about

Fatima Molas

Co-Founder and Chair

Fatima Molas never knew what autism was until her son was diagnosed with the condition. In fact in her Somali language, there is no word to describe autism. As the Co-Founder of MAAN, Fatima is passionate about ensuring that members of multicultural communities, like hers, are provided with proven tools to combat the negative stigma associated with disabilities. As well, she wants to help them gain access to available resources that will help create nurturing, supportive, and growth-promoting environments for all autistic individuals.

"Autism is a different technical language we don't understand....

Family is the foundation. If Mom doesn't get the help she needs, her child is not going to thrive"

About

Fatima Molas is a respiratory therapist with a Bachelor's degree in Healthcare Management. Even though she was aware that the Somali Community in the state of Minnesota had the highest rate of autism, she didn't know enough about the condition until her son was diagnosed at age 3. With the diagnosis came feelings of shock and trepediation. Not really understanding what autism was, she feared for her son's future. She was anxious and wanted to learn everything she could. She reached out to Miriam Egal, her mentor, who connected her to other families with autistic children.

Meeting those families once a month gave her hope. They were relaxed and she wanted what they had. She asked many questions, read multiple books and became acutely familiar with the health support system and its many challenges.

And this is where her story really starts. Even though she could speak English, she found that, the more that she understood the system, the more bizzare it was. The system was not set up to make it easy for parents who wanted to access services for their kids. There were a lot of hurdles to overcome and hoops to go through - obstacles that still exist today.

Parents in the Somali community not only had to deal with the stigma and realty of autism and the barriers of language and cultural shock. They now also had to deal with ineffective channels where phone calls were not returned. They were often being put in a position to defend their reasons for requesting help, even though that should not have been necessary - the answers were evident in the faces of the autistic individual seeking support.

Fatima made a commitment. If all she could do was to help one family navigate this seemingly "impossible" maze, then she would have been able to make a visible difference.

Once she started helping, the word about her knowledge spread and she started receiving phone calls - not just from families in Minnesota, but also from those who lived out of state and even out of the country.

"Fatima, can you help?" became a daily question from multiple sources.

In trying to help these families and still care for her own family, Fatima soon began to burnout. Divine intervention stepped in when she was introduced to Delia Samuel, and MAAN was formed.

Over the years, Fatima has continued to support her community and, for her efforts, was awarded a LEND Fellowship and an Outstanding Refugees award for civic engagement and for helping refugees in Minnesota.

Fatima's vision is one of inclusivity - that everyone is represented and that families are effectively supported so that they can, in turn, support their loved ones.

Today, the early intervention that Fatima facilitated on behalf of her son has continued to reap positive results. Her son has developed a lot of coping skills that he still posseses and uses to live life as fully as possible. She is looking forward to helping other families experience the same.