A Brother’s Special Autism Awareness Broadcast

April is a special month for Matthew Pini, or “Matt” as his friends call him. It is the month each year that he proudly shares his brother Tommy’s story. Matt is 12 and attends Mountain View Middle School in Mendham Borough, NJ. He is the middle brother of three and his younger brother, Tommy, has autism.

“Autism awareness is important because my brother has autism, and I wouldn’t want anyone to treat him unfairly because he is different. It’s important for people to know that people with autism have feelings, even if maybe they can’t express them.”

Matt presented to his school on Friday, February 8th to promote the message of autism acceptance and share his own experiences as a sibling to Tommy. The presentation was recorded for a segment for his middle school's news broadcast, MVTV. Students in grades 5-8 will view his broadcast. Matt also arranged to have each student receive an autism awareness bookmark and sticker as a reminder that we can all play a role in choosing kindness, compassion, and understanding to shape the future for individuals with autism.

“My brother Tommy inspires me to raise awareness for autism. I want to help him express how he feels. I want other people to know how special he is because Tommy is amazing!”