Lauren Agoratus M.A. Counseling is the parent of a child with multiple disabilities. She is the State Coordinator of Family Voices NJ, the national network that “works to keep families at the center of children’s health care.” She also serves as the Central/Southern Coordinator for the NJ Family-to-Family Health Information Center. These are both housed…
Dr. Lamar Hardwick reflects on Autism Awareness Month. This piece was originally published on Lamar’s website, The Autism Pastor. Last month was Autism Awareness month and people all over the globe were communicating, campaigning, criticizing, and complaining about autism and the like. When it comes to autism and autism advocacy/activism there is nor shortage of…
This column is reprinted with permission from Emma’s Hope Book, a blog written by a teenager with autism and, occasionally, her parents. What would you do if the whimper in your heart could not find the right words to speak? What if you couldn’t control the things you felt compelled to say, even if you…
Capri Kowsky Age: 22 Hometown: Batavia, Ohio University/Program: Studying Media Arts and Animation at the Art Institute of Ohio-Cincinnati, studying Media Arts and Animation Autism Symptoms: Echolalia, stimming, routine dependence On Self-Advocacy To whom did you choose to disclose your ASD, and why? How was that experience for you? Since 9th grade onward, I…
Jamie Thomas Malloy Age: 20 Hometown: Webster, New York University/Program: Junior studying Communications at Monroe Community College Autism Symptoms: Stimming, verbal repetition On Self Advocacy I choose to discuss my diagnosis of Asperger’s Syndrome with everybody I know in all of my classes and throughout my scholastic career. At my high school graduation, I…
Haley Moss Age: 22 Hometown: Boca Raton, Florida University/Program: Currently a Second-Year Law Student at the University of Miami. (J.D. expected May 2018). Go ‘Canes: it’s all about the U! I graduated from the University of Florida in 2015 with a B.A. in Criminology & Law and a B.S. in Psychology. Go Gators! Autism Diagnosis…
A self-advocate shares his experience growing up on the spectrum and offers some advice. My name is Russell Lehmann, I am 26-years-old and I happen to have autism. I have come a long, long way in life. Fourteen years ago, at the height of my distress, I was pretty much non-verbal. I was too afraid…
Tucker James Collins (TJC): When I was a child, my mother told me that she thought I had Asperger’s Syndrome. She framed this in terms of me being socially awkward and intelligent. My siblings complained about me being “weird”, and no adults in my family dissuaded them from using this label. I received no services,…
As an autistic self-advocate, I consider myself fairly lucky to have been relatively unaffected by bullying for most of my life. However, it is an unfortunate fact that many other autistics are very likely to be affected by bullying at some point in their lives. We have trouble making friends; we have interests that might…
Though I am a 2013 recipient of a Lisa Higgins Hussman Scholarship, I’ve never really liked school. The school environment never really felt safe to me due to the large numbers of people around, lots of loud noises and bright lights in the building, and too many social interactions that confused me and made me…
