Newsletter Post Sent: March 2008

Help spread the word.

Please join me in blogging about autism awareness. Whether it’s a personal story, a found news link, an interesting subject-related video on YouTube, or a photo – you can help inform and educate others.

Want to join forces? If so, use the button below on your blog. The button will link to a list of folks blogging for awareness. Make sure you get on the list. After you post the button to your site, leave a comment with your URL here.

Also, I’m looking for guest bloggers. I have five outstanding ones currently, but would love to have more. If you’re interested please comment below, direct message me on Twitter or e-mail me.

Posted By Genevieve at 3/03/2008 03:53:00 PM (note: Eve is short for Genevieve)

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Email sent to potential participant: March 2008

Hi, 

Good evening. I’m a mom to a high-functioning autistic teen. I’ve been reading your pages and newsletter for the last year or two and find it to be full of great information.

I’m working on spreading awareness on autism in April with other bloggers.  I’ve created a social-networking type button and a blogroll to promote everyone’s posts and am trying to get the word out. 

My goal is to post daily that month on autism related subjects. I’m also looking for guest bloggers. Would you consider a guest post?

I’ve got a post up describing this more here: http://momologue.blogspot.com/2008/03/join-me-in-blogging-for-autism.html.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,

Genevieve

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By now you’ve probably heard that 1 in 150 children have autism. The number is plastered on billboards, reported on the news, talked about on Oprah, and written about in newspapers and magazines.

However beyond the generalities and controversies, do you know what autism is? How about Asperger’s or PDD-NOS? Did you know there is a spectrum? Do you really understand what these labels mean? Better yet, do you know what it’s like navigating the world as an autistic person? 

Last month I put out a call to “Join me in blogging for autism awareness in April.” The response was outstanding. As of today, there are 72 bloggers dedicated to raising awareness. Many of these bloggers are parents of children with autism, have autism, or work with people who have autism. They can go beyond the labels and give a first-person account.

Some aren’t very familiar with autism and are researching, exploring and sharing. 

Each of them is dedicated to raising awareness. 

Now you might say what can 72 bloggers do? Well, we can do a lot. Think about it for a second –- if each blogger reaches 10 readers this month — that makes 720 people who are now aware. Wow, now that’s a lot of people.

Wait, it gets better.

These 720 newly aware readers will chat with folks at work, email a link to their friend, or share what they’ve learned with their families. Each of these people will reach ten more people. 

What number does that bring us to? Yes, 7,200. Isn’t that amazing? Now we have 7,200 people who are more aware.

Do you see how this works?

Are you interested in helping spread awareness? Do you want to join forces with us? If so, there’s still plenty of time. Go here, read the post, and leave a comment with your blog address and title.

This month I’ll be referring to the participating blogger’s posts often, hosting guest bloggers, and sharing news and information as I find it. 

Check back later this morning. I’ll have the first blogger’s, Jeff Sparkman from Siftin and DorkDad, guest post published. 

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Posted By Genevieve at 4/01/2008 07:13:00 AM

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	Wed, Apr 2, 2008, 6:46 AM
to wordDrag0n

The number of people blogging for autism awareness this month is growing. We are now 86 bloggers strong. Just think that’s enough folks to create autism awareness in more than 8,600 people. Want to help raise that number to 10,000? Join forces with us. Find out how here.

What causes autism, bad parenting?

Before my oldest son Jay was diagnosed with high-functioning autism, we went through the gamut of what could be causing his unusual behaviors. Bad parenting came up a few times. Anthony R. Roda, author of Health Dose, writes about his godson Paulo’s journey to diagnosis and beyond. After the diagnosis Paulo’s parents searched for a cause and, at times, blamed themselves. Read more about this family here.

Your prejudice is my symptom?

Why does the general population need to be aware of autism and its spectrum? David K. March, author of dkmnow, writes about the effects of social prejudice are far more debilitating than anything truly intrinsic to autism itself. He continues with “the clinical community is at the very forefront of sustaining social prejudice.” You can read more of his blog post here.

Families breaking the bank to fund autism treatment

The financial strain of obtaining autism services and support can be heavy. Kristy McNealy, MD, author of Health News for Thinking Women & Parents, writes about two studies that show parents of autistic children spend more monthly and earn less yearly. What’s the biggest reason for the financial strain? Most of the treatments are not covered by insurance. Find out more here.

What does the increase of Americans with autism look like?

We’ve all heard the numbers of children with autism is increasing at an epidemic rate. Have you seen the numbers yet? George Frink, author of Casting Light, posts a bar chart and writes about ‘parents of autistic children can rarely deal with this unassisted’ and ‘as a nation, we are not adequately supporting that care.’ Read more here.

These are just a few of the folks blogging for autism awareness this month. Want to read more? Check the sidebar to the right to find more bloggers. 

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Posted By Genevieveat 4/02/2008 06:29:00 AM

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	Thu, Apr 3, 2008, 12:08 PM
to info

Hi folks, This month on momologue.com and centralvalleymoms.com, I’ll be blogging about autism. There are over 100 bloggers across the nation, and the world, who’ve joined forces to blog for autism awareness too. The number is growing daily. If you’d like to see who’s participating visit momologue.com and look at the side rail. If you’re blogging, you can still join. There’s a link on there that explains how. I’ll be posting highlights from the various participating bloggers, hosting guest bloggers and any news I come across daily. On centralvalleymoms.com I’m working on getting local information posted about services, programs, and support groups. There’s also a Special Needs forum created. If you have any events, information or anything related you’d like to share, please let me know. Also, does anyone know how and adult goes about getting an assessment and diagnosis in this area?  Here’s what today’s post looks like:

Autism Reads: From hiding in the closet to converting bullies

Autism: Keeping it in the closet

If you’re autistic, should you tell? An anonymous blogger, author of Whose Planet Is It Anyway?, writes about her frustration with the media.

“One of the more frustrating aspects of the media’s ignorant panic-mongering about autism over the past few years has been the reluctance of autistic journalists and media executives (who presumably exist in numbers reflecting the proportion of autistics in the general population) to speak out against the widespread bigotry.”

This author was surprised to view an article by an autistic manager at CNN. Read more about it here. 


No more bullies

This mom, author of A Girl for all Status, writes about replacing discrimination with compassion. 

“Grown-ups, like you and me, can easily research on things we don’t understand. We have books and the internet at our disposal. But kids don’t care much about books or the internet unless it’s about downloading their fave music or computer games. So, how do you explain a big word like autism to other children?”

How do you teach the kids awareness and tolerance? A Girl for all Status posts links and suggests books to share with your child. You can find them here.


Getting a diagnosis 

How do you know if a child is autistic? Karen, author of A Deaf Mom Shares her World, writes about meeting a little girl named Sarah. The different types of behaviors Sarah exhibited made Karen realize there was more going on than vision and hearing loss.

“Sarah often became easily frustrated, banged her head repeatedly and if I took a toy away to move on to another one, she self-soothed herself using the same pattern over and over at each visit. She became fixated on certain toys and her mom mentioned that she could lie quietly in her crib for a long period of time.”

Seeing these behaviors made Karen think, autism? Read more of the story here. 


Daily dedication

This mom, author of Another Piece of the Puzzle, commits herself to writing daily tips and information on her blog this month. 

“For Autism Awareness Month, I am sharing my favorite resources on a variety of topics. I am starting with sensory processing because that is where we started.”

To read about sensory processing or other daily posts, visit here.

All of these bloggers are a part of the ‘Blogging for Autism Awareness in April’ group. We are now 100 strong! For more bloggers, check the right rail.
Thank you for your time, Genevieve

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About (circa 2008)

Genevieve Hinson is a writer, wife and mom to two boys. She works as an online design coordinator for The Fresno Bee by day, and a writer and blogger by night.

She is one of 10 newspaper-industry professionals selected by the Newspaper Association of America to participate in the 2006 New Media Fellowship program. She is also the recipient of the Yosemite Writers Conference 2005 Sheila L. Stephens Scholarship and the 2006 Poet & Writers matching grant.

Her Mother of Confusion blog is syndicated as a column by McClatchy Tribune Media Services.

Her work has appeared in Adoptive Families magazine, Momlogic.com, CentralValleyMoms.com, Babycenter.com and Adoptionblogs.com.

She advocates for autism awareness and acceptance and is the editor of the BlogNetNews.com autism section.

In her spare time, she can be found walking barefoot with camera in hand, snapping pictures of nature and her children. She has also been seen having a flagrant love affair with Mr. Coffee and indulging in the occasional Mr. Goodbar.

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