are often faced with the dilemma of what will happen to their autistic child when they are unable to provide the necessary care and supervision, he said.
That’s the role Full Spectrum is hoping to play because the group plans to provide a safe and secure residential environment for autistic adults, he said.
According to Watson, individuals with autism do well on a fixed schedule and established routines, which makes a farm the ideal environment.
“They know that every day they’re going to get out and garden or pick vegetables or get up and feed the animals and clean the stalls and exercise the animals. It’s that structured routine, that fixed environment that has the necessary supervision and sameness to it (that is most beneficial to those with autism),” Watson said.
The farm would also provide a quieter, often calmer setting that allows individuals with autism to function better than if they were in a loud, over-stimulating environment, Watson said. According to him, the residential farm model has proven successful across the United States.
However, Full Spectrum does not yet have land for a farm. Watson said the group is open to several areas, but that land in Jackson or Haywood counties would be ideal because of their convenience to other WNC counties and the fact that Western Carolina University and Southwestern Community College are close by as well as other educational facilities.
Acquiring the 30 to 50 acres needed to get the farm up and going is the biggest challenge Full Spectrum leaders face, Watson said.
Currently the day program hosts about eight individuals who participate in pottery and wood-working activities, Watson said. Some of the participants’ creations are sold at local festivals, which helps create revenue for those who produce it as well as generate exposure for the farm and its purpose. Full Spectrum presently operates out of a building that’s next to Norman West’s Cullowhee Real Estate.
Once the farm is up and running, Watson said he expects it to house between 20 and 30 adults, with a similar number enrolled in the day program.
A residential farm program would allow residents to grow their own produce and vegetables, raise animals such as chickens and would also feature a petting zoo that would connect the farm to the community, he said.
“I think the farm is the ideal place where someone with autism can flourish and experience as normal a life as possible,” Watson said. “It’s a place where parents can know that their adult children who are affected by autism will have that safe, secure place where they can continue to live and experience as normal a life a possible”
Anyone interested in learning more about volunteering or interested in making donations to Full Spectrum call Watson at 293-2521.
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