Just between you and me, what you don’t know could hurt you Imagine you have a nineteen-year-old daughter away at college about three hundred miles from your home. Her roommate calls to say there’s something terribly wrong. She tells you that your daughter is speaking incoherently and behaving unusually, and you hear it for yourself when your daughter is put on the phone. Knowing that there’s a serious medical problem, you suggest that the roommate […]
PUZZLES & CAMO BY SHELLY HUHTANEN Our society needs to acknowledge that our educational systems need a complete overhaul. Every child deserves an education, no matter their abilities because in the end, no child is worth more than the other. As my husband and I plan for yet another IEP meeting at my son’s school tomorrow, I’ve pondered on how far we have come as a society caring and educating our children with special needs. […]
GENETIC ALLIANCE BY BY SARAH ROTH AND ROXANNE ROGERS From long hours, to intensive physical activity, to tests of patience that even humans wouldn’t be able to endure,the life of a therapy animal can be challenging. On a spring afternoon, Burton and Shellie Goldstein stride into the lobby of Sibley Memorial Hospital. The Goldsteins are slim, athletic. They wear identical polar fleeces and tote tie-dyed backpacks. They trail identical leashes behind them, attached to which […]
BY DEANNA PICON Prominent national landmarks will light up in blue, awareness events will be held throughout the country and major fundraising campaigns will be conducted as America recognizes Autism Awareness Month. Hundreds of organizations and thousands of people will bring much needed attention to the key issues and topics surrounding autism, as well as the plight of the millions of people it affects. However, in the midst of all of these diverse activities, it’s […]
SIBLING TIES BY PAIGE TALHELM I just want people to see autism for how it truly is. It isn’t just this blue light that shines in the city every April. It isn’t just that one savant that can tell you what day of the week March 21 was in 1934. As Autism Awareness month approached, I began to think about all of the things I wanted people to be aware of when it came to […]
