About GRASP

The People of GRASP

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Michael John Carley
(Photo courtesy of Ron Haviv)
Michael John Carley received his B.A. from Hampshire College in 1986 and his M.F.A. from Columbia University in 1989. As the Executive Director of GRASP, the largest organization comprised of adults on the autism spectrum, he has spoken at conferences, hospitals, universities, and health care organizations. He has appeared in the media widely, most notably in the New York Times, Washington Post, NY Newsday, the London Times, the Chronicle of Philanthropy, the Chronicle of Higher Education, NEWSWEEK OnAir, ABCNews, Psychology Today, and on radio on Terry Gross’ Fresh Air as well as The Infinite Mind—NPR programs whose news department also aired an unprecedentedly-long 12-minute news piece in June of 2006 that featured he and GRASP. Carley was featured in the documentary, "On the Spectrum," and in the soon-to-be released documentary, "Neurotypical: The Movie." His article, GRASP at One Year: A Personal and Very Unprofessional Look Back was widely circulated, and his other articles have been published in magazines such as Autism Spectrum Quarterly, TAP (The Autism Perspective), Autism/Asperger Digest; and in newsletters such as the OARacle. His first book, Asperger's From the Inside Out: A Supportive and Practical Guide for Anyone with Asperger's Syndrome, was released in April, 2008 to humbling advance reviews (viewable by scrolling down the linked page).

Until 2001, Mr. Carley was the United Nations Representative of Veterans for Peace, Inc. In that time, he was known primarily for his work in Bosnia, and in Iraq as the Project Director of the internationally acclaimed Iraq Water Project. Prior to 2001 he was a playwright who enjoyed 15 productions and 10 readings of his plays in New York.

Along with his (then) 4-year old son, he was diagnosed with AS in November of 2000. He lives with his wife, Kathryn Herzog, and 2 sons in Brooklyn.

DEPUTY DIRECTOR

Sarah Borris
(Photo courtesy of Dion Ogust)
Sarah Borris became involved with the Autism community when she began work for ASPIE, the School for Autistic Strength Purpose and Independence in Education, as the Manager of Programs. After ASPIE closed, Ms. Borris and Valerie Paradiz co-founded the Open Center for Autism, a non-profit organization that ran after school and summer recreation programs for ASD youth, along with peer support groups for parents and adults on the autism spectrum. Prior to her involvement with ASPIE and the Open Center, Ms. Borris received her B.A. from the University of Chicago in 2003 with a focus on Globalization and its effect on marginalized cultures, studying in Spain, Tanzania, and Cuba, and finally moving to Japan to teach English. Currently she is working on her Master’s degree in Humanistic and Multicultural Education at SUNY New Paltz.

SUBSCRIPTIONS MANAGER

Yvona Fast
. . . is also an author, food columnist, freelance journalist, and an international speaker and disabilities advocacy consultant. Her work in learning disabilities and neurological impairments is based on her own personal experiences living with NLD as well as interviews with individuals who live with these disabilities. Her first book, Employment for Individuals with Asperger Syndrome or Non-verbal Learning Disability: Stories and Strategies, is a career guide for individuals with Asperger Syndrome or Non-Verbal Learning disability. The Polish language edition of this book came out in March 2008.

Yvona has spoken on issues of employment and disabilities to various groups, including Families with ASD Autism Expo in Cincinnati, Ohio; the Canadian Learning Disabilities Association, the Vermont Parent Information Center, and the Nonverbal Learning Disabilities Association annual conference.

Yvona’s love of books first led her to become a librarian. A graduate of the State University of NY, she has a BA degree in Geography and a Masters in Library Science. She has worked as a librarian in prison, public, and academic libraries and spent five years working to set up libraries for Bible colleges and seminaries in Eastern Europe.
Yvona has written on many topics for various consumer magazines, including articles on career issues for Educational Opportunity and Minority Engineer. She has written about food for E: The Environment Magazine and Home Cooking, and on health topics for Vibrant Life and American Health and Fitness. Her weekly food column, North Country Kitchen, offers a medley of nutritional information, historical facts, and easy, seasonal recipes. It runs in the Adirondack Daily Enterprise and the Lake Placid News. She is working on her second book, My Nine Lives, a memoir she's writing with her mother, a Holocaust survivor. An excerpt, Escape from the Ghetto, won honorable mention in the North Country Public Radio writing contest. Yvona lives, writes, cooks, takes nature photos, and plays in the snow in winter and in the water during the summer, all in the mountains and lakes of beautiful northern New York State.

SPANISH LANGUAGE CONSULTANT

Juan Molinari
Juan Molinari was recently diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome as well as a surprisingly acute case of ADHD and has the paperwork to prove it. He wants everybody to know for their own safety. He also manages the technical aspects of the Not For Tourists web site and some other stuff that nobody knows about.

Grant Writing Consultant

Barbara Riddle-Dvorak, Ph.D.
Barbara is a New York native who has returned to her hometown after graduating from Reed College and Brandeis University, and time spent living in London and San Francisco. She has worked as a medical editor and grantwriter (and dogwalker and artist's model) and has always been fascinated by the varieties of human behavior and consciousness to be found on the planet- perhaps inspired by growing up in Greenwich Village!

She is the author (as Barbara Riddle) of the autobiographical novel, "The Girl Pretending to Read Rilke," set in a Boston biochemistry lab in 1963. It tells the story of a crucial event one summer in the life of a young woman struggling to find her place in a man's world of high-powered genetics research. ( Journalist Barbara Ehrenreich callled it "Sharply funny.")

In addition, as of January 2009, Barbara Riddle is a columnist for WestView, the "new voice of the West Village". Her columns are based on her memoir,
"Sex and Sinclair Lewis: Tales from a Greenwich Village Girlhood". She also writes a blog, http://poodlesontheroof.blogspot.com/ and you can write to her at poodlesontheroof@gmail.com

Barbara strongly believes that you can find new talents and strengths at any age, and that humor and compassion are the strongest survival
skills on the planet. (Pomegranate juice helps, too.)

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

John Courtney, MSW
Bio and picture coming soon.

Dena Gassner, MSW
Dena Gassner is the second of three generations of people with Autism Spectrum Disorder in her family. At 44, she has survived multiple misdiagnoses and resulting disabling pharmaceutical institutionalization. Disabled not by autism, but by misdiagnoses, she survived mistaken labels including "ADHD, Bi-polar, Depression and PTSD". She was finally saved through God's grace embodied in her son, Patrick, who also has autism. Many seek her uncanny insight into seeking wholeness and authenticity in charging toward a life not separate from, but wholly embracing life with autism.

Her activities include; Board member for SEMAR (the Southeastern Jurisdictional United Methodist Church Agency for Rehabilitation); Chair, Kentucky Conference Special Needs Committee; Inclusion Ministries Consultant and Chair of the Special Needs Ministry Task Force for the Kentucky Conference of the United Methodist Church; Founding Member, ASD Consortium of Kentucky; Advocacy Consultant for the ARC of Kentucky; member, Inclusion Network of Cincinnati. She holds a Master's Degree in Social Work from the University of Kentucky having studied as a multidisciplinary evaluator at Children's Hospital's Center for Developmental Disorders. She is a frequent contributor to local newspapers and the MAAP newsletter and recently had her first publication accepted for the Autism/Asperger's Digest. With her son, Patrick, she is a politically active advocate for persons with disabilities in her home state of Kentucky.

Brian R. King, LCSW
Brian R. King studied Social Work at Aurora University in Aurora, Illinois where he received his Master's Degree. Brian is currently a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in the State of Illinois.

Brian's current endeavors include authoring several books, including What To Do When You're Totally Screwed and Reflections: A Poetic Look At Life which were inspired by his experience with cancer. He is presently working on a book about Asperger's.

Brian learned of his Asperger's in the summer of 2005 along with his oldest son. Brian currently resides in Plainfield, Illinois where he lives with his wife of 11 years Katie (Diagnosed PDD in 2006) and their three sons Zach (age 10) diagnosed with Asperger's in 2005, Aidan (age 6) diagnosed with Autism in 2007 and Connor (2 yrs).

David Tobis, Ph.D.
David Tobis is the Executive Director of the Fund for Social Change which he founded in 2002. The Fund administers three grant making programs: The Child Welfare Fund, the OMRDD/FAR Fund Collaborative and the Partnership for Family Supports and Justice. For the past 25 years he has worked to reform child welfare in New York and the United States. During ten of those years he worked as a consultant to UNICEF and the World Bank to prevent children, the disabled and the elderly from being placed in long-term residential institutions in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, particularly in Lithuania, Romania, Moldova and Armenia.

He is the author of numerous reports and articles on New York City's foster care system that have led to significant changes in service delivery. He wrote a monograph published by the World Bank, The Transition from Residential Institutions to Community-Based Services in Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union that has become the basis for the World Bank's strategy in the area. He also wrote the article for the Encyclopedia Britannica's Book of the Year on the Child Welfare Crisis throughout the world.

He was one of the national leaders of the Family Preservation movement to prevent unnecessary out-of-home placement in the foster care, mental health and juvenile justice fields. He is the founder and was the Chairperson of the Tri-State Network of Intensive Family Preservation Services and helped to found the Intensive Family Preservation Services National Network. He was previously Director of Human Services for New York City Council President Carol Bellamy and led that office's successful efforts to reform New York's foster care system. He began his child welfare career working in New Jersey's public child welfare agency.

He was a Fulbright cholar to Guatemala in 1966-67 and co-edited a book, Guatemala: And So Victory is Born, Even in the Bitterest Hour, published in 1974 by NACLA in English and Siglo XXI in Spanish. He was a Revson Fellow at Columbia University in 1987-88, awarded for work that improves the conditions of life in New York City.

He is currently on the Board of Directors of the Urban Justice Center (chairman 1987-99), High Tide Dance, Inc. and GRASP. Previously he was on the Board of Directors of Behavioral Sciences Institute (Seattle, Washington) and the Brotherhood/SisterSol.

He graduated from Williams College and received a Ph.D. in sociology from Yale University.

ADVISORY BOARD

Julie Bundrick
Julie Bundrick has been diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder, Bipolar Disorder, Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, and Borderline Personality Disorder, and in August of 2002 at the age of 34 she was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome. Julie works for The Furniture Box in Geneva, Illinois where she is the Floor Display Coordinator. She also performs childcare duties for a local church as well as for other individual families in her area. Julie is a volunteer for Orthokids at Delnor Hospital's Health and Wellness Center which provides aquatic therapy for children with various mental and/or physical disabilities—including Autism and Asperger Syndrome. This year, Julie also served as a co-coordinator assisting with booths and presenters for the Illinois Health and Wellness Fair. Her special interests include problem-solving, working puzzles, fishing with her Dad, spending time with her parents, hiking in the fall, and helping others to love and enjoy their lives and who they are as individuals.

Cathy Collins
After many years of therapy, Cathy Collins found out that she was on the spectrum, with nonverbal learning disability, after seeking a referral to a specialist because of what she had learned about Aspergers from Michael John Carley on a broadcast of Fresh Air. A native Californian, Cathy has an M.A. in Latin American Studies from UCLA and an M.A. from George Washington University in Human Resource Development. After graduating from college, she spent a year in Calexico, on the Mexican border, as a second grade teacher in a bilingual education program for the children of migrant farm workers—a totally wrong fit for someone with challenges in social skills and deciphering nonverbal cues! She has worked for the U.S. Coast Guard for over ten years in her primary field of intelligence research. Prior to her current assignment in Virginia, she spent six years in New York City at Governors Island. She also worked for the Defense Intelligence Agency in Washington, D.C. and London, England. Her special area of expertise is Latin America, and she participates in a number of inter-agency conferences on Caribbean affairs. As a collateral duty, she serves as Federal Women’s Program Manager for U.S. Coast Guard Atlantic Area. Special interests are Haitian history and culture, Jungian psychology, collecting folk art, and reading the works of Charles Dickens.

Nick Dubin
Nick Dubin was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome in 2004. He holds a Bachelor's degree in communications, a Master's degree in learning disabilities and a specialist degree in psychology. Currently, Nick is pursuing his doctoral degree in psychology. He has three DVD's currently in distribution through the Gray Center and Jessica Kingsley Publishers. His book on Asperger's Syndrome and Bullying, 2007, also soon to be published by Jessica Kingsley Publishers, was forewarded by GRASP's Executive Director, Michael John Carley.

Rebecca Gbasha
Rebecca was born in Oklahoma and grew up in Southern California, where she received a B.A. in Biology. Joining the great exodus to Oregon in the early 1970's, she obtained MS and PhD degrees in Environmental Geography. For the next 20 years she taught at universities in Oklahoma, Massachusetts, and Iowa. She retired early in 2000, and promptly dug up her yard for a flower garden. She has a typical sorry tale of difficult life experiences, misdiagnoses, mistreatments, and was diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome in 2001. Rebecca currently lives in Iowa City, Iowa, and facilitates the Iowa City/Coralville GRASP Support Network. She also brews a mean cup of coffee, makes a fantastic red quinoa salad, and has a house fulll of houseplants and African folk art.

Kate Goldfield
Kate Goldfield is a 22 year old psychology major from Standish, Maine, who attended Goucher College in Baltimore. She has written several articles on issues relevant to adults with autism spectrum disorders, and has been published in the Baltimore Sun, Hartford Courant, and forthcoming December 2006, The Autism Perspective magazine. She has spoken at the first Penn Autism Network Conference as a panelist, and at the 2006 ASPEN Spring Conference. She has been involved with Asperger's and autism groups in Maine, Baltimore, and Washington, DC, as well as several online groups. After discovering her own Asperger's Syndrome two years ago, she decided she wanted to get as involved as possible in the autism community and try to make the path easier for those who come after her.

Temple Grandin, Ph.D.
Temple Grandin, Ph.D., is inarguably the most accomplished and well-known adult with autism in the world. She has been featured on major television programs, such as "ABC's Primetime Live", the "Today Show", "Larry King Live", "48 Hours" and "20/20" and written up in national publications, such as Time magazine, People magazine, Forbes, U.S. News and World Report, and New York Times. Among numerous other recognitions by media, Bravo Cable did a half-hour show on her life, and she was one of the "challenged" people featured in the best-selling book, Anthropologist from Mars.

Dr. Grandin didn't talk until she was three and a half years old, communicating her frustration instead by screaming, peeping and humming. In 1950, she was labeled "autistic," and her parents were told she should be institutionalized. She tells her story of "groping her way from the far side of darkness" in her book Emergence: Labeled Autistic, a book which stunned the world because, until its publication, most professionals and parents assumed being diagnosed "autistic" was virtually a death sentence to achievement or productivity in life.

Dr. Grandin has become a prominent author and speaker on the subject of autism because "I have read enough to know that there are still many parents, and, yes, professionals, too, who believe that 'once autistic, always autistic.' This dictum has meant sad and sorry lives for many children diagnosed, as I was in early life, as autistic. To these people, it is incomprehensible that the characteristics of autism can be modified and controlled. However, I feel strongly that I am living proof that they can." (Taken from Emergence: Labeled Autistic)

Even though she was considered "weird" in her young school years, she eventually found a mentor, who recognized her interests and abilities, which she later expanded into becoming a successful livestock handling equipment designer, one of very few in the world. She has designed the facilities in which half the cattle are handled in the United States, consulting for firms such as Burger King, McDonald's, Swift and others.

She presently works as an Associate Professor at Colorado State University but also speaks around the world on both autism and cattle handling.

Dr. Grandin's current best seller is Animals in Translation. She also authored the best seller - Thinking in Pictures and Other Reports From My Life With Autism and produced videos - "Visual Thinking," "Careers" and "Medications" VHS; and Dr. Temple Grandin (DVD).

Xenia Kathy Grant
Xenia Kathy Grant lives and works as a respite provider in Denver, CO. She was officially diagnosed as High-Functioning Autistic in 2001, but had known that she was on the spectrum since 1986. She has a degree in political science from Maryville College in St. Louis (1987) and a Certificate of Completion in Medical Transcription from the Vanderschmidt School (1991). She has had many jobs since graduating from college. She has been a telemarketer, bookshelver, factory worker, medical transcriptionist, worked in the mail room, done data entry work, cleaned cat cages at a vet's office, and now has been doing respite work for the past 5 years. She is on the Board of the local autism chapter, on the Board of Autism National Committee, and has been with Autism Network International since it's beginning in 1992. She is involved with many church activities at Holy Transfiguration Orthodox Church. (Russian Orthodox) Her interests are: history, geography, Russian Orthodoxy, flags, collecting things in foreign languages, maps, cats, and Battlestar Galactica.

Robert E. Hedin
. . . graduated fourth in his class from Technical High School in Springfield, MA in 1955, receiving the Rensselaer medal as the outstanding math and science student. He attended Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY on a scholarship where his major was E.E. While at R.P.I., he met his future wife. After dropping out of school in 1957, he was hired as a broadcast technician and cameraman by a local TV station, WWLP, with the proviso that he would obtain the necessary First Class Commercial Radiotelephone License within six months. He advanced to the position of weekend supervisor. In 1964 he married his college sweetheart who was an R.N. with a B.S. and M.S. in nursing.

In 1966, they moved to the Philadelphia area after he had obtained a job at a major network station. He and his wife have three children, two boys and a girl, and have been married for over forty years. His children all graduated from private colleges without any student loans, although they were all attending college at one time. Financial planning has been one of his interests for many years. In 1998 he retired early in order to spend more time with the family, and to enjoy travel and hobbies. Bob has been an avid computer enthusiast for over 20 years; he taught himself basic programming in the early days of computers when they first appeared on the home market. He has been an amateur radio operator for over 50 years, and active in genealogy since retiring. His newest interest is in Asperger’s Syndrome. In Dec. of 2001 he read an article in Wired magazine titled, "The Geek Syndrome", wondering if it might apply to one of their sons. In Feb. of 2003 an article appeared in Parade Magazine on Aspergers; the description of AS fit their son more clearly. After reading the article himself, their son agreed, "That's me!" After months of internet searching, internet AS forums, and reading many books, he realized that his other two children had a number of AS traits, as well as himself. He joined a local support group for parents of AS children, and another for families of "adult children" with AS. Most of the support groups are for parents. After seeing the benefit of support groups for parents, he saw that a support group for adults with AS/HFA was sorely needed; there was no such group in the area. Fortunately there was such a group in New York City called GRASP. The founder of our support group for families of "adult children", Tina Caterino, arranged a conference call with GRASP's executive director, Michael John Carley to discuss the idea of a support group in the Philadelphia. With their encouragement, Bob launched a membership drive. Adults with AS/HFA have responded, along with parents, and professionals. The membership stands at 26 and growing. The first meeting was held in Berwyn, PA on Sat. Jan. 8, 2005. Meetings are scheduled for the second Saturday of each month. Between meetings, a listserv is available for online members to discuss issues and keep in touch with one another.

Liane Holliday Willey, Ed.D.
Liane Holliday Willey, Ed.D. is an internationally respected speaker and writer on Asperger Syndrome and a researcher who specializes in the fields of psycholinguistics and learning style differences. Liane has worked as an elementary education teacher, a waitress, a retail sales clerk and a university professor. Following years of improper diagnoses, she was properly diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome in 1999. Liane is the author of dozens of academic research papers, as well as, the author of Pretending to be Normal: Living with Asperger's Syndrome and Asperger Syndrome in the Family: Redefining Normal, and she is the editor of Asperger Syndrome in the Adolescent Years: Living with the Ups, the Downs and Things in Between (all published by Jessica Kingsley Publishers). Liane has also contributed chapters to several other books on Asperger syndrome.

When Liane is not presenting information on Asperger Syndrome, she is likely to be found at her children’s functions, working on her first novel, tutoring children with reading problems, serving as the Senior Editor for Autism Spectrum Quarterly, or consulting with businesses who are interested in building more effective communication paradigms.

Perry Hoffman
In other news, please join us in welcoming Perry Hoffman to our Advisory Board. Perry was officially diagnosed with autism in first grade but was mainstreamed in 6th grade. He made the honor roll at Midwood, H.S. (Brooklyn). He later earned his B.A. in English from Hunter College in 1993 and recently completed his Masters in Secondary Education at Queens College. Perry currently works as a case manager for the NYC Dept. of Health and Mental Hygiene where he provides advocacy, referrals and pre-natal care to pregnant women. He was a featured speaker at the MAAP conferences in 1996 in Chicago and 2000 in Tampa. He lastly won the 2000 and 2001 Recognition Award from the Autism Society of America. Perry resides in Bayside, Queens.

Nathan P. Johansen
I don't feel like I've done much more than grown up in a rural Colorado setting, moved to Denver, graduated high school, then dropped out of college at CU Boulder for Aerospace Engineering, went to Germany for a decade working on computer-to-plate publishing technologies, traveled to parts of Europe, Asia, and Australia in my free time, then came back home, failed at a relationship with my boyfriend Chad, and am now trying to reinvent life through the "now it makes perfect sense to me" lenses of Autism. I recite Pi for fun until I'm told to shut up, or the number of times Cesium 133 has to vibrate to measure one second in an atomic fountain clock, scribble out the mathematics for deriving the value of Phi from a Fibonacci series, or memorize a box of Trivial Pursuit® cards. I would be lost without certain things like my radio plugged into my ears, writing with my special black inky pen, spending quiet time alone reading the comics pages and doing Sudoku puzzles, having a conversation with friends on my balcony, or being separated from my bookshelf for too long. Quantum theory fascinates me, and computers have always been my most stable and predictable friends in life. I'm one of two autistic self-advocates appointed to the Colorado Autism Commission, and a facilitator for the Colorado GRASP groups in Denver and Boulder.

Steven Lawson
Steven Lawson grew up in suburban Chicago. He received his B.A. from Syracuse University in 2001, his J.D. from University of Illinois College of Law in 2005, and was admitted to Illinois Bar in November 2005.

His main interests are in education, labor, employment, environmental, election and municipal law. Steven loves the outdoors, camping, and exercise, especially bicycling and jogging. He is a news junkie, statistics hound, and an avid lover of dance music- so much that he spent a stint as operations manager of a college top 40 radio station, WJPZ-FM in Syracuse, New York.

Steven was diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome in 2002. The diagnosis has provided him insights into his struggles with social relationships and his approach to learning. As a facilitator of a GRASP support group, Steven hopes to build a community of people on the Asperger-Autism Spectrum to help one another, share resources and engage in advocacy for others on the Spectrum.

Allen Markman
Allen Markman received his B.A. from Queens College in 1975 and his M.A. from the New School in 1977.

Mr. Markman is a psychiatric survivor who was active in the psychiatric patients' rights movement from 1971 to 1986. He hosted a monthly radio program, the Madness Network, on listener-sponsored WBAI radio from 1980 to 1986 under the auspices of Project Release.

Mr. Markman is a (retired) Pacifica Radio veteran, having served as WBAI Radio's subscriptions director for 17 years.

He was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome in 2002. He is a co-facilitator of the New York City Adult Asperger Syndrome Support Group. It was his idea for an organization in 2002 that led to the formation of GRASP.

Lars Perner, Ph.D.
Lars is an Assistantt Professor of Marketing at San Diego State Universityy and holds a Ph.D. in Marketing from the University of Southern California. He became interested in autism spectrum conditions after being diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome at age 32 and found that his background in consumer psychology (e.g., information processing, perception, interpretation, motivation) and international business (e.g., cultural expectations and communications styles) could be applied to understanding autism. Lars has written extensively on the paradoxical nature of autism and is a frequent presenter at autism conferences on topics such as life planning, college preparation and succcess, cognitive processes, the dynamics of autism, perspectives on autism, and ther role of values in approaching the treatment of the condition. He is currently combining his interests in marketing and autism by studying how characteristics such as sensory vulnerabilities, difficulties in communication, and dislike of change affect the shopping experiences of individuals on the autism specttrum. Many of Lars' autism materials are available at http://www.aspergerssyndrome.org.

Branden Plank
"Growing up, we moved from place to place, - at least 8 different schools.- So not making many friends seemed understandable." says Branden. This year he will be married 25 years, has 2 college age kids, and held the same job for over 20 years. He is a member of a born again church since 1981 and served as a deacon for 13 years, and has also led small group meetings in his home. “Yet I lived in denial of the obvious” Diagnosed with AS in the fall of 2004, at the age of 45, many things finally made sense. Now, a GRASP co-facilitator he has found a joy and comfort in a community of folks like himself. "Helping and encouraging others is very fulfilling!" His love for photography led to an associate degree in Pittsburgh in 1979 and has won various awards. This outlet of expression laid dormant for too long is now revived in digital photography. "I have time again for this passion now that the kids are grown."

Trista Rupp Plott
Trista Plott, now 33, was diagnosed after her daughter's diagnosis this past January. Her daughter is ten now, but at 17 months, Trista believed her daughter was autistic. After an evaluation in 1996, her daughter was not diagnosed. Aspergers was not well known in their area ten years ago. Earlier this year, her daughter was diagnosed with AS, which paved the road to self discovery.

Trista says of Aspergers, "I always knew there was something different about myself and my family, the diagnosis gives me an explanation. Living the experience of AS without the terminology, and suddenly having words to describe it, to me, is transcendental."

After her daughter's diagnosis, she realized that this was not just her daughter, but also her. The clinical websites were confusing at first. When she started to read personal accounts of people living with AS/HFA, her suspicions were confirmed.
She was looking for an adult group in her area, but there wasn't one. A researcher from NYU forwarded one of Trista's emails to Michael Carley, who responded immediately. Trista is the facilitator for ERIE GRASP. With Michael Carley's encouragement, Trista started the GRASP chapter, which has been steadily growing since.

Trista lives in North East, PA with her husband and their four children. Trista volunteers for raogk.org, researching family trees for those seeking genealogical information. Trista has also recently started writing and proofreading press releases for an online furniture company. Some other hobbies (of the moment) include gardening and painting. Trista also prides herself with being able to clear any room at a family event within a ten minute time period.

One of the main goals Trista hopes to accomplish with GRASP ERIE, is to raise awareness in her community, and to build an effective employment network for people on the spectrum. Although the Office for Vocational Rehabilitation offers job training, there is no service for job placement.

Stephen Shore
Diagnosed with "Atypical Development with strong autistic tendencies" Stephen Shore was viewed as "too sick" to be treated on an outpatient basis and recommended for institutionalization. Nonverbal until four, and with much help from his parents, teachers, and others, Stephen Shore is now completing his doctoral degree in special education at Boston University with a focus on helping people on the autism spectrum develop their capacities to the fullest extent possible.

In addition to working with children and talking about life on the autism spectrum, Stephen presents and consults internationally on adult issues pertinent to education, relationships, employment, advocacy, and disclosure as discussed in his book Beyond the Wall: Personal Experiences with Autism and Asperger Syndrome, the recently released Ask and Tell: Self-advocacy and Disclosure for People on the Autism Spectrum, and numerous other writings.

A former board member of the Autism Society of America, Stephen serves as board president of the Asperger’s Association of New England as well as for the Board of Directors for Unlocking Autism, the Autism Services Association of Massachusetts, MAAP, and the College Internship Program.

Donna Williams
Donna Williams was born in Australia in 1963. She was assessed at age 2 as psychotic, labeled disturbed and tested for deafness throughout childhood before being diagnosed as autistic in 1990. Today she is an internationally best-selling author with 9 published books, an artist, singer-songwriter and emerging screenwriter. One of the most well known people with autism in the world, Donna is a renowned international public speaker, a qualified teacher and has worked as an autism consultant since 1995. .

Karl Wittig
Karl Wittig was diagnosed at the age of 44 years with a mild case of Asperger Syndrome. He worked as an electrical engineer doing research and development in the areas of electronics, computers, video, image processing, and communications for over 28 years, working for the research divisions of major electronics corporations.

Karl has a B. S. with distinction in Applied Physics (1976) and an M. Eng. in Electrical Engineering (1977), both from Cornell University, as well as an M. S. in Computer Science (1987) from New York University. A member of two engineering honor societies (Tau Beta Pi and Eta Kappa Nu), he holds 19 U. S. patents, and is a registered professional engineer in the state of New York.

As a young child, Karl was "obsessed" with virtually anything electrical or mechanical, which led to his choice of career. Although he had exhibited quite a few autistic traits both as a child and as an adult, and had suspected for a number of years that he might suffer from such a condition, he was not diagnosed until relatively late in life. As a result of his experiences, he is deeply interested in increasing public awareness about the milder conditions of the autism spectrum.

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