The matter of what exactly goes on in the mind of a dog is a tricky one, and until recently much of the research on canine intelligence has been met with large doses of skepticism. But over the last several years a growing body of evidence, culled from small scientific studies of dogs’ abilities to do things like detect cancer or seizures, solve complex problems (complex for a dog, anyway), and learn language suggests that they may know more than we thought they did.

At the risk of sounding unsophisticated, I have to ask: who cares why our service dogs help us? I’m just grateful they do! And I’m sure Michelle O’Neil, the author of a blog at Bark Magazine, feels the same way. O’Neil’s daughter Riley has autism, and the Bark blog follows the two of them as they train with Jingle, Riley’s new autism service dog.

Day 3: Today we got into the meaty stuff. Behavior disruption! This is the whole point of having a service dog for Riley, to help her with the meltdowns. Eventually, hopefully, Jingle will be able to redirect Riley before the escalation occurs. Today, a 4 Paws staff member indicated she would be role-playing a child crying (which sent Riley running from the room covering her ears before the scene even unfolded). The dogs are taught to nuzzle, to put their head in the child’s lap, or to go “over,” which means putting their whole body across the child’s lap for deep pressure.

Watch Riley meeting Jingle on YouTube and tell me if you think Jingle does her work because she’s smart, or because she’s obedient. And … do you think it matters?

This was a special night for Easter Seals Southeast Wisconsin, as we were publicly announcing our merger with Waukesha Training Center. I was so grateful Maurice spoke after I did. Everyone knows there’s no topping Maurice’s inspiring personal story.

Maurice has autism, and when he was a child the system very often considered institutionalizing children with his symptoms. In his speech, Maurice shared his life and a tale of his personal strength, devoted family and the help of Easter Seals Metropolitan Chicago. Today Maurice is a college graduate, and I actually heard a gasp of surprise from the audience as Maurice shared the story of earning that degree. When Maurice’s talk drew to a close, the audience gave him a standing ovation.

Maurice’s personal story spoke to one aspect of our merger, bringing together an array of services:

• Early intervention
• Work services
• Case management
• Adult day and recreation

Families seeking help, hope and answers will find resources and support at Easter Seals. Maurice’s story also speaks to the need for a continuum of services across the lifespan, to give people with all types of disabilities more opportunities for inclusion, access to services, careers and most importantly, choices in their futures!

Thanks, Maurice, for coming to Milwaukee! We want to bring you back to share your story with our work services participants so they can start dreaming of their futures too.

I warned against assuming people with autism all have the same special interest. A good example: Lars Perner.

Dr. Perner is an assistant professor of clinical marketing at University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business. He also happens to be a person with autism. Perner keeps a personal blog called Delightful Reflections, and often shares that his special interest in consumer behavior has contributed to his professional success.

Dr. Perner has a free audio lecture too. You might want to check it out — we can all learn a lot more about “special interests” by getting a personal perspective from an expert: an individual with autism.

At a time when “celebrity rules” and the only “ordinary” people we see are faces in the crowd, The Story reminds listeners that their stories and their lives matter. We believe that by creating a space for first person stories we are choosing not to accept a pollster’s version of our thoughts and attitudes.

The Story originates on North Carolina Public Radio, so Dick Gordon, the show’s host, was in Chapel Hill during Friday’s interview. Me? I sat alone with my Seeing Eye dog Hanni in a recording booth in Evanston, Illinois. The sound man, seated in another room behind a plate of glass, says if you listen carefully you’ll hear Hanni’s harness jiggle as she settles in at the beginning of the taping. She slept for the rest of the hour. She’d heard this all before.

The interview questions centered on my working life. I lost my sight in 1985. The Americans with Disabilities Act wouldn’t be signed into law until five years later. When I lost my sight, I lost my job. Worse than that, I lost my self-confidence. It took a while for me to get the gumption to apply for work again, but once I did I met up with some pretty wonderful, flexible employers. A series of part-time jobs helped rebuild my confidence back. Today I’m a published author, a teacher, and … a blog moderator!

If you read my blog post about a speech Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL), gave on hiring people with autism and other disabilities, you know he mentioned a recent DePaul University study on the costs and benefits of employing people with disabilities. Durbin used the study to remind his audience that people with autism and other disabilities make very loyal employees.

This is what the study found: on their annual performance reviews, employees with disabilities rated slightly higher than their co-workers without disabilities. Employees with disabilities took fewer scheduled and unscheduled days off work — just the opposite of what many might assume.

In addition, the average cost of accommodating the workers with disabilities — modifying the workplace to meet their needs — was $313. As investments in good, dependable workers go, that’s a bargain.

I wasn’t savvy enough to refer to research studies when they taped my interview for The Story, but I hope the spirit of that study shines through when the show airs. The Story is distributed nationally by American Public Media. It can be heard in North Carolina on WUNC-FM and WRQM-FM (90.9) in Rocky Mount. The show can also be heard on other stations across the U.S. including WBEZ in Chicago and KPCC in Los Angeles. I’m not sure yet when my particular segment will air, so stay tuned — I’ll let you know as soon as I find out.

In the meantime, take a look at a post called Disability Employment Awareness in the News on the Justice for All Activist Blog. The post has a nice round-up of articles about disability employment awareness that have already been published this month.

Roger lost his legs in a boating accident in 1975, and he took that personal tragedy and turned it into a career as an advocate for people with disabilities. He was a delegate for Easter Seals Michigan and served on Easter Seals Michigan’s Board of Directors. He was also an active member of the Paralyzed Veterans of America, the Rehabilitation Institute of Michigan, the Paralympics Games and the Michigan Athletes with Disabilities Hall of Fame.

Our blogger Matt McAlear met McCarville after the TV host came to Easter Seals Bay Area to interview them about their Early Intervention Autism Project. The show aired in twelve different markets this summer. Easter Seals Bay Area has been receiving calls, emails, kudos, and support ever since the show aired on PBS, and subsequentlyon YouTube. From Matt’s blog post :

Throughout the day, both on and off camera, Roger went beyond the typical interview questions. He made a genuine effort to connect with each of us individually. Roger kept us laughing all day, and he was a pleasure to work with. He was truly interested in the work we do and the individuals we serve everyday through the Early Intervention Autism Project.

Roger McCarville was truly one-of-a-kind. He will be missed.

Surfing star Clay Marzo is doing his part by educating his fellow surfers. Clay was diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome a few years ago, and he has been informing the surfing community about disability ever since. Marzo’s participation in surfing contests gives his fellow surfers the opportunity to learn about autism from an expert – a person with autism.

Marzo took a break from contests and visibility for a while, but now he is back in the mix. In fact, Clay is one of the most celebrated surfers in the world. He just turned 20, and he’s already won a number of Hawaiian titles. He’s a mainstay on YouTube (a few of his clips have been watched more than 50,000 times) and a story about Clay Marzo in this month’s Outside Magazine describes his obsession with surfing.

While Clay has many of these deficits—he’s easily overwhelmed by other people and often struggles to express himself—he also demonstrates one of the distinguishing features of Asperger’s: an “encompassing preoccupation” with a narrow subject. Some children with the syndrome become obsessed with 19th-century trains or coffee makers or The Price Is Right. Others will memorize camera serial numbers, even if they show little interest in photography. Hans Asperger, the Viennese pediatrician who first identified the disorder in 1944, argued that such obsessiveness can be a prerequisite for important achievement, even if
it comes at a steep social cost: “It seems that for success in science or art, a dash of autism is essential,” Asperger wrote. “The necessary ingredient may be an ability to turn away from the everyday world … with all abilities canalized into the one specialty.”

Marzo won the Quiksilver Pro Puerto Escondido this summer, and his victory sends a very powerful message: Significant success in life is possible if you have autism.

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.

First, some background. Alan Jackson agreed to do a benefit for Easter Seals of LaSalle and Bureau counties last month, and before the concert he spent some time with Easter Seals clients. As reported in the News Tribune, a newspaper Serving North Central Illinois:

The country superstar met 3-year-old Corvin Berg and his mom, grandmother and aunt last week as part of a meet and greet with the children and families of Easter Seals of La Salle and Bureau Counties. He was impressed with the difference that Easter Seals had made in Corvin’s life and the lives of the other children in the area, according to Diana Baron of d.baron media relations.

Unfortunately, the concert after the Meet and greet ended up as a large financial loss for organizers, which means there was nothing left over to donate to Easter Seals of LaSalle and Bureau counties. Alan Jackson heard about this later and dug into his own pocket to donate directly to the cause. Shelley Threadgill, marketing director for Easter Seals of LaSalle and Bureau counties, was the one to receive the overnighted envelope from Alan Jackson. She assumed the envelope contained an autographed picture, and boy, was she surprised to see what was inside instead!

“Oh my gosh,” she exclaimed. “This is beyond belief. Alan’s concern for us is outstanding. We cannot even take it all in yet.”

The amount of the check? Twenty thousand dollars. Threadgill said the generous donation will have a significant impact on many programs that have been affected by the economy, including their autism resource center.

“This is a miracle. Thank you so much to Alan from the children and families of Easter Seals.”

Dan seemed on a normal developmental track for his first three and a half years until things went haywire. His speech suddenly stopped. He sat in a corner gnawing on his shirt. His parents first thought it would pass, then that it was a hearing issue, and finally the cold, terrifying diagnosis came.

The Mulvaney’s local Long Island school district didn’t know what to do with Dan. They told his parents that Dan would be better off at home or a “special school.” Dan’s parents thought differently. They didn’t want their son in an institution. They wanted him in a local school. They wanted him to live in his own house.

So instead, with the assistance of the district’s head of special education, Mary Tatem, they pushed and prodded, became total pests, made themselves and the district crazy but ended up with the best education Dan could hope for, one where he ate with other kids and became part of their world — good for him, good for them. And along the way, Long Beach transformed itself from a district that barely knew how to deal with special-needs kids into one of the best in the region.

Dan graduated from Long Beach High School last Sunday and will be moving into a group home with three other guys later this summer.

Dan and his parents, like so many this time of year, will start anew with both a new set of possibilities and unalterable ties to the life they’ve somehow suddenly, miraculously outgrown.

Congratulations to Dan, and congratulations to his parents.