The Kmart in Bateau Bay, Australia is a discount department store. The Kmart in Bateau Bay is located in the Bateau Bay Square, which was built in 1984. Kmart in Bateau Bay is an Autism Light because they replaced some Christmas gifts that were stolen from an autism family who bought them at their store.
Jenny O'Donnell is a single mother who had purchased some Christmas gifts on layaway for her two children. She has a daughter Eliza and a son named Connor who is 15 and has autism. Connor's gifts included a popular Skylanders toy and some DVDs.
Jenny O'Donnell had paid for the items at layaway but then left them at the check-out counter when she purchased some other items. When she returned to get them they had been taken.
Mike Charlton, the store manager of the Kmart in Bateau Bay, said, "It was very unfortunate that this should happen. Christmas is about making people happy (Kmart replaces Christmas gifts stolen from autistic teenager, The Telegraph, December 23, 2013)." After hearing of her loss Mike Charlton decided that his Kmart store would replace the Christmas gifts that Jenny O'Donnell lost at the checkout counter.
Special thanks to the Kmart in Bateau Bay, Australia for setting an example for other businesses in kindness toward autism families. The generosity of this business made a difference in Jenny O'Donnell's family and is an inspiration at this time of the year.
Autism Light honors diverse heroes to the world of autism.
Chris Koru is a truck driver for UPS in Wichita Falls, Texas. On Friday, December 20, 2013, he helped police find a missing teen with autism named Robert Adams. Chris Koru is an Autism Light for his quick thinking that helped find a missing teen with autism, potentially preventing a tragedy.
17 year old Robert Adams was reported missing by his parents on December 20, 2013, at about 2:00pm. Law enforcement mobilized and had been trying to find this missing boy with autism for three hours. Chris Koru was making a delivery in the area of Cunningham Elementary School that afternoon and he noticed Robert Adams walking in the neighborhood. A few minutes later he took a break and checked the weather on the Texomas Homepage App for KFDX on his mobile smart phone. On the app he noticed an alert that there was a missing austic child and recognized the photo as that of the boy he had seen walking around on his route. He then notified police who were already searching for Robert Adams of the boys location, and he kept an eye on Robert's whereabouts until police arrived (Driver Locates Missing Teen With Autism, Texomas Homepage, 12/20/2013).
The following is a news story that KFDX did on Chris Koru helping find Robert Adams.
Special thanks to Chris Koru for being alert and helping find Robert Adams when he was missing. Wandering is a safety issue for individuals with autism and Chris Koru's quick thinking might have prevented a tragedy. It is inspiring to hear of workers like Chris Koru, who become Autism Light unexpectedly in the the midst of their everyday routine at work.
Autism Light honors diverse heroes to the world of autism.
Natalie Palumbo is 19 years old, and a college student at Ringling College of Art and Design in Florida. Her home is in Columbia, South Carolina. Her older brother Anthony has low-verbal autism. As a sibling of an individual with autism, Natalie takes very seriously a responsibility to care for her brother over his lifespan and she is a natural advocate for autism. Natalie currently serves as the sibling voice for the Age of Autism web newspaper. Her relationship with Anthony is an inspiration to other autism siblings and families. Natalie Palumbo is an Autism Light for the difference she is making in the life of her brother who has autism and how her creative art and writing encourages the greater autism community.
Artist: Natalie just successfully completed her first semester at Ringling College of Art and Design in Sarasota, Florida with an A average. She hopes to work in visual effects in film and animation. Natalie became interested in art at an early age, because drawing helped her cope with the isolation imposed by autism and was the only way she could communicate with her brother. Some of her artistic achievements already include:
In 5th grade she was recommended to competitive fine arts programs.
Natalie won several regional, state, and national awards for traditional, digital, and mixed media pieces.
In 9th grade, she won the Nevitt award for “Most Outstanding Art Student” after completing all four years of Tri-District Arts Consortium in Lexington County.
In 11th grade, she created an art piece called “NOT Born This Way”, which featured her brother Anthony in a significant way. She expressed her concern for the growing numbers of people diagnosed with autism, and how society is unprepared to deal with this increase. This concern was the subject of her senior thesis.
Her PSA for Age of Autism took 1st Place in the PSA Category at the Notre Dame High School National Film Festival in the Spring of 2013.
Here is the Public Service Announcement that Natalie Palumbo created on autism awareness for Age of Autism in the Notre Dame High School National Film Festival.
Here is a news story done on Natalie Palumbo and her relationship with her brother in October of 2012.
Natalie Palumbo offered this perspective to Autism Light on finding a cure for autism.
Growing up, those who thought of autism only as a verbal condition criticized me for wanting a cure for my brother. They actually asked me,
“If you love your brother so much, why do you want a cure?”
They did not understand how Anthony’s low-verbal autism made him vulnerable to danger, and how lack of communication limits his life. Anthony will need lifetime care. I feel it’s important to identify the cause of autism to prevent it as well as treat it. Some people with autism are gifted and verbal, but only represent about 30% of the spectrum. I responded to criticism by saying…
“If you can argue against a cure, you don’t need one. For those without a voice, we can never stop fighting for a cure. We cannot neglect the many for the exceptional gifts of the few.”
Age of Autism: The Age of Autism is a Daily Newspaper on the Autism Epidemic that is Edited by Dan Olmsted, Kim Stagliano, and Mark Blaxill. Natalie Palumbo serves as the Sibling Voice for Age of Autism. Her writing on this daily web newspaper on autism is having a significant impact. You can access the over 20 posts she has written through her page on Age of Autism. Some of her favorite posts include:
Autism Light asked Natalie how her relationship with a brother with autism impacts her life and she said this:
Anthony keeps me young. He is immune to the world’s negativity. It
is a blessing and a curse for me. Anthony is unaware when people
are intolerant, so I hurt for the both of us. It does comfort me that he
is unaware of people’s ability to be cruel. I can escape into his world
where our childhood is never-ending. He still thinks of me as 6 and
him as 9. Anthony acknowledges that I’m in college, but his interaction
with me remains frozen in time. Anthony speaks in chunk phrases from
his echolalia. He will repeat a phrase, and change certain words to
suit his message. This is how he copes with having no conversational
speech. This results in funny phrasing that we call “Anthonyisms”. I
started a Tumblr at the suggestion of one of my friends who enjoyed the
Anthonyisms as my Facebook statuses. Anthony inspires my art. He is
highly visual to compensate for being low verbal. I focus on whatever
captures Anthony’s attention. I try to see the world through Anthony’s eyes.
Social Media: You can follow Natalie Palumbo's work on the following social media areas.
Here is a video of Natalie and Anthony dancing to a light hearted song together.
Being Anthony’s only sibling, Natalie anticipates being his caregiver one day when her parents are no longer able. Special thanks to Natalie Palumbo for being an Autism Light as a sibling voice for autism. Her thoughts challenge the autism community to listen to autism siblings to make sense of the puzzle of autism. We look forward to continuing to hear about the great things Natalie will do in the future to raise awareness for autism.
If you enjoyed this post you may wish to read about the other Autism Lights with the label Siblings. These people share the special perspective in their story of having a sibling with autism.
Autism Light honors diverse heroes to the world of autism.
The photos of Natalie Palumbo with her brother Anthony in this post were used with permission of Natalie Palumbo.
Bob Denver was the comic actor who starred in the sitcom Gilligan's Island. Bob Denver died on September 2, 2005, from cancer. Bob Denver was an autism father who quietly spent the last two decades of his life caring for his autistic son Colin. Bob's widow Dreama Denver is an author, speaker, runs The Denver Foundation and Little Buddy Radio, and continues to care for the couple's son Colin Denver. Bob and Dreama Denver are Autism Lights because of how their devotion to their son and their journey with autism has increased autism awareness. In addition, Bob Denver will be placed on the Autism Light Memorial Roll today.
Actor: Bob Denver starred as Gilligan in the popular sitcom Gilligan's Island which originally aired from 1964-1967. Bob Denver alsostarred as Maynard G. Krebs in The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, which aired from 1959-1963. You can read more about Bob Denver's career at Bob Denver's IMDb Page or the Wikipedia Page of Bob Denver. Bob Denver was not wealthy as he was only paid for the original shows he did and had no residual income from the numerous years of syndication and reruns of his beloved shows.
Autism Father: Dreama Denver shared with Fox411's Pop Tarts column about Bob Denver as an autism father.
I wanted the fans to know who he really was because he was a special, special man, especially when dealing with our son Colin, who has severe autism. I thought it was important to tell people that he set aside the last 21 years of his life to be with me and take care of our son, who had to have full-time care, [because he] didn't want me to do it alone. That speaks to the type of human being he was...He was highly intelligent, and I think that is the most surprising thing about him. He was extremely intelligent, and that didn't always come across in the characters that he played (Fox News, Wife of Late Bob Denver Says, 11/15/2012)
Little Buddy Radio: Bob and Dreama Denver founded Little Buddy Radio that provides a variety of music that comes from different decades of history. Dreama Denver continues to manage Little Buddy Radio. You can listen to the radio station online.
Foundation: Bob and Dreama Denver established The Denver Foundation in honor of their son Colin who has autism. The foundation operates in West Virginia and has a partnership with ResCare to meet the needs of special needs families in the community. You can learn more about The Denver Foundation at www.bobdenver.com/the-denver-foundation. The following is a video where Dreama Denver reflects on Bob Denver.
Author: In September, 2012, Dreama Denver published Gilligan's Dreams: The Other Side of the Island. The book shows people that Bob Denver loved in his life and includes a discussion of his relationship wth his autistic son Colin.
Autism Mother: Dreama Denver encourages other autism mothers and widows who are caring for children with autism alone while she promotes her book on her family. She said, "Even when you get a heartbreaking diagnosis for your child -- and even when you lose the person in your life who is everything to you and shares the load with you -- that you can survive. It really is a book about hope and survival and mainly about making commitments and keeping them (WDTV.com, Wife of Deceased Actor Shares Her Story, 4/13/2013)."
Special thanks to Bob and Dreama Denver for being a light for autism. The autism community is grateful for the light of Bob and Dreama Denver and for the courage of Dreama Denver as an autism mother who continues to make a difference for autism without the support she once had of her husband Bob Denver.
Autism Light honors diverse heroes to the world of autism.
