New Enfield School Board Member With Autism Champions 'Neurodiversity
Quote:
When Sarah Hernandez decided in May to run for a position on the local school board, she scoured the internet for people with autism who also sought public office.
She had trouble finding anyone, but she said that was fine. She would carve out her own path.
“I think it gave me freedom to define what my next steps would be without trying to follow something already established,” Hernandez said. “I took my own approach even on how I talk about it. I knew it was an important part of me, but do I say, ‘Hi, I’m Sarah. I’m running for board of education and I’m autistic’?”
Hernandez, 38, a Democrat, was sworn in Tuesday on the town’s school board after having garnered 3,346 votes. She said she hopes to be a new voice on the board as well as a presence that infuses some “neurodiversity“.
“I think it’s important to talk about where people with differing abilities fit in to diversity and inclusion,” Hernandez said. “Our voices aren’t usually talked about in that … it’s usually about gender, ethnicity and religion. I don’t believe it’s intentional. But still, in society they have that view of people with differing abilities, that we exist to be taken care of by you, and that’s not true.”
She took this message to social media shortly after the election. Her post on the Facebook group Pantsuit Nation received tens of thousands of likes and comments. She thanked those in the group for the encouragement she said she received to “show up and be heard as an autistic voice in the political process.” She said she has fielded a slew of messages from people on the autism spectrum or parents whose children are autistic. Many voiced hope.
“It’s definitely not comfortable, but I am getting a little buzz from it because it’s exciting to see hope“.
She said it’s important “anytime that we can do something to show we are here and we have a voice and we are important and it’s not just enough to talk to us. We deserve to be sitting at that table, making policy.”
s a political candidate, she was thrust into the public where she knocked on doors and discussed her personal experiences with voters, something she never imagined for herself.
“This is not the life I intended. It’s not anything when I was growing up I’d imagine. I thought I’d be a researcher, in my little hidy-hole, getting my data,” said Hernandez, who is a professor of occupational therapy at Bay Path College and is working on her Ph.D.
When she approached Democratic Party leadership in town, she said she was met with unwavering support.
“I was nervous when I was asking to run, I said, ‘I just have to tell you I am autistic,’” Hernandez recalled. “And the chair, Liz Davis, said, ‘That’s awesome ... We are excited to have you come aboard.’”
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“Self Acceptance is a process not a performance”
“You are autistic enough. And you always have been”
Professionally Identified and joined WP August 26, 2013
DSM 5: Autism Spectrum Disorder, DSM IV: Aspergers Moderate Severity.
Last edited by ASPartOfMe on 19 Aug 2018, 2:53 am, edited 1 time in total.
05 Jan 2010, 12:09 am
