I know that’s the burning question on our minds. “There are so many autism based organizations out there. Who deserves my support?” I’m going to approach this from a parents perspective, but I will mention a couple groups for adults on the spectrum as well. I’m going to give a description of each group and, at the end, give you my opinion of said group. I don’t want you to confuse the facts with my opinions, and I certainly don’t want to be charged with libel.
Which Autism organization should I support? Sunday, May 29 2011
Autism america, as, ASA, asd, Autism, institute, naa, ray nelson, research, society, speaks, tacanow 12:57 pm
Autism Movie Review: Wretches and Jabberers Thursday, May 26 2011
Movie Reviews asd, Autism, autistic, facilitated communication, jabberers, movie review, ray nelson, wretches, wretches & jabberers 1:56 pm
After all the movies about autism I’ve seen, I’m sort of amazed that this is my first movie review. Still, I will try to keep up with this going forward, and I’ll even go back and critique some of the films I’ve seen in the past. Now on to the review!
The Neurodiversity Movement Thursday, May 12 2011
Musings and Philosophy add, adhd, asd, Autism, ND, neurodiversity, neurotypical, NT, ray nelson 6:48 pm
I’m going to cover something that a lot of autism parents either have no idea exists. There are probably an equal number of parents who have come in conflict with neurodiverse folks on the internet and were left blindsided. I think of it as a human rights movement for adults on the spectrum and adults with ADD/ADHD, but I’m a romantic so I’m probably romanticizing it a bit.
Virginia Passes Autism Insurance Reform! Monday, May 9 2011
Advocacy Advocacy, Autism, insurance, project, reform, Virginia 3:10 pm
Thanks to the hard work of a number of people we finally have autism insurance reform in the Commonwealth of Virginia! Thanks to everyone involved, especially the Virginia Autism Project and the advocacy arm of Autism Speaks. Thanks also go out to all the senators and delegates who voted for it, especially Senator Howell and Delegate Greason for sponsoring the bills in their respective assemblies. Finally, thank you to Governor McDonnell for signing it rather than exercising his veto power.
The White House Autism Awareness Conference 2011: Part 3 Friday, May 6 2011
Advocacy asd, Autism, based, civil, community, department, health, human, justice, obama, rights, supports, white house 1:52 pm
We ended our day with a nice wrap up. We received reports from the other groups which I will summarize at the end of the post. Then we had a few remarks from different folks in various agencies.
The White House Autism Awareness Conference 2011: Part 2 Thursday, May 5 2011
Advocacy asd, Autism, based, civil, community, department, health, human, justice, obama, rights, supports, white house 1:51 pm
During lunch I sat next to some lovely people. One was with the Autism Society of Baltimore / Chesapeake. Another woman came all the way from Minnesota and represented a group of Somali immigrants who have an unusually high incidence rate of autism. We questioned each other over lunch about where we were from, what we were doing and, most of all, what worked for our kids. I was happy to see that we had several self advocates in our room. Not to get too preachy, but the autistic self advocates are often ignored or excluded when it comes to helping their community, so it was nice to see several autistic individuals there to speak their minds.
The White House Autism Awareness Conference 2011 : Part 1 Wednesday, May 4 2011
Advocacy asd, Autism, based, civil, community, department, health, human, justice, obama, rights, supports, white house 11:24 pm
I received an email invitation that read as follows.
“You are cordially invited to join senior White House and administration officials at an event in observance of Autism Awareness Month.
The event will take place on Monday, April 25, 2011, at the White House.”
It was with some trepidation and curiosity that I regarded my invitation to this event. You see, it arrived on April 1st and asked for some pretty detailed information, like social security number, birth date, etc. However, after doing some quick fact checking I remembered Kareem Dale and found it to be legit. At that point I felt honored.
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