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Autistic Portland Boy Who Won a Prestigious Trip Told He Can’t Go
The Oregonian YouTube channel
Seventeen year-old Niko Boskovic wins United Nations Educational Pilgrimage for Youth essay contest sponsored by the Odd Fellows Lodge. Odd Fellows withdraws the award after learning he has autism. Niko communicates by pointing to letters on a laminated letterboard.
“Niko’s reliance on the letterboard is no different than a person who is deaf relying on a sign language interpreter on a tour, or a person who is blind needing a seeing eye dog,” said Gordon C. Magella, an attorney with Disability Rights Oregon.
Link to video (2:31) (open captions): https://youtu.be/zU6TSntkhew
Family: Portland Teenager Denied National Trip Because He Has Autism
KPTV Fox12 (Oregon)
Portland, Oregon Fox-TV-affiliate story about 17-year-old Niko Boskovic winning United Nations Educational Pilgrimage for Youth essay contest sponsored by the Odd Fellows Lodge but then being denied the ‘prize’ of a trip to the UN. Other Oregon-based Odd Fellows Lodges voice support for Niko, some voting to boycott future contests until anti-discrimination policies are in place.
“They said that both in the written [portion] and the interview, which he did using the letter board, that he was a clear winner out of everyone,” said David Scheer, the secretary at the Peninsula Odd Fellows Lodge in north Portland.
Link to story and video (2:33): https://bit.ly/2pxFyLl
The Big Impact of Small Moments
On March 25, 2017, a group of 9 nonspeaking autistics from Northern Virginia (a.k.a. “The Tribe”) and 20 University of Virginia undergraduates gathered in Charlottesville to discuss, among other things, motor differences in autism with Dr. Jana Iverson of the University of Pittsburgh. The two groups of students are participants in a year-long seminar called “The Science & Lived Experience of Autism.” This video captures highlights from their fourth in-person meeting.
To see videos from previous meetings, visit vimeo.com/191409936 and youtu.be/eXRWT0PC7Pw.
For more information about the collaboration, visit: news.virginia.edu/content/new-course-connects-students-autistic-tribe and wvtf.org/post/uva-students-learn-first-hand-how-people-autism-feel.
Autism and Advocacy
On February 11, 2017, a group of 9 nonspeaking autistics from Northern Virginia (a.k.a. “The Tribe”) and 19 University of Virginia undergraduates gathered in Falls Church to discuss and plan autism advocacy efforts. They were joined by the mayor of Herndon (Lisa Merkel), and two members of the Virginia House of Delegates (Jennifer Boysko and Patrick Hope). The two groups of students are participants in a year-long seminar called “The Science & Lived Experience of Autism.” This video captures highlights from their third in-person meeting. To see a video from a previous meeting, visit vimeo.com/191409936. For more information about the collaboration, visit: news.virginia.edu/content/new-course-connects-students-autistic-tribe and wvtf.org/post/uva-students-learn-first-hand-how-people-autism-feel.
See more at http://thepioneer.co
CREDITS:
Producer: Sarah Dodge
Mother of Reinvention
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Georgia)
Story by Atlanta parent Alison Auerbach who started The Connections School of Atlanta for students with autism to enable its graduates to seamlessly matriculate to and graduate from high school.
“These students, speaking and nonspeaking, will likely have to fight to be heard and understood for most of their adult lives. They’ll be stronger if they fight together, regardless of how they communicate. They need each other. And, I realize, they need a school where they can strengthen their individual and group voices as they learn,” said Alison Auerbach, founder of The Connections School of Atlanta. “Our teachers strive every day to help our students find and use their voices. Today the students learned they have the right to have a say on a national level — no matter what tools they use to say it.”
Link: https://bit.ly/2tlOEfb
‘I Want to Show that Someone Who Can’t Speak Thinks Many Thoughts, Understands Everything’
The Journal.ie (Ireland)
Sixteen-year-old Dublin, Ireland resident Fiacre Ryan describes what his daily life as an autistic is like and how Rapid Prompting Method has given him a way to fully express his thoughts and feelings.
“I am verifying people with autism when I write my thoughts. Each time the door opens on a new day I am doubted, but each day I prove my Einstein mind to everyone and yet they stop me using this intellect. Respect those who speak silent words, who have thoughts lost in their minds, and show them what each one sees as we tell our story.”
Link: https://bit.ly/2ntnSw3