Easter Seals Central and Southeast Ohio — excellent!


Posted by Beth Finke on August 19th, 2009

I’m pleased to introduce Rob DuVall, Director of Marketing for Easter Seals Central and Southeast Ohio, as a guest blogger today. Rob has a passion for helping others and is dedicated to helping people with autism and other disabilities reach their full potential.

Easter Seals Central and Southeast Ohio – Excellent!
by Rob DuVall

Over the past four years, the adult …Read More » »

Book review: Don Meyer’s “Thicker than Water”


Posted by Beth Finke on August 7th, 2009

Thicker than Water: Essays by Adult Siblings of People with Disabilities is a collection of essays by 39 different authors who grew up with a brother or sister who has a disability. Don Meyer edited the collection, and quite a number of the essays are about siblings with autism.

One …Read More » »

Over 40% of homeless in U.S. have a disability


Posted by Beth Finke on July 21st, 2009

Every morning when I take my Seeing Eye dog out for her “constitutional” we pass the same homeless man sitting on a crate. “StreetWise!” he calls out. “Can you give a little help today?” StreetWise is a newspaper sold by homeless people in Chicago. The concept is that by selling StreetWise, people down on their luck might get back on …Read More » »

Children with autism grow up to be…adults with autism


Posted by Beth Finke on July 16th, 2009

An article in the Arizona Republic last Sunday reminds readers that children with autism grow up to be adults with autism. The reporter points out what so many tend to forget. Autism is not a childhood disorder. It never goes away.
The child born in 1980 – the year the American Psychiatric Association first added autism to its list of …Read More » »

Adults with autism thrive at new inclusive adult day center


Posted by Bob Glowacki on June 18th, 2009

When we think of autism, we tend to think of early childhood therapeutic interventions. I received a reality check when Easter Seals Southeast Wisconsin opened a new inclusive adult day center in Kenosha. The center is located inside the YMCA of Kenosha Callahan branch, and the first three participants who enrolled there have autism. Later on, more adults …Read More » »

Hope for adults with autism


Posted by Beth Finke on June 16th, 2009

You know the prevalence of autism statistic — that one we hear all the time about one in 150 children having autism? Well, until I read Patricia Wright’s Advancing Futures for Adults with Autism post last week, I just assumed that number had been measured fairly recently. But it turns out that the original findings …Read More » »

Advancing Futures for Adults with Autism


Posted by Patricia Wright on June 9th, 2009

I recently overheard someone say, “it took us 20 years to figure out what to do in early intervention and autism — we don’t have that kind of time when it comes to adults with autism.” It’s true. We don’t have time. The much-lauded statistic of “1 in 150 diagnosed” is usually accompanied by a picture of a young child’s …Read More » »

Man with autism finds employment in struggling economy


Posted by Julia McCollum on June 3rd, 2009

With all the news of the national unemployment rate nearing 9%, some may forget that those numbers are significantly higher for individuals with disabilities. The United States Department of Labor reports that, of those people with disabilities who say they are able to work, only 56 percent are working (PDF) — the rest are looking for jobs. With a …Read More » »

58-year old man with autism communicates through art


Posted by Beth Finke on June 2nd, 2009

Here’s a quick addition to Paula Pompa-Craven’s post about finding housing for adults with autism. An article in the Marina del Rey Argonaut touts Pierre Dumas, an artist in southern California who has autism.Pompa-Craven says interacting with his fellow artists at the art wall has done wonders for Dumas’ development.

“Being part of a community can be very …Read More » »

Housing for adults with autism


Posted by Paula Pompa-Craven on June 1st, 2009

An article in Time Magazine last week called Growing Old with Autism described some of the struggles family members go through when seeking support for their loved one with a significant disability. The piece was adapted from a book called Boy Alone: A Brother’s Memoir, written by Karl Taro Greenfeld about life with his brother Noah.When I was …Read More » »