Note: I read this memoir over the Summer. It plunged me back into the early days of my daughters' diagnoses. The chaos, the never ending worry, the fierce love and sometimes, the village that helps. Author Emma Nadler brings a fresh perspective I can't say we've read previously, and I'll leave that as part of your reading journey. I think you will appreciate her story. You can purchase a copy HERE. ### The Unlikely Village of Eden By Emma Nadler A profoundly thought-provoking, funny, and hopeful memoir about adapting when life doesn’t go to plan, redefining family, and creating your own pat ..read more

By Anne Dachel The latest fad in reporting on autism is to include it in an array of neurological disorders and call it all neurodiversity. Neurodiversity doesn’t sound so bad. It’s just a lot of differences. It includes kids with autism, ADD, ADHD, OCD, dyslexia, global developmental disorder (GDD) and more. Neurodiversity is a fact of life in America, especially when it comes to children. So many children today have some developmental problem that labels don’t raise eyebrows. These children are the norm. They don’t have disorders, just differences. We don’t ask why a particular child ends u ..read more

Yesterday, I got an email from the Biden campaign touting respect and admiration for American workers on Labor Day.  Laudable. Had I been sipping a holiday beer (Bud Light or Corona?) I'd have spat it out in laughter. How many Americans were forced out of work because they made a personal choice for their own body? How many Americans were turned down for jobs because they had not complied? (I know one very well, she looks just like me and is just as unruly.) NPR ran an article Labor Day is now a key to Election Day for Democrats and Republicans alike.  Covid showed us that often the ..read more

Happy Labor Day. The holiday recognizes paid, organized labor. Most of us are neither.  But our work for our kids is so important. I guess that why we do it for no pay, for sacrificed careers, for 401Ks that are barely .401Ks. Autism might deplete your bank account, but what deeper love is there, than the love we show our children, even when it's nearly impossible to maintain?  Don't quit, friends. Call on any of us for help when you are drained to exhaustion. Our work is sacred. No one cares for our kids as we do. They never will. Happy Labor Day. WE SEE YOU.  We are you.  ..read more

By Cathy Jameson I took a few minutes on Friday morning to clear out some emails.  My Drafts folder was full.  I had over 100 emails written but not sent.  Actually, I had 100 emails started and saved for some reason or another.  Some were notes I’d quickly typed during a meeting.  Others were more like a placeholder for ideas—old shopping lists, or screenshots taken of something I later wanted to look up. After I deleted some of the drafts, I paused.  I found some of the notes that Ronan and I had typed to each other.  His writing is labored, and almost alw ..read more

The age of autism is so much more than the diagnosis.  The age of autism ushered in an age where children, from the womb to adulthood, have been cast to the pharmaceutical industry. Parents always want what's best for their children. And we trust(ed) the men and women in the white coats. I watch "Mom" lists on social media and see the change in parenting. Moms still want good things for their kids.  Perhaps more than ever. They want kids who excel and yet, at the same time, feel less stress, less competition, less discomfort.  I've heard it called "lawnmower" parenting. Rather ..read more

We've been sharing details of Vax Unvax Let The Science Speak for months. Debut day is this week!  Children's Health Defense has relaunched the Vaxxed bus as the Vax-Unvax bus and it's touring the nation. It won't take long for the silver Sharpie ink to cover the sides with the names of vaccine injured children. Many AofA readers' kids names were on the Vaxxed bus, including my own daughters. Buy this book, buy ten copies if you can. Share them. Drop them into Little Free Libraries. Forget to pack them into your bag at the local coffee shop. Supporting the authors, CHD and Skyhorse Publ ..read more

Here's a question for candidate Ron DeSantis. What are you going to do about the tidal flood of autism in your state?  Children are surging into the system. Meanwhile there are more than 23,000 adults WAITING FOR SERVICES. Florida is a desert for adults with autism. ### By Anne Dachel Aug 25th there was a stunning piece in the Boca Raton (FL) Tribune. The title wasn’t all that noteworthy, ABA Centers of Florida Opens Flagship Autism Care Center in Boca Raton.    There was a group photo of the ABA team all smiling, and the story promoted the benefits of ABA autism therapy ..read more

By  Anne Dachel “You wonder if these behaviors are caused by the MMR vaccines she had recently.” There was an amazing opinion piece by Sandi Squicquero in the Greeley (CO) Tribune on Aug 27th. The title was, The impacts of Autism Spectrum Disorder. Squicquero described a scenario familiar to uncountable numbers of parents of autistic children. The birth of a child is a miraculous event.  Parents look forward to it with excitement and anticipation. The day finally arrives and after the delivery Mom lovingly counts all of the fingers and toes and says a prayer of thanks tha ..read more

My Facebook memory from 2009.  How long must we sing this song? Here's what CDC counsels to "pregnant people" in 2023: That post appeared in my Facebook memories over the weekend. Here we are, 14 years later, and CDC is recommending even more pre-natal vaccinations for pregnant… people.  https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/pregnancy/vacc-safety.html Vaccines help protect pregnant people and babies against serious diseases Pregnant people share everything with their babies. That means when a pregnant person gets vaccines, she isn’t just protecting herself— they are giving the baby some e ..read more