I am grateful for a lot of things this month.
- I was able to blog every day about autism and got some nice comments
- Poughkeepsie site invited me to speak about autism to about 80 people and it was well received (thank you @Bailey, Angela M (Angela), @Viola, Susan E (Susan), @Downey, Patricia F (Patti), @Appel, Sheila U.)
- @BODDY, JAMES R (Jim) and I got to go to the UN at the invitation of Specialisterne
- @PAHWA, SHALINI (Shalini) @SWOPE, BRANDI (Brandi) and other people posted great pieces and pictures
- 9 IBMers attended at Music for Autism Concert
- I attended the Autism at Work Summit in Redmond, WA
- I spoke to the quarterly PWD meeting, hosted by @Veulliet, Yves
- I got to meet @Lyckowski, Natalia (Natalia) and made a fun road trip to CMU to speak there with her
- I got to meet her son who is an amazing young man
- This community has 600+ members
I learned a lot these last three and a half years - from
many of you, and from people in the autism at work community. I'd like
to thank a few of you:
- @PAHWA, SHALINI (Shalini), @Brickley, Laureen K (Laureen), @DENNIS, AMANDA M (Amanda), @BOWERSOX, SCOTT A (Scott) and the rest of the wonderful people of IBM Lansing
- @WILLIAMS, ANDREW L (Andrew), @SHEEHAN, BELINDA M (Belinda), @DAVIES, STEVEN M (Steven) and others in IBM Australia for pushing for their pilot
- @SWINDEN, MICHELLE L (Michelle) for meeting me for pizza in Manhattan and convincing me to continue this community
- @Brazel, Diane E and Arwyn Davies for their encouragement in the beginning, as well as @Burns, Colleen (Colleen), who "seeded" this community for me
- @Cannone, Cristina, @Perego, Fernanda, @DUBISETTY, MALLIKARJUNA, and many others from the "It Is So Cool" team - Cristina alone raised this community's population ten fold!
- @HSUEH, PEI-YUN S for introducing me to Music For Autism
- @Millar, Dave (D.K.) for pushing for a pilot in Canada
- @SWOPE, BRANDI (Brandi), @Brooks, Kelly, @West, Dana (D.M.), @BEL, MARIA CECILIA, @MALDONADO CABRERA, RAQUEL, @Lyckowski, Natalia (Natalia), and many others for their encouraging words
- @Grove, E (Emma) for her work making autistic allies in Hursley, and hiring autistic interns
- Everyone who posted an introduction to themselves
- @Chester, Christopher S (Christopher) because I want to think like he does
- @Sims, Tara L (Tara), @Almodovar, Rodney E. and @BRADLEY, RODERICK E (Rod) for their work in Austin, TX
- @Veulliet, Yves, @Thomas, Rosalia G (Rosalia), @ALBA, ALEXANDRIA, @BODDY, JAMES R (Jim) and @Thayne, Ronald J (Ron) for their support and assistance
- My managers @Modjeski, Melissa S (Melissa), @Bornstein, Marla J (Marla), @Townsend, Maureen A (Mo) and @Olson, Keri S (Keri) who gave me time do work on this
- Autism Society of Texas, Autism Alliance of Michigan, The nonPareil Institute, The Arc, Specialisterne, AHRC, Anderson Center for Autism, Abilities First, and countless other NGOs and state agencies I have met
- Danielle Cothren, one of those amazing people who teach our kids
- George Liveris, one of my college room mates and father to a wonderful kid
- Anyone I forgot (just remind me and I will update this!)
- My sister, her husband, my nephew with Asperger's and my niece
- The six hires in Lansing, Michigan for being patient with us as we figure this out.
I once heard an expression, "If you are the smartest person
in the room, you're in the wrong room." I assure you that throughout my
entire career, through meeting all of you and more, I have been in the
right room all along.
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