I’m sharing correspondence from Michale John Carley I think you will find useful. – Greg WoodI’m on Day 4 after returning from Asia and I still can’t get my sleep schedule back. How I can be so lucky in adapting when I travel, yet so lousy at it when I get home?…beyond me. But I’d like to share a little about the gig I just had…11 days. 5 presentations, 3 media appearances, 2 site visits, 1 keynote, 8 million selfies, and numerous conversations, meals, and hours on a plane later, I want to congratulations to all new friends of Malaysia, a country made up of parts Muslim, Chinese and Indian culture who, perhaps due to that diversity, were made for such an embracing of the concept of neurodiversity in their first-ever autism initiative. Not that I’ve (or anyone has) witnessed every nation’s launch of this kind, but it’s easily the first that I’ve seen that wasn’t based on a tragic, medical, or disease model. It was positive at its core, and shone a light on their country’s individuals on the spectrum under the context of what they can do, not what they can’t. Congrats to AIM (Autism Initiative Malaysia), NASOM, EO, and Oasis Place KL. Oh, and…Wanna see a cool, 30-second clip of the closing ceremony? Click here. FaceBook users can also access some (mix of posed and action) photos here.Soon I’ll have a large article on autism and travel (no relation to the Malaysia trip) to share, and after that, Autism Without Fear will begin its new life at Sinkhole, but for now please enjoy a reprint of my column from the Huffington Post this past January, “Packer Protests, National Anthems, and Why Despite His Autism, Green Bay’s Greg Clark Exemplifies All Veterans.” It is being reprinted for Exceptional Parent Magazine’s wonderful special edition for military families (thank you, EP!). You can read it in the lovely advance spread version by clicking here.Oh yeah…other articles. Just a few…• Longtime GRASP Chicago member, Jon Evans, is the guest on a long interview with the GEM network. What’s beautiful about this podcast episode is that you can hear the host learning as the interview travels on.• Big thanks to Spectrum Life Magazine for reprinting my large piece on Autism Peer Supports in (or why they’re not in) Schools. Thanks again to Exceptional Parent Mag for allowing the reprint.• Once again, I’m so proud to be an Advisor to GallopNYC. Great coverage on NY1, gang!• And from England (how cool is this?…) World Cup (and this is the first in a series) coverage by and about spectrumfolk!• In this day and age, how parents still get hoodwinked by the nonsense described in this NPR piece…is beyond me. Can diagnosing clinicians not suggest any sane treatments to help out, please???• (Longtime comrade) Seth Mnookin has written a justifiably negative review of Edith Sheffer’s book, Asperger’s Children in the NYTimes. Thank you, Seth. Her research is solid. Her intentions are not.• Again in England…a boxing class for people with disabilities. How awesome (and we can’t replicate in the states, why?)• Australian buddy, Prue Stevenson, uses her Taekwondo black belt and spectrum ingenuity to create some fun, video performance art. Watch the video!• While I’ve known for some time, my speaking in Beunos Aires, Argentina this coming October finally hit the web. Another “can’t wait,” for sure.• Someone has finally funded a study on autism and homelessness (’bout time). Thank you to Brits (again???), Churchard, Ryder, and Greenhill.Yours, y’all.Michael John CarleyAuthor, School Consultant, Founder of GRASP
Almost Around the World in 120 Days
Joelle was an amazing woman that I got to know on the voyage. She inspires me to be a better person. – Greg Wood
By Joelle Powe
In one Ghanaian Pentecostal church on Easter Friday in the city of Takoradi, dapper men and women of all ages dressed in white jumped in praise of God while surrounded by hundreds of fellow worshippers in a tent. This reminded me of many of the Portmore tents of worship at home. In the Ghanaian gathering various clans were called by the pastor to shake their tambourines and bodies for the Lord. Shake up, shake down, and shake it all around! Our band of four joined this joyous dance as prayer.
In Fes, Morocco, we had to peep from a distance. As women we could not join in the worshipping. We peeped through the archway in the Medina and got a glimpse of dozens of devoted Muslim men and boys diligently washing their bodies in a fountain and others performing the bowed ritual of prayer in the mosque. Women and non-Muslims were not permitted to enter.