Interviews Archives - Page 17 of 24

Autism Interview #69: Larkin Taylor-Parker on Autistic Community and Disability Rights

June 26, 2018JennaInterviews

Larkin Taylor-Parker is an attorney practicing in North Carolina, a graduate of Agnes Scott College and the University of Georgia School of Law, and a proud member of the Autistic community. Larkin lives in Raleigh and enjoys spending time with friends and family, playing the tuba, and riding and maintaining a pair of vintage English three speed bicycles.

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Autism Interview #68: Sara on Autistic Identity, Late-Diagnosis, and Socialization

June 5, 2018JennaInterviews

Sara is a 27-year-old Autistic woman with a degree in Intercultural Communication who taught English in Japan from 2014-2017. She was officially diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder in 2017 after several years of self-exploration and research. She now writes her blog, “Seeking Sara,” where she explores life on the Spectrum. She enjoys reading, writing, swimming, and music. This week she shared her experience receiving her Autism diagnosis, her socialization preferences, and how she’s adjusted to her new Autistic identity.

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Autism Interview #70: Tom Iland on Law Enforcement, Self Discovery, and Advocacy

June 4, 2018JennaInterviews

Diagnosed with autism at 13 years old, Thomas “Tom” Iland has worked hard to achieve his goals: learning to drive, living on his own, graduating from college, obtaining full-time employment and having a girlfriend. Tom recently left his career as a certified public accountant (CPA) to educate, inspire and motivate people affected by autism and other learning differences. One of only 4,000 Distinguished Toastmasters in the world and a member of the National Speakers Association, his mantra “Know Yourself. Love Yourself. Be Yourself.” has been featured in keynote speeches in autism conferences around the country and is among the topics in his award-winning, bestselling book, “Come to Life! Your Guide to Self-Discovery.” This week Tom shared advice about advocacy and his background as a public speaker, including training individuals on how to interact with law enforcement.

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Autism Interview #67: RoAnna Sylver on Writing Neurodivergent Characters

May 29, 2018JennaInterviews

RoAnna Sylver is passionate about stories that give hope, healing and even fun for LGBT, disabled and other marginalized people, and thinks we need a lot more. Aside from writing oddly optimistic dystopia books, RoAnna is an autistic blogger, artist, singer, and voice actor. This week RoAnna discussed her passion for creating neurodivergent characters in her writing.

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Autism Interview #66: Kat Muir on Socializing, CBT, and Advocacy

May 22, 2018Jenna1 CommentInterviews

Kat Muir is a speech-language pathologist employed at Easterseals Crossroads. She has a B.S. in Speech & Hearing Science and an M.A. in Bilingual Speech-Language Pathology. She speaks fluently in English, Spanish, German, French, Farsi, ASL and some Mandarin and is currently working on learning Vietnamese. She is also a member of Mensa and a public speaker. This week she shared how she has managed some of her personal struggles as well as how she works today to help others with disabilities.

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Autism Interview #64: Russell Lehmann on Never Giving Up

May 8, 2018JennaInterviews

Russell Lehmann is an award-winning and internationally recognized motivational speaker, poet, author and advocate who happens to have autism. His words have been featured in the USA Today, LA Times, NPR, Yahoo! News, Autism Speaks and archived in the Library of Congress.

Russell currently travels the country spreading hope, awareness, acceptance, belief and tolerance in a raw and dynamic fashion, while also setting his sights on erasing the stigma and stereotypes that come with having a disability. This week he shared some of his experiences as an autism advocate and poet.

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Autism Interview #63 Part 2: Ally Grace on Communication and Fighting Stigma

May 1, 2018JennaAutism Acceptance, Interviews

This post is a continuation of an interview with Ally Grace, Respectfully Connected blogger and autistic mother of five. Last week Ally discussed unschooling her children and advice for parents considering therapy for their children. This week Ally offered suggestions for communicating with your autistic children and challenges us to rethink how we advocate for them.

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Autism Interview #63 Part 1: Ally Grace on Unschooling, Therapy, and Autism

April 24, 2018JennaAutism Acceptance, Interviews

Ally Grace is an autistic mother of five from Australia. Ally strongly believes in challenging the pathology paradigm of autism. She blogs at Respectfully Connected about her family, rejecting conventional autism assumptions, challenging social norms around raising children, unschooling, and being autistic. This post is part one of a 2-part series with Ally. This week she shared her experience unschooling her children, as well as advice for parents considering different therapies for their children.

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Autism Interview #62: Tina Sheers and Autism Insights

April 10, 2018JennaInterviews

Tina Sheers is a married mother of four living in Victoria, Australia. This week she shared some of her personal experiences as an individual on the spectrum as well as advocacy tips for parents.

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Autism Interview #61: Michael John Carley on the Current State of Autism

April 3, 2018Jenna4 CommentsAutism Acceptance, Interviews, Practical Parenting

Michael John Carley is an internationally-recognized autistic author, speaker, and public advocate. He is the founder and first Executive Director of GRASP, the largest organization in the world comprised of adults on the autism spectrum. He’s also the former United Nations Representative of Veterans for Peace, Inc. He’s been featured in many national publications and media outlets and has written several books on autism. This week he shared his perspective on the current state of autism in America, some of the differences between his experiences and those of his autistic son, as well as advocacy tips for parents.

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