Wish You Were Here

Back in 1995 I began chatting in the #autism group using Internet Relay Chat (mIRC). It was a great medium to discuss Jason with others all over the globe from the privacy of my room.
After a while I would spend time sharing information about coping. It was difficult and sometimes devastating for parents of newly diagnosed children. Considering that and I would sometimes find myself repeating myself, I began building a portal of national resources. It was generated by using a Visual FoxPro application that converted Excel data into HTML. The main page, http://www.autism-info.com, had a map of the US. The users would point and click a state and a page of Social Groups and Other Resources, Protection and Advocacy Organizations, Educational Resources, Developmental Disabilities Planning, Vocational Rehabilitation Centers, Insurance Departments and Parent Training Information would appear for each state. I maintained and added to this data for the site from 1996 through 2002. It was written up in Newsweek and won several awards.
In July of 2002 I worked with Walter Winfield, Ben Dorman, Jay Haroon and Ronita Wisniewski at the Autism Society of America to convert the data for their resources on-line. Currently it's called the Autism Source and although I don't maintain it anymore, I am very proud of how it came to be. What's left from autism-info.com is called the Chapel Hill Autism Links Underrated, formerly the Chapel Hill Autism Local Unit. Now the local unit is called the Autism Society of North Carolina: Orange & Chatham Chapter.
Early Intervention and Diagnosis is crucial in helping parents, siblings and those affected with acceptance, communication and coping with this lifelong disability.
There are a some surprizing things that Autistic people do. Ann Palmer is the mother of an amazing autistic man who will graduate from North Carolina State University in May of 2006. Her strength and determination to see her son through his many milestones in life is miraculous. She has published a book titled Realizing the College Dream with Autism or Asperger Syndrome: A Parent's Guide to Student Success. Ann sent me a link to a video about Jason McElwain. Jason is autistic and made quite an impression on his schoolmates and their parents. Visit the video titled "Autistic Basketball Player Creates Mayhem At Game". Jason also got to meet with the Commander and Chief. He is quite AWESOME!