Autism and Carly Fleischmann, in her own words (literally)

Check out the video below; this girl is amazing!

http://www.bigdandbubba.com/pages/archive2012.html?feed=447152&article=9637873

Thank you to Big D & Bubba for the link!

~Jon

Vermont Autism Insurance Reform Bill: S-262

Oh my gosh! In Blogdom, I have committed the ultimate sin: it has been nearly two months since I have posted! I'd might as well just board up the windows and put a chain on the doors.

Or I could explain to you that, between starting a business (which is a much more consuming task than I could have ever imagined) and pushing for autism reforms in my home state of Vermont, I have been overwhelmingly busy. Not an excuse, but I assure you, it has not been time wasted.

As many of you know --- and some of you may not --- services for autism are not currently covered by insurance companies in many states, including Vermont. A bill has been introduced to assure this requirement. At this time however, though the legislators really want to help, they are getting pressure from lobbyists not to do anything now. We are in need of help in getting your support (and that of your representatives and senators) for VT autism insurance bill S-262.

Please call your legislator and the chair of this committee. If you are also a constituent of anyone else on this committee, please call them! Every call counts in tiny Vermont!There are talking points below of why we need this. Please write a handwritten note or a phone call (they count!) to the senators below. This is the week before crossover; when they decide whether to send it to the House or not.

Listen to our recent radio show about this issue with Anne Barbano of "Living the Autism Maze" here: http://livingtheautismmaze.com/radiator_021710.mp3

The narrative of the bill can be read here...or here: http://www.autismvotes.org/atf/cf/%7B2A179B73-96E2-44C3-8816-1B1C0BE5334B%7D/VT%20S-262%20-%20as%20introduced.pdf

The members of the Senate Finance Committee can be found here: Members

Their email addresses can be found by clicking here: Emails

Thanks to all of you and PLEASE HELP where you can and contact me if you need more information.

'Celebrate the Spectrum' Radio Interviews

April 1st marks the beginning of National Autism Awareness Month. Begun in the early 1970's by the Autism Society of America, the nation now recognizes April as a special opportunity for everyone to educate the public about autism and issues within the autism community. Along with that, my own local support organization, Exceptional Parents of Exceptional Children (EPEC) is pleased to roll out 'Celebrate the Spectrum': a month-long series of events, activities and talks aimed at sharing our lives with our community.

To make folks aware of this month's activities, my EPEC co-chair (Heidi) and I set out on two radio interviews: one locally with our most popular radio station (Mix 98.1/WJJR) and a smaller, independent station in our queen city of Burlington (105.9/The Radiator). On separate occasions Heidi and I have both been on the program (The Next Frontier) with the host Anne Barbano, who also produced a wonderful video called "Living the Autism Maze" (check it out here).

To listen to our talk about 'Celebrate the Spectrum' and also how Heidi's National Guard duty affects her relationship with her son, please click on this link (interview). The page takes about a minute or so to load, so please be patient. Of course, I talk about Same Child, Different Day, too!

~ Jon

Autism Radio Interview

I mentioned a while ago that we were supposed to present Same Child, Different Day during a radio show last month. Anne Barbano is a director, writer and producer of a presentation called Living the Autism Maze, and is the host of a local radio talk show. She headlines 105.9 - The Radiator's "The Next Frontier", an autism-focused program that "strive[s] to educate, inform and create opportunity for a community that may not always have access to inclusionary experiences."

However, our January 14, 2009 show to talk about the booklet did not record; can you believe it? Anne was nice enough to put a little blurb about it, with a link to this site, but it would have been wonderful to be able to provide you with the listening link here.

No matter, if you'd like to talk about the show, writing booklets, or anything autism-related, please drop me a line.

~ Jon