More than 50 million people tuned in to watch last week’s NFL draft, and if they were paying attention while the cameras panned to the New Orleans Saints draft room, they might’ve noticed a bit of a different look.
The usual fleur-de-lis logo occupied its regular place of prominence on the walls, but it was outlined in prismatic reds, blues, yellows and greens. In bold lettering above a door were the words “Autism Acceptance” beneath the usual Saints typeface.
The Saints have a big platform, and Khai Harley wanted to ensure it was used for good reason. But he’s got bigger plans.
“It’s satisfying, but it’s just a start,” Harley said. “It’ll be more satisfying to see more clubs do it, it’ll be more satisfying if it became a league issue and we created change.”
Harley is the Saints’ vice president of football operation, a catch-all title that doesn’t truly reflect his wide scope of responsibilities within the organization. But, more importantly, he is a father, and the campaign the Saints emphasized in their draft room is a personal issue for him. His middle child, 16-year-old Samiyah, is on the autism spectrum.
His time and his money have been used in the past to support autism-related charities and events, but Harley and the Saints see an opportunity to do more. Specifically, they see the NFL as a megaphone able to reach out and touch tens of millions of people the way it did last week.
“April is Autism Awareness month,” Harley said. “Over the years, what I’ve tried to do is see if we as a league could use the draft as a tentpole event for autism the way we’ve done with some other charities throughout our history.
“The league hasn’t taken it on as a full-time deal, but they support all the things that each individual club is doing. So, for this season and hopefully moving forward, we’re going to get some other clubs on board.”
Awareness and acceptance is part of the overall mission, but so too is providing a space for both those people on the spectrum and their families during league events.
Harley recalled personal experiences visiting theme parks with his family and leaving early after his daughter became overloaded by the experience. This, he said, had an impact not only on Samiyah but his other two children who had to leave the park early.
Both the Smoothie King Center and the Caesars Superdome, for instance, have sensory rooms — quiet spaces designed to have a calming effect.
“The same way we might wince when we hear nails to the chalkboard, it might be an ordinary horn that causes that same sort of reaction for somebody on the spectrum,” Harley said. “Or it can be a prolonged visual stimulation that might cause a headache, that might cause ringing, that might cause some sort of negative stimulation for the person.
“Being able to remove yourself from that into a dark, quiet space, just allows your body time to desensitize to whatever it is that was triggering you in the first place.”
Harley is not just passionate about this because it personal to him, but to many other people as well. According to estimates from CDC’s Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring network, one in 36 children has been identified with autism spectrum disorder.
“As a country we don’t have a lot of support for these individuals once they become adults,” Harley said. “It’s a growing issue, a societal issue, that has to be addressed and I just wanted to do my part.”
And he’s hopeful his part provides the nudge that puts something much bigger in motion.
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