Bios and photos coming soon!
We have three wonderful children, two girls and a boy. Our son with autism has taught us much. We feel that our knowledge and real life experiences could benefit many. By sharing these experiences we hope to make the road a little smoother for others. We are dedicated to the success of NAzASA and are excited about the possibilities we have to help bring more awareness, acceptance, and education to Northern Arizona
I am autistic, being diagnosed whilst in fourth grade. I was unaware of this diagnosis and of my near placement in an institution until I was nearly fifty three years of age, and diagnosed myself as Asperger's Syndrome. I am (marginally) self sufficient, and eeven find moments of happiness in life. I live alone, own a business so that I can work around many issues, and am for 2010 president of NAZASA. That last is a great honour, and also useful. The center of my life is to work with the public regarding autism and our community. My goal is that autistic people ought have good and useful and happy lives. NAZASA is a wonderful organization for this purpose.
I am the parent of two children, a six year old girl and a 13 year old boy with autism. I have worked at Northern Arizona University, the Institute for Human Development on projects related to self-advocacy and family support for the last 3 years. I am excited to be a part of this new group and to work with other families in Flagstaff to improve not just the supports and services for individuals with autism and their families but to improve our access to all the "fun" things our community in Arizona has to offer as well.
I am an professor at Northern Arizona University. I have worked for a number of years with families and individuals who have an autism spectrum disorder. I have served as a consultant, inclusion facilitator, and classroom teacher. Currently, I teach courses focusing on the education of school-aged children who have ASD. I also teach courses on inclusive practices. I believe that organizations such as the Autism Society of America are key to improving the lives of families and individuals with ASD. For this reason, I am strongly committed to the success of NAzASA.
I am originally from Ogden, Utah, and now live in Rimrock, Arizona. I am undiagnosed ASD and diagnosed ADHD. I have two bachelor's degrees, one in Computer Science and the other in English-both with Math minors, and am a graduate student in English (Creative Writing-Poetry) and Engineering (Computer Science) at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff. I attribute most of my academic success my mom's persistance.
My nephew lives in Portland Oregon. I had seen how difficult it has been for my sister going through puberty with Vince and autism at the same time. I decided that I could do something to help families in Flagstaff. So one day I just showed at Susan's education class asking how I could volunteer. She introduced me to Jocelyn and it took her awhile to figure out what to do with me. Since then we are very proud to have formed the Northern Arizona Chapter of the Autism Society of America. While we are a new group, we have some great ideas and are pleased with the families we have touched in such a short period of time.
I am a jack-of-all-trades; a necessary survival technique when you're an Aspie in a struggling job market! My first college degree was in computer networking and I have begun to morph that computer geekiness into freelance web design and photography. Having elsewhere in the job hunt discovered a love and talent for tour guiding, I have combined that with an interest in the human animal to go back to school as an anthropology major; AA under my belt, bachelor's in progress. I landed in Flagstaff quite by accident via friends here at the NAzASA and continue to benefit immensely from their support.