About Us

We are a family-owned business that has been supplying products to small drugstores for more than 40 years.

In 2004, my granddaughter was diagnosed with autism. From the outside, it would be hard to imagine how this can change everything. This is where our journey began.

Like so many families these days, we have struggled, sacrificed, grieved and often celebrated. We embrace and cherish our child. Her autism is an illness, a medical condition that can improve with the proper treatment.

Since the diagnosis, I‚ve watched my daughter struggle to figure out what treatments are appropriate and necessary for her daughter (ABA, VBA, OT, speech, music, biomedical, a special diet?…), at the same time she faces the daily challenge of meeting her daughter‚s basic needs and somehow getting enough sleep to get up the next day and do it all over again.

In her commitment to give her daughter every chance she can, I‚ve watched my daughter spend hours on the internet, on the phone, at support groups and conferences–gathering information and piecing together tidbits of advice. I‚ve seen her shopping lists (Velcro dots, big beads, salad tongs, toothpaste that can be swallowed…) and watched her waste precious time on these obscure treasure hunts.

I have marveled at her and at the community of resourceful parents who will go to the ends of the earth on this journey to get their kids what they need.

The Autism community Store was founded to help my daughter and all the parents like her. Our goal is to offer a variety of products that meet the unique needs of our community, all in one place. Products that help make our kids happy and healthy, that help them grow and learn, and that just may give parents a little more time in the day.

Don Fortner
Founder, Autism Community Store
Grandfather of the most remarkable girl in the world

A note about the butterflies and dots…

With the appropriate treatment and intervention, children with autism get better. Some recover, nearly all progress. Always, they are capable of more than it seems. The butterfly metamorphosis imagery depicts the potential for growth and change in our kids.

The dot pattern is derived from an Australian aboriginal symbol for trails with meeting places. We are the dots, each of us one of thousands of families who are on this journey to care for our children with autism and to take them as far as they can go. We hope the Autism Community Store will be a useful stopping place on this journey.