johnrobison wrote:
My goal in joining the board is to advocate for research that can provide tangible benefit to today's autistic population. The autism spectrum encompasses people with very different needs. We have people who need help with speech, people with severe physical issues, and people who need help with social skills. We need tools for more effective diagnosis, and tools for better early intervention. We need to investigate the issues of adults on the spectrum, too.
I'm happy to talk about directions we should take in terms of science funding.
Agreed. Thank you very much for taking on such an important role.
I want my children to grow up in a world that understands them better than the world that didn't even know what to do with me when I was a child. Early intervention is so important because it lays down the foundation upon which children will grow both in maximizing their strengths and minimizing their weaknesses for success in a world that was not built to accomadate us. It's so much harder to figure it all out like I did when I was 23 years old (now 29) and learn to redirect my behaviors and thought patterns. Although, once I had a name to put to my neurological structure, I was able to put those pieces together much easier.
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"If there's one thing in my life that these years have taught it's that you can always see it coming, but you can never stop it." ~Cowboy Junkies