News – Sheridan Media
Layla Luna, CEO, and Robert Judy, co-founders of Just Bee, a non-profit organization in South Carolina, gave a program for several first responders on Thursday, August 21, about autism education in Sheridan. Luna talked about how Just Bee started.
The Just Bee mission is to create a world where anyone with Autism and Neurodiversity is treated equally, fairly, and compassionately, with recognition of their civil rights. Through education, awareness, and technology, we will help end discrimination of this growing population. There are 68.2 million people in the United States that are neurodivergent. Many of these individuals experience some form of sensory processing disorder.
She talked about Rio’s Law in South Carolina, and what it does for first responders and the autistic individual.
She said that without knowing that an autistic individual is in the car, first responders can be very vulnerable, as there is no look to autism.
People just immediately think, “Bad parent, bad child,” when confronted with a sensory overload episode.
Just Bee also offers first responder training, to provide them with an understanding of Autism and Neurodiversity and the necessary tools to improve the outcome of the interactions.
She added that 53% of autistic individuals have four or more interactions with police in their lifetime, many are described as negative. A high percentage, 58%, of people killed by police had a mental health issue that contributed to the incident.
The training and the license plates are also a way of protecting the community. As long as there is a diagnosis for autism, people can obtain the license plate in South Carolina. Just Bee also has seat belt covers that has the Just Bee Symbol. They also make available a bag for first responders to help the diffuse the situation with the autistic individual.
Proposed License Plate for Wyoming
They hope the symbol of the bee will become as recognizable as the handicapped symbol which is now recognized worldwide.
Sheridan Police Chief Travis Koltiska attended the program.
REACH of Sheridan, an acronym for Resources, Education, Autism, Community, Harmony, funded the presentation.
REACH is committed to providing resources and education to individuals on the Autism Spectrum or who are neurodivergent, their families, and the Wyoming community to promote inclusion and understanding. They are working with Just Bee from to use their skillset in helping them make that happen.
Rollie Hruza, President of REACH, talked about how he got involved with the autistic community.
He said they started about a year ago and at first, they just thought about doing some fundraisers, then he met a lady who convinced him to do a local organization, due to so many more people coming on the spectrum. She said they would need a lot of local and statewide support.
Rhonda Kuehn of REACH said that her grandson was diagnosed autism, and she talked about how lonely it could be for these children, and the fact that often people who didn’t understand autism.
She said if they had a sensory overload in a public place, many adults would think that the youngsters were spoiled, or brats and the parents couldn’t control their children. She reached out to see what support system was available for her family in Sheridan.
She felt is was important to help others, even younger children, learn what is autism is, and how does one befriend a person with autism, and how to welcome those in the community with neurodivergent disorders. She said she wants them to feel accepted.
Jane Magelky was on the original board starting REACH, then she went back to school to become a social worker.
REACH is working with the Just Bee folks, holding meetings with the Mayor, Chief of Police, Sheriff, Chamber of Commerce Team, DSA, all 5 elementary schools, Ambulance and Fire Department as well as some local business. They are also working with local state representatives in an effort to get Wyoming on board with the national movement for Neurodivergent license plates.
For more information contact Rollie Hruza at (307) 752-2499 or email at Info@reachsheridan.com
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Last modified: August 24, 2025