Group Home Raises Concerns

This home on Salisbury Street
will be razed.

This story is just a sad reflection that the public's view of individuals with disabilities really hasn't changed at all. Read the comments when you link to the story. It's time people start seeing beyond disability and embrace diversity.

WORCESTER, Mass. --  A Brockton-based human services agency intends to operate a residential program for people with developmental disabilities at a Salisbury Street property where the existing home will be razed and replaced with a new building.

Autism, Parents and Teachers: Bridging the Communication Gap

SFGate.com autism advocate blogger Laura Shumaker touches another critical issue.

I was talking to a group of teachers last week, something I do frequently, about my experience raising a child with autism. My favorite part of these talks is the Q and A. “You can ask me anything,” I say, “and I will answer to the best of my ability.”
I get a lot of juicy questions, but there is one that I am asked most frequently:

I could do a better job if I could communicate more with parents. How can I get them to talk to me?

I flash back to the year that I was that parent, and how his teacher bridged the communication gap.

Graduation Day for Autistic Students

Check out the link for a video of the ceremony--congrats to all of the graduates!

NEW YORK -- Zachary is getting his cap and gown. He and 20 other students are graduating from preschool today. All of the children are all battling autism, and each and every one of them is going to main-stream school this fall.


They have all been students here at the Association for Metro Area Autistic Children in Manhattan.

AMAC, as they call it, is a year-round school for children age two and a half to 21-years-old, but when high functioning kids like these are ready, they leave.

Unique First-Day Pressures for Special Needs Students

O'FALLON, Ill. -- Like many of the incoming sixth-graders at Edward A. Fulton Junior High in O'Fallon, Nate Shaw has a lot of changes in front of him. He'll be in a new building, with new classes, teachers and students.

Unlike many of those students, however, Nate has Down syndrome, a genetic condition that affects the way he learns. Nate loves school, so he's ready for the change of pace. His mom, on the other hand, is a little apprehensive.

High School Football Player with Down Syndrome Kicked Off Team

HOBBTON, N.C. –- The North Carolina High School Athletic Association (NCHSAA) was taking heat Wednesday for barring a 19-year-old student with Down syndrome from suiting up with his beloved football team due to the association's age restrictions.

Brett Bowden, a junior at Hobbton High School in Newton Grove, N.C., has spent the last two seasons donning pads for the Wildcats, but the NCHSAA has said Bowden can no longer participate in practices or games as a member of the team.

"Brett don't see that he has Down syndrome," Bowden's mother, Pat Bowden, told WWAY-TV. "Brett wants just to be one of those guys, out there dressed, thinking that he is a football player, feeling like he's a football player."

Barber Educating Public About Autism

OCALA, Fla. -- The floor at Stacy’s Barbershop has a special insert with blue puzzle pieces, and owner Stacy Gerrity-Sansevere is astounded that some customers still don't know what the logo stands for.
"If you are an adult and you don’t know about autism by now — shame on you," she said.
She is so passionate that she is sponsoring an essay contest about autism through the end of April, which is National Autism Awareness Month.
Any child in grades three through eight who enters will receive a free haircut, and the winner will receive free haircuts for the rest of the year. The family of the winner — up to four people — also will receive free haircuts for a year.
Gerrity-Sansevere opened the shop in 2009 and dedicated it to her 10-year-old son, Garian, who has autism. He was diagnosed at 18 months old after his constant babbling became complete silence.