AWN Radio, Workshops, and an Invitation Back to the White House
Autism Awareness Month
Today is the kick-off to what looks like a really busy month for the autism community. With that said, please let us know what you or your organization has planned for April, and we will add it to our announcements for our AWN Radio broadcasts throughout the month. Email us at: info@autismwomensnetwork.org.
We at Autism Women's Network have a busy month ahead, and we are excited to see April arrive in full bloom. First, AWN Radio will increase the number of broadcasts in order to highlight various events, community news, and authors throughout April.
Join us on February 14th when AWN Radio welcomes to the show, Valerie Paradiz, PhD. Valerie is Director of Special Projects at the Autism Research Institute. She was diagnosed on the autism spectrum 7 years ago at the age of 40, and has much to share about being diagnosed with AS well into adulthood, the toll it took on her with respect to loosing jobs, and her attempts at relationships which seemed to inevitably fail. Valerie was married in 2010, and she will share with us on this Valentine's Day broadcast her story of how she found happiness, acceptance, and fell in love.
My children want you to know that being of few words does not mean being of little intelligence.
My children want you to know that being socially awkward doesn't mean they cannot be wonderful, kind, loving and loyal friends.
My children want you to know that they stim because they need to, not because they are brats with little self-control who wish to irritate you. My children want you to know that they are not "picky", "wussy" or "incorrigible" because they cannot tolerate certain lights, sounds, fabrics or foods. They experience the world quite differently than you do from a sensory standpoint, and they are doing their best to process and handle all of it. Think of having the volume turned up on every one of your senses at all times.
Each time my self-advocacy is called into question by critics of the autism/neurodiversity movement, I close my eyes & see my mother's smiling face. My mother accepts me for who I am; she "gets me" and that means everything! I often wonder if the autism/anti-neurodiversity parent activists who choose to criticize and verbally attack autistic adults realize that we are someone's child? Have these critics stopped to realize that their child will one day be us, an adult on the autism spectrum?
Today is the kick-off to what looks like a really busy month for the autism community. With that said, please let us know what you or your organization has planned for April, and we will add it to our announcements for our AWN Radio broadcasts throughout the month. Email us at: 
Join us on February 14th when 
Each time my self-advocacy is called into question by critics of the autism/neurodiversity movement, I close my eyes & see my mother's smiling face. My mother accepts me for who I am; she "gets me" and that means everything! I often wonder if the autism/anti-neurodiversity parent activists who choose to criticize and verbally attack autistic adults realize that we are someone's child? Have these critics stopped to realize that their child will one day be us, an adult on the autism spectrum?
