My Milestones – Wendy Duke, 2018 Conference Speaker & Exhibitor

Meet Wendy Duke of Theatre on the Spectrum and Center for Applied Drama and Autism. As a Milestones conference veteran, Wendy knows all the ins and outs of being an exhibitor. She’s also presenting this year! Learn more about Wendy and get the inside scoop on taking on the exhibit hall like a pro.

So tell me a little bit about yourself and the Center for Applied Drama and Autism (CADA)?
Laura Valendza and I are co-founders of the Center for Applied Drama and Autism, a non-profit located in Akron, OH. We were both teaching at Miller South School for the Visual & Performing Arts and began working on some ideas to help our students with autism use drama to develop confidence and to build social skills. Over the past six years, we have developed a Saturday youth program featuring classes for ages eight to 18 and a youth theatre company. Last year, we began a day theatre company for adults with disabilities in collaboration with Ardmore Inc., a local service provider.

What drove you to create your organization?
We noticed that many young people with autism were attracted to drama. We realized that the theatre provides a safe space to have fun and make friends while playing games and acting in roles that help empower our students in real life.

You’re also the program director for Theatre on the Spectrum. What is the most rewarding aspect of your position?
Each individual who has applied to join our theatre company has the same thing in common: the need to perform and the lack of an opportunity to do so, due to a society that has not encouraged them to step on stage or in front of a camera. You might say I changed careers from working with gifted students to working with students whose gifts were never recognized.

You’ve returned to the Milestones Autism Conference time and time again. What makes you come back every year?
I began attending knowing so little about autism and I come back because I learn something new every year! Each year, I take home piles of notes from the presentations along with books purchased from the fabulous vendors in the exhibition hall. In the past years, I hoped to see someone present on drama and autism, but alas — nothing!  So eventually, Laura and I submitted a proposal and we were accepted! This year will be CADA’s third presentation at Milestones.

What insight would you give to other autism organizations and service providers who haven’t attended the conference?
First off, there is so much to see and so many presentations to attend that you will want to wear some sensible shoes! The presenters are always ready to answer your questions. Take time to have a cup of coffee and make friends with other people attending the conference. I have found that people are very willing to share ideas and resources. Continue reading →

Straight from the Source – Carly Nelson

As a speech-language pathologist in training, I recognize the importance of self-advocacy. As an Autistic* person and sister of another Autistic adult, I have seen firsthand how safety and happiness depend on it. I spent years watching my brother come home from school hurt, angry, and misunderstood. His self-advocacy, rather than being cherished and honed, was often ignored or even punished. The trauma he endured in these experiences, and my experiences learning to advocate for myself, while riddled with anxiety, have shaped my appreciation of the critical need to honor and promote self-advocacy.

My brother’s diagnostic process followed the usual timeline. My mother and the pediatrician noticed early developmental delays in areas of mobility and speech. He got his diagnosis by age 3 and was enrolled in early intervention. After school each day, I’d sit on the other side of the mirrored-window and watch various professionals work with him. My journey with autism has differed widely from the understood norm, but is not at all uncommon. In kindergarten, I was reading chapter books and already performing in the top of my class. My mother’s ongoing lament throughout my life was that I could be “so good at school, yet so difficult at home.” As it turns out, this holding-it-together-in-public-and-melting-down-at-home routine is common in people whose autism doesn’t present naturally. We have managed to appear “okay” when complete loss of control feels too unsafe. But doing so taxes our nervous systems heavily such that we pay for it later.

For most of my early life, it didn’t occur to anyone, myself included, that I might also be on the spectrum. At school, I was quiet, but quick to learn. At home, I was an unruly brat. My brother was probably the first to realize, though not consciously. We bonded with one another more deeply than with anyone else in this world. During family parties, we have always found where the other was hiding (or crying if we got too overwhelmed) and quietly kept each other company, an unspoken tradition of camaraderie. We would pick up each other’s stims and lift the mattress for each other to go under when we were struggling.

Continue reading →