Some of you might have been hearing buzz on Twitter/seeing stuff on Facebook/seeing other info around the Interwebs about the ANCA 2010 Inaugural International Naturally Autistic Awards. The award ceremony was held yesterday in Vancouver, BC. Awards were given in several categories to both adult and youth arists on the autism spectrum, as well as community leader awards. A list of the award recipients, along with other info, is in this post on my blog, Woman With Asperger's: http://womanwithaspergers.com/2010/10/31/thank-you-anca/ I received the Adult International Literary Award for an unpublished collection of poems, "Novena".

Listen now to the taped interview of 8 year old Gina Marie Incandella and her mother Michelle.

A Story of Hope

AWN Interview ~ Gina Marie Incandela

thank you for this space.

and hello!

I'm 33, diagnosed with AS in 2009. Not sure that's all that's going on, but the more I hang out at my local AS group and read -- especially the increasing amount of stuff on *women* and ASDs, I am definitely dwelling somewhere on the spectrum.

I also have diagnosed Central Auditory Processing Disorder. Mainly, I can't filter out background noise, trouble distinguishing between certain words especially when the person is talking quickly, and I seem to have "below average" sequencing memory.

That's all I know so far with all that. I'm exploring more.

I'm Canadian, and recently married someone I met on a group discussion forum over 3 years ago. I recently immigrated to the US and got my green card this month! I'm adjusting to the big changes all of this involves, but not quickly or all that well. I feel a great deal of stress and I am currently working on advocating more for myself and getting supports in place.

♫ The Mom Song ~ sung to William Tell Overture

Ok, so I am an idealist. So it's a little idea. I still think it has a lot of potential to plant a seed, a positive seed. I submitted this simple idea to change.org in thier quest for 100 ideas to change ameria. take a look and see what you think; i'd appreciate the vote but more than that, i would appreciate the hope.. when we all join in together the energy of the planet changes. ever notice how tragedies seem to happen in domino effect; in a sense, that can be explained by the negative energy forces drawing like energy in through the laws that some call "the laws of attraction"...