Here are selected pieces I have written about autism, disability (and intellectual and developmental disabilities in particular), parenting, neurodiversity, inclusion, justice, and needed cultural and policy changes. I welcome your feedback, questions, and ideas.
Featured Pieces
- My Talk at This Year’s NCCDD Awards Ceremony: the 2025 Jack B. Hefner Memorial Award (November 2025)
- Autism Adulthood: Caring for the Future and the Present Moment (November 2018)
- Definition as Destiny: Breaking Autistic Boundaries (October 2017)
- Autism 101: Hating Your Autistic Child (October 2014)
- On Blackness and Autism, Identity and Essence (February 2014)
- 7 Values to Live By: Autism Across Schools and Classrooms (March 2017)
- Top 10 List: Things to Remember When Working with Autistic Children or Other Children with Special Needs (July 2013)
- The Value of Disabled Lives and Organs (January 2022)
- Reducing Pervasive Sexual and Domestic Violence and Abuse Against People with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IDD) (December 2024)
Stories and Vignettes
- “Poppa, Do You Have Autism?” (November 2019)
- Women and Men and Autism: Love and Bathrooms (August 2015)
- Never Met a Stranger: Connection in the 21st Century (March 2017)
- The Autistic Spectacle (November 2013)
- The Egg Chair (April 2014)
A Few Recent Articles
- Autism and IDD: Caregiving, Advocacy, Community, and Love (April 2023)
- Autistic Isolation, Connection, and Joy: Never Miss Dessert (April 2022)
- Autism Acceptance—and Celebration (April 2021)
- We Continue to Fail Autistic People, Across Parties and as a Country. It’s Nothing New. (October 2025)
- A White House Visit and Event for Care Workers, Caregivers, and Advocates (May 2023)
On Intellectual and Developmental Disability
- Community Inclusion and IDD: Prioritizing and Empowering Choice for the Disabled (June 2022)
- No “Because” but Love—Intellectual Disability, Identity, Representation, and Value (May 2020)
- My Talk at the Disability Day of Mourning (March 2019)
- Serving Hispanic and Latino People with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IDD) (January 2025)
- End the Waitlists for Services for People with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (March 2025)
Autism & the Pursuit of Happiness Conference Series
- Part 1: Accept or Reject
- Part 2: Grieve or Live
- Part 3: Support or Save
- Part 4: Acceptance or Self-Acceptance
- Part 5: You As Autism or You as You
- Part 6: Independence or Connection
Some Other Autism Pieces
- Hammer and Screw: Autism Acceptance and Rejection (November 2019)
- Republicans Have Autistic Children, Too (January 2019)
- The Four Chambers: Love, Life, Lust, and Loss, for Autistics Just Like Everyone Else (September 2015)
- Autism and Grief (March 2013)
- Truth and Compass: Universality and Difference Inside and Outside of Autism (November 2014)
- Anti-Autism Prejudice (July 2014)
- Autism Nation: Implications for a 1-in-68 Planet (April 2014)
- Autism and the Human Condition: Ourselves and the Other, Ourselves as the Other, Ourselves and No Other (June 2014)
- Roads Not Taken: Lessons in Autism, Inclusion, and Life (November 2013)
- Autistic Language: Naming and Acknowledgment (March 2017)
