Autism Light

Thursday, December 31, 2015

2016 New Year's Resolutions for Autism Light

As we stand at the edge of a new year, I wanted to share a goal I have for the Autism Light blog, for myself as an autism parent, and for the autism community.

My Autism Light Blog Resolutions:

I want to publish the 500th Autism Light profile in 2016. To accomplish this I will need to average 5 features per month. It is both realistic but also challenging for the unpredictable world of an autism father.

My Autism Parent Resolutions:

I want to listen more effectively to my 11 year old who has autism and celebrate his developmental progress in 2016.

The following quote succinctly describes my pursuit as an autism parent in 2016.

"So I entered parenting with only 3 clear goals: to love, to cherish, and to listen." - Melissa Ridge Carter" -- Hillary Flower, Adventures in Gentle Discipline: A Parent-to-Parent Guide.

My Autism Community Resolution:

I wish for unity in the autism community through a greater understanding of the diverse passions and perspectives within people, who each in their own way are striving to make life better for all those impacted by autism around the world.

"A choir is made up of many voices, including yours and mine. If one by one all go silent then all that will be left are the soloists.

Don't let a loud few determine the nature of the sound. It makes for poor harmony and diminishes the song." -- Vera Nazarian, The Perpetual Calendar of Inspiration.

Additional Resources: Several wonderful articles have been written about New Year's Resolutions that are applicable to the autism community. Here are links to half a dozen of them.

Photo: The photo in this post was used courtesy of Profile Rehab.

Tuesday, December 29, 2015

Reader's Choice Awards for 2015

It's time to announce our 3rd annual Reader's Choice Awards. 2015 was our fifth year at Autism Light and we produced 86 posts this year. Here are the top posts at Autism Light from the year according to the statistics on reader views. This is not meant to diminish the value of any of our posts or the subjects they reflect, it just reflects the one's that were viewed the most do to a variety of factors.

Top Ten Most Popular New Posts During the Year:

Jacob Velazquez' post debuted on July 20, 2015. Jacob has autism and is a musician who lives in Florida.
The memorial post for Lois Blackwell (1927-2015) was published on June 30, 2015. She is the Autism Pioneer from St. Louis, Missouri who passed away on March 17, 2015.
Izzy Paskowitz' post debuted on January 2, 2015. This post is about an autism father and surfer who founded Surfer's Healing.
Kevin Healey's post debuted on July 16, 2015. Kevin has autism and is an Autism campaigner in the United Kingdom.
Talisman Camp Programs' post debuted on June 7, 2015. They are a camp that serves individuals with autism in North Carolina.
Tyler Gianchetta's post debuted on July 23, 2015. Tyler has autism and saved his mother's life from a burning car in New York.
Harold Doherty's post debuted on August 20, 2015. Harold is an autism father and attorney in New Brunswick in Canada.
Kim Stagliano's post debuted on May 10, 2015 for Mother's Day. Kim is an autism mother, writer, and advocate.
Doron Somer's post debuted on February 27, 2015. Doron is an autism father from Israel who founded the GPS tracking company AngelSense.
The memorial post for Jason Mann (1971-2013) was published on April 16, 2015. Jason is a special education teacher from Florida who passed away on December 23, 2013.

Most Google+1's: Taylor Myatt's post had Four (4) Google+1's during the year. Taylor has autism and is from the United Kingdom.

Most Visited Memorial Post: Lois Blackwell (1927-2015) is the Autism Pioneer from St. Louis, Missouri who passed away on March 17, 2015. Her post was clicked on so many times it was #2 in the Top Ten of all posts created during 2015.

Most Popular State Light: The Arizona State Lights has been a popular post to find all the Autism Lights from Arizona. It was the most visited State Light page of the 12 State Lights added this year.

Monday, December 28, 2015

Rob Zink

Autism Light #440 is Rob Zink.

Rob Zink is 45 years old and has served as a Police Officer for 17 years in the St. Paul (Minnesota) Police Department. His dedication to use his role as a police officer to help the autism community has earned him the nickname "Autism Cop". Rob Zink is also an Autism Father. Two of his three sons have autism. Rob Zink is an Autism Light for how he is making a difference in the autism community in St. Paul, Minnesota by fostering effective relationships and appropriate police responses to interactions with individuals with autism.

Autism Father: Rob Zink's 10 year old and 12 year old sons both have autism. Rob Zink told a parent at a community forum in December 2015 that, "This is very personal to me. Now I'm getting teary-eyed, but I never want to see an instance like what happened on the MTC happen to my sons. I give it my heart and I give it my promises as best as we can. We're not perfect, we're all going to make mistakes (City Pages, Rob Zink, St. Paul's 'autism cop' pushes an unconventional approach to policing, Susan Du, December 15, 2015)."

The following is a video of news story on Rob Zink's role in St. Paul as the Autism Cop.

CARE Project: Rob Zink created Cop Autism Response Education (CARE) Project.

CARE Project is part of a groundbreaking effort to ensure that police calls involving people with autism end safely. His first priority has been getting to know St. Paul families with autistic children and explaining how police respond to domestic violence calls - a not uncommon scenario involving those with an autism spectrum disorder. His second is helping police find quieter and gentler ways to defuse those calls (StarTribune, A St. Paul Police Officer is Leading Efforts to Ensure that Encounters with Autistic People End Safely, July 24, 2015).

Cmdr. John Bandemer, who is the head of the Western District police command where Rob Zink serves said, "We have been seeing more calls relating to kids on the spectrum and Rob has kind of become our point person. We are grateful that Rob has an interest in this from his point of view as a father. That and his work with families can kind of close the circle for understanding (StarTribune, A St. Paul Police Officer is Leading Efforts to Ensure that Encounters with Autistic People End Safely, July 24, 2015)."

You can read stories of success within the CARE Project at the following online article: (StarTribune, A St. Paul Police Officer is Leading Efforts to Ensure that Encounters with Autistic People End Safely, July 24, 2015)

For more information on the CARE Project in the St. Paul Police Department email: SPPD-Autism@ci.stpaul.mn.us.

Special thanks to Rob Zink for being an Autism Light. We hope that programs like his CARE (Cops Autism Response Education) will be adopted in every corner of the world. Rob Zink's success in St. Paul is a shining light to help that happen.

If you enjoyed this article you may wish to read other posts at Autism Light with the Label of Police Officer.

Autism Light honors diverse heroes to the world of autism.

Sunday, December 27, 2015

Minnesota Lights

The State of Minnesota is the home of 7 Autism Lights. The Minnesota group includes 2 businesses, a businessman, 2 autism fathers, a high school student, and an animal.

Minnesota Autism Lights

Autism Fathers:

Craig Evans is an autism father from St. Paul, Minnesota, who created Autism Hangout. Autism Hangout is now closed but his videos remain on YouTube.
Rob Zink is an autism father from St. Paul, Minnesota. He is a veteran police officer who is called the 'Autism Cop' for his work on behalf of autism in his community.

Businesses:

Snip-Its Salon is an autism friendly business franchise, where kids can get haircuts. They have their headquarters in Eden Prairie, Minnesota.
Valley Fair is an autism friendly amusement park in Shakopee, Minnesota.

Businessman:

Bruno Silikowski is the owner of AutoMotorPlex in Chanhassen, Minnesota.

Student:

Trey Kruse is a student at Stillwater High School in Stillwater, Minnesota, who is friends with Adam Potter, who has autism.

Animal:

Elf Butler Madof was a black lab dog who provided autism service with his family in La Crescent, Minnesota.

You may reach all these posts by searching the blog through the "Minnesota" Label.

The map of Minnesota is attributed to By TUBS [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons