Billy Eckert, 25, loves chatting with other people so much he doesn’t always know when to talk and when to listen. Sometimes he fidgets, repeatedly crossing one leg over another. The first time he got on a dating app, a woman called him a slur for those with intellectual disabilities.
None of that matters today, though. Today, he and a group of twenty-somethings are killing a Saturday at Intermezzo, a trendy coffee shop in downtown St. Pete, enjoying the cool and company as Florida’s summer blisters outside.
They smile and sip iced coffees as they chat about the things that matter to them: The NFL. Video games. Their favorite places to hang out in Tampa Bay.
These young adults have been brought together by a shared trait: They’re all on the autism spectrum.
Since May, Billy and his father have been hosting “Fun on the Spectrum St. Pete,” a social club for neurodivergent and autistic adults aged 20 to 29.
What was once an idea between a father and son has now become a social lifeline for young autistic adults in Florida.
There’s power in a good hang
As the group trickled in, everyone met with Bill Eckert, Billy’s father and event co-organizer. Bill sat and traded conversation with attendees and their parents as they filled out a card asking them their favorite place to go and thing to do in their free time.
For some of the parents, there were visible nerves. Years of defending your kid from a world not built for them can make you overprotective. But a bit of conversation and a smile from Bill comforted them. He gets it — he’s felt the same thing.
After the last attendee fills in the blanks, Bill leads the group of 10 outside. They line up, face to face. Their task? To speak with the person across from them about the information on their card.
Parker Shirey, 28, explains that his favorite place is among the canines at The Dog Bar.
“I don’t drink alcohol. It’s the funniest thing,” Shirey said. “I go there to pet the dogs.”
Andrew Inabinet, 23, has fallen in line with just about every other adult in Tampa Bay. His happy place? A run club.
“I can see why you want ice cream this time of year,” Melody Englmann, 24, says to the man across from her as she fans her face and sticks her tongue out. “It’s so hot!”
“They’re like snowflakes. All special in their own way,” Bill says, a small grin on his face.
‘It makes you more confident’
A career. A first date. An apartment. These are milestones for anyone in early adulthood. But being on the spectrum can make achieving these especially difficult. According to recent research, just over half of autistic adults have ever worked for pay. Half have ever had a romantic partner. Fewer than 2 in 10 have lived independently.
That said, the face of autism is evolving. More young adults have been getting diagnosed along the spectrum in recent years, especially as awareness has grown around the different forms of autism — with a 450% increase in diagnoses over a decade, according to 2022 numbers.
For some parents of adults on the spectrum, supporting their son or daughter into adulthood can be a challenging, hands-on process. Bill and his wife, Diane, have worked to help Billy along the way.
Billy has always wanted to live independently and eventually have a family of his own. He, along with two other young men on the spectrum, landed a job at Angels in Action Pinellas, a nonprofit his parents started that employs autistic adults at a commercial cleaning company.
Fun on the Spectrum came from Billy’s desire to make friends as an adult. Trips he took to sports bars and other social outings didn’t grow Billy’s circle. Bill began to think. After watching the hyper-popular dating show “Love on the Spectrum,” starring young, autistic adults, he had an idea. Why not create a social group for people like his son?
At the Fun on the Spectrum events, a second social group has formed: the parents.
Jeanette Kooser and Laura Englmann greeted each other warmly at the coffee shop. A friendship has blossomed between the two moms.
“It’s been really therapeutic for the parents,” said Englmann.
“We’re not alone in this, you know?” Kooser said. “Knowing that really does help.”
As the event comes to a close, the attendees stream out of the cafe. There’s a group picture to be taken.
The day was a success, by all accounts. Billy collects phone numbers for a group chat. Parents are bewildered as their previously shy children are now enthusiastically engaged in conversations with other people like them.
“My social skills, I think they’ve gotten better,” Melody said. “Being around people that are loving, it makes you more confident.”
