By Ron Sandison I felt a sense of nostalgia watching the video of Joey Hicks, a thirty-year-old, nonspeaking adult with autism, soothing to the music of the Grateful Dead at the Gorge Amphitheatre in Washington. In the TikTok video that went viral, Joey is rocking-back-and-forth absorbed in the mus…

Becoming a professional speaker takes hard work, confidence, and practice. By Ron Sandison In April for Autism Acceptance Month, I spoke to 3,500 students and staff. During the past 7 years, I have spoken to over 250,000 people and I have presented everywhere from Israel to Madagascar. I speak at ov…

“Synesthesia is a gift but it is also a beautiful language that needs its own translation.” Jeremy Sicile-Kira The essay below was written by 17-year old Abigail Delizo for a University of Toronto assignment for a course on Creating Community: Art, Identity and Belonging. Communicatio…

THE AMAZING SEASONS a poem by Ishaan Holloway I see magic in the Kingdom of colour, I see pure joy, I see love in the air, I see hope, I see freshness, I see nature in its bounty, I see beautiful Fall in all its glory. THANKSGIVING a poem by Ishaan Holloway Thanksgiving is a time to celebrate, The …

MUSINGS ON A THUNDERSTORM a poem by Ishaan Holloway July 7, 2021 Thunder travels at the speed of sound, It makes a mighty roar, It frightens the weak at heart, As its friend the lightning makes images in the sky, Me? I look and listen, trying to understand its language, It lifts my heart, For afte…

By Essmaa Litim Happy Mother’s Day. To every mother out there who continues to fight for her babies. Who works endless hours to make sure they are fed. Who flies halfway across the world for opportunity. Who sacrifices it all so that those babies can live the life she couldn’t have. For her life is…

Last year, jazz composer and musician Justin Morell contacted the Art of Autism about his project All Without Words. Justin had composed jazz music that was inspired by his autistic son Loren. He wanted some artists to listen to the music and create a piece of art based on their experience of his …

By Nils Skudra This week I had the opportunity to watch Jerry Rothwell’s documentary The Reason I Jump, a profoundly compelling commentary on the lives of several young nonspeaking adults on the autism spectrum. Based on the book of the same title by Naoki Higashida, this documentary explores the u…

By Matteo Musso Hi, I am a 15 year old guy with autism. I have been silent most of my life, at least regarding using spoken language as a primary way of communicating. I was introduced to the letter board when I was 11½ years old. To live in this society without the use of spoken language is so cha…

by Pam Urfer (commentary by Kimberly Gerry-Tucker after) Not much was known about Autism in 1942, the year I was born. Nor in 1952, when I was 10. Nor in 1962, when I was 20. I’m not sure what symptoms I displayed as a child, whether or not I spoke late, or potty trained late, or disliked being touc…

PODS – People of Diversity, Speaking is a project similar to HONY – Humans of New York. PODS promotes the art of storytelling and it will be an ongoing database of Recognized Diversity Acceptance. by Kimberly Gerry-Tucker BOD and PODS; Intro by Kimberly Gerry Tucker, (new Board of Direc…

 “I would advise teachers to treat their students humanely regardless of their beliefs about disabilities,” Diego Pena, Age 9 By Debra Muzikar A couple months ago I became aware a Ventura County third grader who was non-speaking and had an autism diagnosis had written book Anat…

  “Faith is believing for kites to fly when there’s no wind in sight,” Josiah Cullen By Ron Sandison  Tahni Cullen, a minister and bestselling author of Josiah’s Fire, declares, “God is a good gift giver.” During the darkest days of autism her family’s faith was shaken. Tahni refused…

We need to decide, are we going to continue to spend time debating semantics, or are we going to fight with a unified message? By Carly Fulgham My autism diagnosis didn’t enlighten my life until age 28, but of course the signs were always there when it came to the exchange of thoughts, feeling…