Autism Awareness

Once again, our nation has been rocked by another young adult conducting a murderous rampage that ends multiple lives, including his own. My heart sank when the shooter in the latest tragedy, Elliot Roger, was identified as having…

A pair of articles about autism and depression have captured my attention recently. The first involves a study published in JAMA Psychiatry in which researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health examined medical records from 50,000…

Vancouver-based video game designer Taylan Kadayifcioglu, who goes more accessibly by Taylan Kay, has created "Auti-Sim," a video game that demonstrates what it is like living with hypersensitivity common to autism.  The essence of the game…

Dan Spitz and Dave Mustaine, former members of legendary thrash-metal bands Anthrax and Megadeth, respectively, have recently teamed up on a new project entitled Red Lamb. The self-funded collaboration includes the new single "Puzzle…

April is Autism Awareness Month, so we thought it would be a good idea to repost our autism symptoms checklist below. Some of this information may already be well known to many, but it wasn't for us when our son was younger. He received a…

I wear a set of keys on a chain around my neck. I don't know what, exactly, these keys unlock, but I wear them in hope, and in memory. After my grandmother passed away years ago, my grandfather invited the women of the family to view her…

In 2010, actress and talk show host Holly Robinson Peete competed in Donald Trump's hit reality show Celebrity Apprentice, where she placed second behind Poison lead singer Bret Michaels. As part of the season finale, Michaels and Peete…

With autism now affecting 1 in 110 children (with a much higher unofficial rate), you'd be hard-pressed to find someone who is not directly or indirectly affected by the disorder. Because of these high numbers and the growing popularity of…

When we, the siblings of someone with special needs, hear the word "retarded" or "retard," even in the most seemingly-casual context, it strikes us hard. When we hear it, we hear it as an echo of all the times our brothers and sisters…

I am not one who offends easily, nor do I consider myself overly-sensitive. However, there are some words that should simply be extinguished from our vernacular. "Retard" is one of them. Earlier this week, I was out shopping…