Important Stories - In the Spotlight!
The cavalry is coming and it’s US…
Steve Gonyea - August 25, 2025
“People around the country are starting to take notice of the remarkable solutions for people with developmental disabilities that are happening in Utica, NY. Emmy-award winning documentary filmmaker, Michael Skinner, and his DC-based company, Pendragwn Productions, have visited multiple times to amplify the solutions Steve Gonyea and his family have created for their children with autism. In fact, Skinner and Gonyea are collaborating to form a new nonprofit called WorthDoing.org.
Olmstead in the Spotlight!
Heather Burroughs - July 30, 2025
Olmstead and the ADA were meant to protect our rights, but implementation is inconsistent. “Most integrated setting” is sometimes applied so rigidly that it ignores individual choice.
My daughter is nonspeaking and uses a letterboard to communicate. Her needs are complex, but she has a voice - and a right - to choose where and how she lives, learns, and grows. Yet we’re often told, “That option doesn’t exist,” “Add your name to the waitlist,” or worse - “Just settle.”
Olmstead was never meant to be a checkbox. It was a promise—that people with disabilities would have choices, not ultimatums. Learn more…
This is a brain scan of Dr. Temple Grandin on the left, compared to someone without autism. Grandin's visual output area is much larger.
(Photo: Walt Schneider, University of Pittsburgh)
When the Brain Shines Bright - But the Body Doesn’t Cooperate!
You’ve probably seen it — the viral image comparing two brain scans: one labeled “autistic,” the other “neurotypical.” The autistic scan lights up with color and complexity, almost electric in its intensity. The image is often linked to Dr. Temple Grandin, one of the most widely recognized autistic thinkers of our time.
While this specific image hasn’t been published in peer-reviewed literature, it does come from research conducted by Walt Schneider at the University of Pittsburgh and was featured in USA Today.