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What I Hope People Will Get Out of My Autism Memoir
I tried to “write” my first book (or more accurately, dictate a story to parents who wrote it down on the bottom third of blank sheets of paper, leaving room for me to add illustrations later) when I was four years old. I started discussing what would become I Overcame My Autism and All I Got...
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Understanding Dietary Distress, Forced Eating, and Food Deserts While Autistic
My name is Sylvia, and I’m an Autistic adult with sensory hypersensitivities that mainly affect my eating, which I’m choosing to call dietary hypersensitivities, or, more simply, food/drink hypersensitivities. For me, these hypersensitivities are oversensitivities based on any combination of...
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Where Is the Reform Movement in the Field of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities in New York State?
All human services are facing twindemics of the Coronavirus and its economic consequences. The losses of staff and people in need of services are tragic. Here is the dilemma: Does even talking about reform in the field of intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD) make sense in the face...
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How Can We Make Spirituality a Permanent Part of Our Adult Son’s Life with Autism?
My son Daniel is a 31-year-old young man with autism. Like many families with an autistic member, our lives have - ahem - been interesting, distinctive, contained a certain element of surprise and provided a trail of unanticipated sweetness. I’ll take just one category of our life...
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A Parent’s Plea for Reform of School Safety and Mental Health Programming
With an estimated 17.1 million children and adolescents presenting with or having received treatment for a psychiatric disorder including Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), Attention Deficit Hyper Activity Disorder (ADHD), and Anxiety, school systems across the nation are being thrust into the front...
