Evan Polk, right, helps his daughter, Jordyn Polk, 13, with her shoes after she was dropped off from school in Secane, Pa., on June 5. (AP photo)

ATLANTA — When Tyrone Green’s youngest son was diagnosed with autism, his wife was immediately ready to get the 3-year-old the support he needed. But Green was stuck: He had questions about his son’s future and an overwhelming feeling of loneliness — like no one, not his wife, not his friends, understood his experience.

” … (M)y wife couldn’t understand what I was going through as a Black father, all these hopes and dreams I had for my kid,” said Green, who lives in Michigan. “She didn’t feel the same way.”

In 2021, he joined a Black fathers’ support group and met a few other dads eager to discuss their unique challenges. They started their own podcast in 2023 called AutisHIM, a place where Black dads talk about the wins and setbacks of having autistic children.

Green is among a growing number of Black fathers of autistic children looking to be more visible in the national autism conversation through podcasts, nonprofits and summits that specifically address their experience. These men say that their hope is not only to be considered more than sidekicks to mothers of the children, but also to help other Black dads accept autism diagnoses and not prolong getting kids the help that they need.

Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder that affects how people communicate, process information and interact with the world around them. Federal data shows that since 2020, Black children have had a higher prevalence of autism spectrum disorder than white children — a change experts credit mostly to better awareness of autism in underserved communities.

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. recently announced plans to have the federal government do a broad study for the causes of autism, even though it’s been looked at by researchers for decades. He has said autism is a “tragedy” that “destroys families” and that some people with autism will never hold a job, pay taxes or go on dates.

But many people with autism live successful, socially rich and independent lives, which makes a narrative like Kennedy’s dangerous, said Michael Hannon, a counseling professor at Montclair State University who studies the social and emotional aspects of autism on Black fatherhood.

It “can literally diminish hope for any father or father figure or family,” Hannon said of Kennedy’s framing of autism.

But affinity groups for Black men who have kids with autism are a successful way to get the dads to engage with their emotions, Hannon said.

“The challenge is convincing people to (talk openly and honestly), because the practice of doing that is rare, not just among Black men, but people in general,” he said, adding that people might think it will reflect on their ability to parent.

Evan Polk said a big part of navigating his 13-year-old daughter’s diagnosis was learning to sit with emotions that weren’t simply “happy and mad.” In the beginning, he was very protective.

“I became a helicopter dad,” said Polk, who started AuSome Kicks, an art therapy nonprofit for autistic children near Philadelphia earlier this year. “I didn’t want nobody or nothing to harm her whatsoever. When I found out she was autistic, she’d be outside with knee pads and elbow pads looking crazy.”

He said he later taught his family to be more patient with his daughter, as opposed to traditional parenting styles of being firm and hoping that she would fall in line.

Dr. Berry Pierre said he initially was on the sidelines of his autistic daughter’s support team as his wife, Maria Davis-Pierre, did the bulk of advocating.

The Florida couple founded Autism in Black and for the first five years, he said the organization didn’t specifically tailor messaging to Black dads.

“Whether it be in schools, the (individual education plan) meetings, the mothers were just there.” Pierre said. “But as we started to kind of try to go deeper and figure out ‘Alright, what’s going on? Where are the guys?’ we started to realize that a lot of them will be there.”

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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.