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Are Autistic Students Traumatized in Schools?
According to a 2017 study, “77% of autistic high school students play a very limited role or no role at all in post-secondary planning compared to 47 % of students with intellectual disabilities and 27% of students with all other disabilities” (Gillespie-Lynch, K. et al., 2017). Why do so...
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Building Mutual Understanding
Education is a tool to create responsible members of society and teachers have the duty to create an equitable learning environment to enable these students to reach that point. The challenge that many students on the autism spectrum face in the classroom is with social participation and...
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The Do’s and Don’ts of Supporting Autistic Students in Schools
As an autistic high school senior, I’ve spent my time in high school juggling 12 AP and IB classes while being a campus leader, whether it be as Vice President of the 60-member club I co-founded or as a cabinet member in an award-winning Science Olympiad team. I’ve also deeply invested myself...
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The Daniel Jordan Fiddle Foundation Transition and Adult Programs at UM-NSU CARD: Creating Employment Through Community Collaboration
The University of Miami-Nova Southeastern University Center for Autism and Related Disabilities (UM-NSU CARD), established by Florida statute in 1993, currently serves over 14,500 families in South Florida. Our program offers a variety of programs and services at no cost to our constituents and...
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What Autistics Can Contribute to Technology
Technology can support autistic people in many ways, but autistic people also have so much to offer in the field of technology. Autistic people with an interest in STEM-related fields (Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics), combined with their natural cognitive and character strengths,...
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How Physical Distancing Brought Us Even Closer Together
Five years have passed since I last wrote about our social recreation group CASY Sparks, previously known as Project CASY (Community Autism Socials at Yale) in the Spring 2016 Issue of Autism Spectrum News. CASY began to flourish in 2016 with the establishment of the Daniel Jordan Fiddle...
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Autism @ Work: Insights From a World-First Global Study on Employing Autistic Adults
Since the emergence of Specialisterne, a growing number of multi-national organizations have implemented neurodiversity hiring programs including SAP, JP Morgan, Microsoft, IBM, and several others. Alongside them are the innovative pioneers within the social enterprise and...
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Disclosing Autism During an Interview
A question that is widely debated in the Autism community is whether a prospective employee should disclose during the interview process they are autistic (I use identity first language). Opinions vary on this topic. It is my opinion that the comfort level the interviewee has is a determining...
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Engagement in Special Interests Influences Well-Being and Provides Employment Opportunities in Neurodiverse Individuals
A brief note on the terminology used in this article: While people should practice sensitivity towards various opinions, many adults on the autism spectrum have disclosed the preference of identity-first language over person-first language (Botha et al., 2020). Thus, identity-first language, such...
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Supporting the Transition to Employment for Adolescents with Autism
Graduating from high school and transitioning to the world of work is an extremely important and exciting milestone. However, for many young adults with autism obtaining and maintaining employment can present some unique challenges. Unfortunately, despite the vastly increasing numbers of...
