Sunday, April 15, 2007

One of the Faces of Autism

My daughter, Sarah, is 11-years-old, and has moderate autism. She is a beautiful child, full of joy and love, who loves music and dancing. My wife, a gifted amateur photographer, took this picture.

April is Autism Awareness Month, and it's a good time to remember that today's epidemic of childhood autism is a baby boom of sorts that will soon yield a very large cohort of adults with autism who deserve our compassion and support.


As I've mentioned elsewhere, my son is raising money for the Center for Outreach and Services for the Autism Community as an extension of his Bar Mitzvah Project, and you can read his essay and see a picture of him swimming with Sarah on his Donation Page (actual donation is optional).

Also, as I've previously mentioned, I've written about autism in Part II of my book, Echoes and Reflections: On Media Ecology as a Field of Study (based on earlier versions published as journal articles).