She lived long enough to see her hopes fulfilled — it’s impossible to count the number of our own Easter Seals clients who benefit from the sports training and competition they receive by participating in Special Olympics. Two perfect examples? Team USA member Jamie Smith, and our blogger Maurice Snell.

Jamie Smith, a graduate of Easter Seals’ Autism Therapeutic School in Chicago, traveled with the Special Olympics to Shanghai, China in September, 2007 and brought home two bronze and two silver medals for powerlifting.

Earlier this year Maurice applauded Jamie Smith’s efforts in a blog post about Special Olympics:

It has helped change the lives of many different people — including my colleague, Jamie Smith. Jamie went to Shanghai, China and did extraordinarily well -– he won four Olympic medals!

Maurice benefited from his own participation in the Special Olympics. He was diagnosed with autism when he was six years old. At age seven, he and his family visited what today is the Easter Seals Therapeutic Day School, a place where students with autism ages 3 to 21 receive not only an education and therapy, but recreational services, too. During Maurice’s 10 years at the school, a team of professionals helped him develop his speech, language and communication skills. They helped with his social skills, too: he learned to swim and play baseball, and competed in the Special Olympics. Today, Maurice works as a classroom aide and mentor at his former school.

I was an active participant in the Special Olympics during my days at the Therapeutic School and Center for Autism Research. I enjoyed the opportunities to participate in various events and meet many different people. To me, Special Olympics kept me going throughout my life. It motivated me to achieve higher standards and make me grow as a man. I’m grateful for Special Olympics and Easter Seals’ involvement in Special Olympics.

I don’t think I can say it any better than Maurice did. So many lives have been changed for the better thanks to Eunice Kennedy Shriver’s work. Thank you, Eunice. You will be missed.

Lose the training wheels, and gain your independence
By Candy Porter

Last month I had the privilege of observing the opening and closing ceremonies of the Lose The Training Wheels camp here at Easter Seals Crossroads. An article about our Lose the Training Wheels camp appeared at About Special Kids (ASK), a parent-to-parent Web site and resource for Indiana families with children who have special needs. The article described our program like this:

Children ages 8 to 18 with disabilities (such as autism, developmental delays, Down syndrome and cerebral palsy) are taught how to ride and transition to a conventional bike within a five-day period. The program utilizes adapted bikes and techniques developed by Dr. Richard Klein, a retired professor of mechanical engineering from the University of Illinois.

Think back to when you mastered a two-wheel bicycle — do you remember the time and place? I do — and that was over 55 years ago! What a life changing, growing experience it was. I have a feeling that it was even more so for our young riders.

I saw wobbly kids, scared kids and reluctant kids evolve overnight into successful kids, proud and confident. Better put: I saw earthbound caterpillars turn into soaring butterflies. What a joy — and privilege — to behold.

From that blog post, you can watch a CBS interview — professional surfer Israel Paskowitz’s son Isaiah has autism, and Israel gave a great interview about his son’s experience in the water. Israel was raised in a surfing family, and his childhood experiences were captured in the film Surfwise. When Isaiah was diagnosed with autism, there were questions about whether the surfing legacy would continue in the next generation.

Thanks to programs like Surfers Healing, Isaiah and others with autism are able to experience the thrill that surfing provides!

While the post does not focus on autism per se, it says a lot about what it’s like to be judged “different” from others. It tells of Paul Newman regularly coming to camp to sit down at a lunch table with the campers.

One version of the story has the kid look from the picture of Newman on the Newman’s Own lemonade carton to Newman himself, then back to the carton and back to Newman again before asking, “Are you lost?” Another version: The kid looks steadily at him and demands, “Are you really Paul Human?” Newman loved those stories. He loved to talk about the little kids who had no clue who he was, this friendly old guy who kept showing up at camp to take them fishing.

It had never occurred to me before that superstar Paul Newman had anything in common with kids suffering from serious illnesses, kids on the autism spectrum, people (of all ages!) with disabilities.

It took me years to understand why Newman loved being at the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp. It was for precisely the same reason these kids did. When the campers showed up, they became regular kids, despite the catheters and wheelchairs and prosthetic legs. And when Newman showed up, he was a regular guy with blue eyes, despite the Oscar and the racecars and the burgeoning marinara empire.

Goodness knows kids with autism — and their parents — know what it’s like to be stared at in public for being “different.” I can’t even see them, but I feel it — people often stare at me when I’m out and about with my Seeing Eye dog. I try to hold my head high regardless. Now, feeling this connection to the great Paul Newman, that will be easier to do!

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While most people look forward to a vacation with its new vistas, surroundings, food and routines, many families traveling with children with autism face a daunting task of providing some well-established routines to help their child feel secure. Long lines, masses of travelers, new schedules for eating and sleeping can throw off their child and make the trip less than relaxing.

The article chronicles families on cruises and at resorts where the destinations have made accommodations for children with autism. It also points out that Americans with all sorts of disabilities are vacationing in record numbers

Yet for every parent who decides they’re better off staying at home with a child who might have a meltdown if someone accidentally brushes against him at a hotel breakfast buffet, there are others who are determined to hit the road, particularly if there are nonautistic siblings in the equation. And with Americans who have disabilities spending $13.6 billion annually on travel in the United States (not including the caregivers and family members who often accompany such individuals), according to a 2005 Harris Interactive poll for the Open Doors Organization, a small but growing number of tour operators, travel agents and resorts are offering specially geared getaways.

Congrats to the resorts and hotels who are wise enough to go out of their way to educate themselves and their staff about autism. Goodness knows our families need vacations as much — or more — as any other family does!

Tuesday was the grand opening and unveiling of the new White Sox Field, Easter Seals’ “field of dreams.” White Sox Field is a softball field designed for people with autism, and it is located right next to the new Therapeutic School and Center for Autism Research. It was named in honor of the White Sox, as Chicago White Sox Charities donated $1 million to this project, which includes the weight and exercise room in the new school. The new field is a dream come true, as it will play part to many softball or baseball games at the school.

The celebration Tuesday featured reporters from many different TV stations. If you missed them on TV, you can link to NBC5 TV, Fox 32 Chicago TV, and CLTV Chicago to see the segments online. (For that last one, click on the video labeled Ballpark for autistic children as well as Unedited video: Sox mascot steals reporter’s mic for a quick mention of Easter
Seals.

The main star of the day, of course, was our beloved White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen, a great spokesperson for autism at Easter Seals Metropolitan Chicago.

“It’s very important that the kids reach their goals as this field will bring love back,” explained Ozzie in a news interview. His remarks were encouraging words of inspiration that impacted many families of children with autism.

This new field has passed with flying colors, as demonstrated by many students at the school. Hopefully, it will play host to an Easter Seals World Series in the future. You can put it on the board … YES!

So when I found out that members of Rotary District 6450 and other Chicagoland Rotary Districts were joining together at a White Sox game tonight, and that 100% of the ticket profits will provide support to Easter Seals’ new Therapeutic School and Center for Autism Research … well, I bought a ticket.

Actually, I bought four. The White Sox are playing the Detroit Tigers tonight, and my husband Mike and I invited two Tiger fans to come along.

A story in yesterday’s Chicago Tribune about White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen attending the unveiling of White Sox Field (a softball field designed for people with autism) got me revved up for tonight’s game. White Sox Field is adjacent to the new Easter Seals Therapeutic School and Center for Autism Research on Chicago’s West Side, and Chicago White Sox Charities donated $1 million to the new facility — the largest direct contribution to the project.

Guillen joked that he had plenty of time to attend, as he’s serving a 2-game suspension, but he spoke passionately about his interest in helping children with autism both here in Chicago and in his native Venezuela.

“Don’t treat them like somebody else,” Guillen said. “Treat them like the human beings that they are. Give the best day to these kids every day. That’s the main reason we helped build this field, to give them as many great days as possible.”

Ozzie’s suspension is over today, so I’ll be cheering him — and his team — on from the stands. I’ll be cheering the Rotarians seated around me, too. And of course I’ll be cheering for all the folks at Easter Seals Metropolitan Chicago too — yay, team!

What they do, exactly, is teach people with disabilities how to sail. And turns out Chicago isn’t the only place offering courses like this. A newspaper story about David McGinnis, who has autism, highlights the Heart of Sailing program in Portland, Oregon.

“Feeling the water beneath him, looking out at the river and the sky, it put him in a different place than where he usually is,” Donilee McGinnis, who is 25 and a Portland State University student, said of her brother on the sailing trip. “He looked really, really relaxed.”

A program in San Juan archipelago in Northwestern Washington called Talisman provides a sailing program for teens with Asperger’s and High-functioning Autism.

But it sounds like if you really want to sail, you need to go to New Zealand. A post on the Autism New Zealand Inc. site asks, “Who wants to go sailing, then?” And as my co-worker Nigel, born and raised in Auckland, points out, “Everyone in New Zealand sails — having a disability is no excuse!”

Denise Rozell, Assistant Vice President of State Government Relations at Easter Seals’ Office of Public Affairs, presented the award. She was impressed by the governor’s passion for Autism services and his support of community options in long term care. The Governor also supports a bill to mandate health coverage for Autism Services in our state – you can read about that in the blog I wrote on health insurance for people with autism.

Yesterday’s ceremony featured the Easter Seals Wil-O-Way Color Guard (made up of participants from our recreation programs) and a talk by an Easter Seals participant who moved from a state institution to a group home. He told us he had recently taken the handcuffs off a stuffed animal he owned because, like the stuffed animal, he felt—free! It was a very emotional moment, and it was a great day to be part of Easter Seals!

Here’s the story: last Thursday, the rock opera Day After Day came to town, and when I asked Adam if he wanted to go with me to see it, he said yes.

Day After Day is a rock opera about the daily struggles the families of children with autism face. The show was originally performed in 2004, and Parents of Autistic Children (POAC) helped fund a new, expanded production this year.

It wasn’t until after Adam agreed to go to the show with me that he asked what it was about. When I told him, I slipped in the “yaw know, you have some of those issues, too.” He didn’t ask any more questions.

During the performance, I could tell that Adam was intrigued by the representation of the kids with autism in the musical. Of course, he was also interested in the number of people at the theatre — and the light effects!

Some highlights:

• Just Call Me Dad is a number about one child’s father looking for a typical father-son relationship. 
• My Mom features one of “the other three kids” who longs for her mother. The mother is so overwhelmed with the needs of her son that she neglects her daughters’ emotional needs.

You can hear musical selections yourself at the Day After Day MySpace page.

I thought the show was great — high energy tunes, meaningful lyrics and young people keenly portraying the struggles and triumphs of too many families today.