By Dennis Procopio “Dennis, please just get in the f***ing car.” This was my mother, pleading with her 9-year-old son to sit in a friend’s car which had crushed velvet seats. I wouldn’t. I couldn’t. It felt…. unbearable. As she herself was diagnosed with a laundry list of clinical diagnoses includ…

By Kris McElroy If someone would have asked me to rate my anxiety and excitement on a scale of 1-10 when I found out I was going to be a dad in May of 2020, I would have said, “are you kidding me? I’m like a 25 on excitement and a 50 on anxiety”. Before then I never believed I could be a parent beca…

By Ron Sandison Father’s Day is especially meaningful to me as a dad with autism, I try not to take the responsibility for granted with my hectic schedule of writing and speaking. When I was diagnosed with autism at age seven the experts informed my parents I would probably never get married and ha…

Into Your (Joe’s) World by Michael C. Kregler As a composer, I’ve always tried to follow this self-imposed advice: in order to create authentic and convincing music, be sure to a) study great composers, and b) write within your own experience. The latter would become especially significant when, in …

By Ron Sandison Early in my adult life autism caused me to be underemployed for all the degrees I had earned including a Master of Divinity from Oral Roberts University. My first two years after seminary I was employed part-time as a telemarketer and part-time in a church as an intern for youth min…

Makayla having me as her dad is in for a fun journey. By Ron Sandison On March 20, 2016 at 3:13 am my beautiful daughter Makayla Marie arrived. Eight days late and weighing 8.5 pounds. After performing the C section the surgeon asked me, “How does it feel to be a dad at 3:13 am?” I smiled and havin…