Curt and Shonda Schilling

Autism Lights #167 are Curt and Shonda Schilling.

Curt and Shonda Schilling live in Medfield, Massachusetts and have a son with Aspergers named Grant. They have four children, including Grant. Shonda wrote a book about their challenges of dealing with autism and they bring awareness to autism through publicly speaking about their situation. Curt and Shonda Schilling are Autism Lights because sharing their journey with autism as public figures can encourage many other family's dealing with similar challenges.

Curt Schilling: Curt Schilling is a retired major league baseball player. He won 216 games and had over 3,000 strikeouts in his 20 year career that concluded in 2007. Curt Schilling is remembered for many all star achievements on the field, including his ace pitching in the post season where he helped both the Arizona Diamondbacks and Boston Red Sox win World Series titles. He is especially remembered as the workhorse who pitched the Boston Red Sox to victory over the New York Yankees in the 2004 American League Championship, despite having an ankle injury that led him to pitch with a bloody sock. Curt Schilling's careers stats can be found at Baseball-reference.com. In his retirement Curt Schilling continues to operate his company 38 Studios which he started in 2006. 38 Studios creates entertainment products, including video games, toys, and comics.

Shonda Schilling: Shonda Schilling is a skin cancer survivor and is also very passionate about skin cancer awareness. In 2002 Shonda founded the Shade Foundation of America to provide skin cancer awareness and educate on sun safety .  Shonda Schilling continues to speak publicly about her experiences as an autism parent and to do book signings. Celia Brown a mother of a child with autism said about Shonda Shilling's speaking, "For someone so well-known to come out and share her story is really helpful for all of us (Source)."

The following is a CNN interview in which Curt and Shonda Schilling discuss raising their son Grant who has Asperger's Syndrome.

The Best Kind of Different: The Best Kind of Different was authored by Shonda Schilling with an introduction written by Curt Schilling. It was published in 2010 and was a New York Times Bestseller. The official website for the book is www.thebestkindofdifferent.com. Bob Costas said about the book, "In this moving and insightful book, Shonda Schilling explains how she and her family came to understand and appreciate what makes her son Grant the Best Kind of Different. In the process of telling their personal story, she sheds much needed light on this often misunderstood condition (Source)."  

This ABC News interview features Shonda Schilling sharing about The Best Kind of Different. 

Social Media: You can follow the work of Curt and Shonda Schilling at the following social media.

• Facebook - Curt Schilling.
• Curt Schilling's Blog - 38 Pitches
• Twitter - Shade Foundation
• Twitter - Shonda Schilling

Wikipedia: For more information on Curt and Shonda Schilling visit these Wikipedia pages.

• Curt Schilling
• Shonda Schilling
• 38 Studios

Special thanks to Curt and Shonda Schilling for sharing their story and encouraging other families to not lose hope. They are sincerely Autism Lights.

Autism Light honors diverse heroes to the world of autism.


Photo: The photo in this post was used with permission of The Best Kind of Different website.

This post went into syndication on Autisable.