Category Archives: Autism and Aging

Inclusion – How it Works Best for This Autistic

August 2, 2014Activism/Advocacy, Autism and Aging, Growing Up Autistic, Social Considerationsadmin

As an autistic, I sometimes feel boxed in by the best practice strategy of inclusion. Please don’t get me wrong – inclusive education is a very good thing! Historically, people with disabilities were not given access to public education. Then, over time, laws changed. Today we have special ed classrooms in our schools and the progressive schools practice inclusion.

Today’s Inclusive Education
Inclusion means that all the students get to learn in the general ed environment. Instruction is differentiated while physical, sensory, emotional and every other need of each student is taken into consideration so that all students learn together, each one doing and being his very best self. Inclusion allows each student to belong to the community of his peers.

My Personal Take on Inclusion
I love the idea of inclusion. It is right and good. It is very important. AND sometimes this setup doesn’t work well for me. I am not able to access my thoughts and words in real time. Even a quiet environment, with several people in the same room does not necessarily allow me access to those people or even to my own thoughts. Sometimes this sort of situation can propel me into shutdown or meltdown.

In fact, now that I have access to the typical world and experience an inclusive adult life in my community I am discovering that I don’t always want to participate in the typical world. If inclusion is good and right then why is this?

A Breadth of Inclusive Experience
As I ponder this question for myself as an autistic, I realize that the world is run according to the majority. This means a neurotypical (NT) brain is what is behind the conventional constructs of our society. Inclusion looks the way inclusion works for the NT majority. Inclusive opportunities and indeed, all of inclusive education and life, happens via NT style. It is what we have. It works for NTs and it even works for me some of the time. It allows a breadth to inclusive experiences.

A Depth of Inclusive Experience
But at other times I need to honor my autistic neurology. While I love being part of the everyday fabric of life in my community, I also need to spend time living my life with other autistics. This is where I find the depth of inclusion my heart and soul searched for my whole life. It feels like home to me. It is the place where I do not need to inhibit my natural noises, flaps and extraneous movements and moans. I do not need to be mindful of the hundreds of social rules of NT society. I am free to be my true self. My autistic friends do not judge my intelligence, my potential contribution or my human worth by my unconventional mannerisms. I belong, just as I am in my natural state, accepted and loved for my whole self – not just for my NT look-alike self.

The Breadth, the Depth and the Importance of Choice
And still, for me it is quite important to know how to get along in the world at large. I love the freedom of being able to walk in and out of any place in my community and fit in so as to appear to belong. I love being able to take my place in the world at large. I am grateful to have this choice because it hasn’t always been this way in our world.

Additionally, a different and just as valid inclusion comes from the community of my autistic friends where all of me – including autistic traits and mannerisms – are understood and cherished. This is the place where I have the most fluid access to the best of my being, likely because I do not have to inhibit my natural autistic self. To me this is a treasured wonder.

From A History of Marginalization
At the end of the day, I ponder the inclusion situation through history. Being “othered” most of my life in “special” settings never felt like inclusion to me. It felt like being shoved to out of the way places of “less than.” Then later, given only the opportunity for inclusion only NT style I was left wanting and longing for something I did not understand. It wasn’t until I had both that I felt I was no longer an alien, but truly belonged in this world.

To a Future of Comprehensive Inclusion
I believe we may come to discover in the future that to thrive and to be all that we can be, we autistics will need both the breadth of NT inclusion and the depth of autistic inclusion – two distinct and equally important styles of inclusion. As autistics, we also need to be empowered to choose how this mix best works for us in our given autistic bodies. My needs wax and wane over time, but it remains constant that to love and to be loved I need access to both inclusive environments and to be able to choose the mix that serves me best. This allows me to belong and to participate fully in the human race.

BOOKS BY JUDY ENDOW

Endow, J. (2019).  Autistically Thriving: Reading Comprehension, Conversational Engagement, and Living a Self-Determined Life Based on Autistic Neurology. Lancaster, PA: Judy Endow.

Endow, J. (2012). Learning the Hidden Curriculum: The Odyssey of One Autistic Adult. Shawnee Mission, KS: AAPC Publishing.

Endow, J. (2006).  Making Lemonade: Hints for Autism’s Helpers. Cambridge, WI: CBR Press.

Endow, J. (2013).  Painted Words: Aspects of Autism Translated. Cambridge, WI: CBR Press.

Endow, J. (2009).  Paper Words: Discovering and Living With My Autism. Shawnee Mission, KS: AAPC Publishing.

Endow, J. (2009).  Outsmarting Explosive Behavior: A Visual System of Support and Intervention for Individuals With Autism Spectrum Disorders. Shawnee Mission, KS: AAPC Publishing.

Endow, J. (2010).  Practical Solutions for Stabilizing Students With Classic Autism to Be Ready to Learn: Getting to Go. Shawnee Mission, KS: AAPC Publishing.

Myles, B. S., Endow, J., & Mayfield, M. (2013).  The Hidden Curriculum of Getting and Keeping a Job: Navigating the Social Landscape of Employment. Shawnee Mission, KS: AAPC Publishing.

Originally written for and published by Ollibean on April 29, 2014

“Sucking It Up” To Pass as Non-Autistic

July 13, 2014Autism and Aging, Social Considerationsadmin

Written in English: “Sucking It Up” To Pass as Non-Autistic
http://www.judyendow.com/autism-and-aging/sucking-it-up-to-pass-as-non-autistic/‎

French Translation: Se faire violence pour « passer sous le radar » de l’autisme
http://www.judyendow.com/french-blogs/se-faire/ ‎

It is a lot of work to look non-autistic, and yet, looking non-autistic is the ticket to sit at many tables. It is not right, and yet, I choose to expend a great deal of energy inhibiting my autistic ways for the sake of sitting at some of society’s tables. Employment is one such table. Just like all other adults I need to pay the monthly bills, buy groceries, have transportation, etc. This all poses quite the conundrum for me.

I spent most of my life to trying to figure out the world around me – to fit myself into it in such a way as to feel more comfortable, raise my children, remain employed and have a few good friends. This all has come at a high personal cost. In many areas of life, I have to literally “suck it up” and be someone I am not just to have a ticket to participate.

I am in my late 50’s. I have lived my life differently than the younger autistic activists and the autistic children of today. I spent some of my growing up years in an institution. Autism was not a diagnosis given out back then. Instead, I had several other labels. My institution employed behavior modification. I learned to “suck it up” to purchase my ticket to freedom – discharge from a state mental institution. If I had to do it again – yes, I would choose to “suck it up” and be someone I wasn’t because the ticket I needed to buy was important enough to me to be able to purchase.

As a young adult, I failed at my first attempt to get a college degree. For three years, I was successful at “sucking it up” and acting non-autistic enough (even though I hadn’t yet heard of autism) – acting as a stranger to myself, role playing somebody I wasn’t. It worked for almost three years. I learned that even though I could act as somebody I wasn’t every school day for three years, that being the person I was for one instance could undo all of the three years. If I had to do it again – yes, I would choose to “suck it up” and be someone I wasn’t because the ticket I wanted to buy was important enough to me to try my hardest to purchase.

As an older adult, I succeeded at my next attempt to get a college degree. By that time, I had almost 20 more years of “sucking it up” practice on my side. Even so, I knew there was a personal limit on how long I could “suck it up” – hiding my autistic self so others would allow me to make it through college. Thus, I sped through college as fast as I could go, cramming in as much as possible in the shortest time. I did a four year undergrad program in three years and a two year graduate program in one calendar year (a fall, winter and summer semester). Academics were no problem. The way I came off to other people was a problem. Therefore, the less I was around one group of people the better off I was in terms of not drawing attention to myself and in not alienating professors and fellow students. If I had to do it again – yes, I would choose to “suck it up” and be someone I wasn’t because the ticket I wanted to buy was important enough to me to try my hardest to purchase.

In my work life, I was able to “suck it up” and be someone I wasn’t so as to maintain employment to provide for my children. It was exhausting. And yet, if I had to do it again – yes, I would choose to “suck it up” and be someone I wasn’t because the ticket I wanted to buy was important enough to me to try my hardest to purchase. I wanted the freedom to parent my own children without someone deciding I was not able to do so. And believe me, I had more than my share of those someone’s in my life due to one child’s needs. One of those people who had power over me said as long as I maintained my job I would be seen as fit to parent my children. So, yes – a thousand times over I would again “suck it up” – to be someone I wasn’t for the sake of keeping my ticket to parent my children. They are now all grown living their own happy and fulfilled lives. “Sucking it up” was entirely worth it to me.

Today I am fortunate enough to support myself by running my own business. This sounds fancy and highfalutin, but in reality it means that I need to be in charge of my own schedule. I have figured out how to string together enough different kinds of work (consulting, writing, art, speaking) that I am able to maintain an income sufficient to pay the bills and live my life. The deal breaker is I must schedule my work in a way to provide me with alternate time at home (writing, art and preparing for speaking) and time away from home (consulting and speaking along with the travel involved). Even so, this still means that when hired to consult and to speak I must employ a certain degree of “sucking it up” in order to get people to value my work enough to hire me. I continue on in this manner because I enjoy my work, my travel and in general, my life as it is today.

On occasion younger autistic adults fault me for “sucking it up” and being someone I am not. I know this because they tell me so. There is a term I have recently learned called “passing.” I am told that when I am “sucking it up,” I am “passing.” It means I have learned to act as a phony – a sort of pretense at being non-autistic. In reality, for me it means that when I am in employment situations I expend a great deal of energy to inhibit my natural self. This is necessary to me in order to support myself. Do I like it? No. Even so, I am glad I am able to “pass” when I need to because it has made my life better than when I couldn’t “pass” in that my income is more stable now than then.

Many argue that all people have to do this “sucking it up” to some extent. After all, we cannot just act however we wish when we are in public. I agree. However, autistics have to do this to such a greater extent that it prohibits many of us from being employed because we simply cannot “suck it up” long enough each day to be gainfully employed. For me, it means I must pay strict attention to how I schedule my life. I must employ sensory regulating activities and much quiet time in order to be in shape to be able to “suck it up” when I go out the door to work away from home.

I think my life is the best it can be at this point in time. I hope the lives of younger autistics have broadened possibilities as we go forward into the future. I hope more autistics are able to be the person they are, utilizing the supports and accommodations they need, without society insisting they hide their very essence at every turn. I look forward to autistics having everyday lives with things so many take for granted – going to school, being part of the community, having meaningful jobs with living wages along with meaningful relationships. This is the stuff of a satisfying life. All people should have access without society’s requirement of “sucking it up” before a ticket is extended by the majority to those of us in marginalized groups.

BOOKS BY JUDY ENDOW

Endow, J. (2019).  Autistically Thriving: Reading Comprehension, Conversational Engagement, and Living a Self-Determined Life Based on Autistic Neurology. Lancaster, PA: Judy Endow.

Endow, J. (2012). Learning the Hidden Curriculum: The Odyssey of One Autistic Adult. Shawnee Mission, KS: AAPC Publishing.

Endow, J. (2006).  Making Lemonade: Hints for Autism’s Helpers. Cambridge, WI: CBR Press.

Endow, J. (2013).  Painted Words: Aspects of Autism Translated. Cambridge, WI: CBR Press.

Endow, J. (2009).  Paper Words: Discovering and Living With My Autism. Shawnee Mission, KS: AAPC Publishing.

Endow, J. (2009).  Outsmarting Explosive Behavior: A Visual System of Support and Intervention for Individuals With Autism Spectrum Disorders. Shawnee Mission, KS: AAPC Publishing.

Endow, J. (2010).  Practical Solutions for Stabilizing Students With Classic Autism to Be Ready to Learn: Getting to Go. Shawnee Mission, KS: AAPC Publishing.

Myles, B. S., Endow, J., & Mayfield, M. (2013).  The Hidden Curriculum of Getting and Keeping a Job: Navigating the Social Landscape of Employment. Shawnee Mission, KS: AAPC Publishing.

Originally written for and published by Ollibean on March 20, 2014

How to Figure Out If an Autistic Needs Fixing

January 27, 2014Activism/Advocacy, Autism and Agingadmin

I have autism. I am autistic. Both these statements describe me and both are true. However, these two statements are NOT equal.

Having autism means I have been diagnosed, based on deficit criteria used by the medical field, with a medically defined disorder called autism. The diagnosis of autism is housed in the DSM 5 so falls under the domain of psychiatric disorders. When autism was first described, based on behavior deficits, it was thought to be a psychiatric disorder. We now know differently, but the diagnosis of autism remains housed in the DSM 5.

Being autistic means something vastly different. Everyone’s personhood comes to be defined by his way of thinking, being and interacting in this world. I have an autistic style of thinking, being and interacting in the world. Thus, my very personhood is autistic. Just like my personhood is white and female, so is it autistic.

I am autistic and I have autism. Both apply. Both are true. I do not need to choose only one statement as my truth. People need to understand this. It is not a case of choose your side and fight for your cause. This is important. Problems happen because people do not understand the difference these two statements imply.

I have autism. Autism is a disability. Life with autism can be difficult. Because of autism I need certain supports and accommodations. Having autism means I can ask for these supports and accommodations due to the fact that I have a medically defined entity called autism. I appreciate my diagnosis. I appreciate having autism because this medical label allows me a way to talk about and to get the accommodations and supports I need to live my life.

But the medical label of autism does not define my personhood. Problems arise when the diagnostic deficit language of having autism is taken out of the medical realm and used to describe my humanity – the human being I am in this world – a white autistic female. This is who I am.

I have autism. The difficulties that come with my autism can be supported and accommodated.

I am autistic. It is my place of being in this world. The essence of who I am – all my thoughts, actions and interactions are based on who I am as an autistic white woman.

I wish more people understood the differences between having autism and being autistic. At this point in history it is assumed having autism and being autistic are one and the same thing. This sort of understanding by the general public and most professionals who deal with autistic people cause us to be treated as if we are only the sum total of our autism deficits rather than as autistic human beings.

Here are a few illustrations:

Painting Classes
If you are autistic and want to learn to paint and can sign yourself up for a painting class this is what you do. However, if your autism posses difficulties meaning you need to ask your broker to sign you up for painting classes you will likely wind up being offered Art Therapy.

Piano Lessons
If you are autistic and want to learn to play the piano and ask for assistance to find a piano teacher you are offered Music Therapy. If you are neurotypical and want to learn to play the piano nobody will suggest Music Therapy, but instead when you ask about piano lessons you will get referral information about piano teachers.

Making Friends
If you are autistic and want to meet people who have similar interests a Social Skills Group is suggested. If you are neurotypical nobody will think in a million years to give you information about social skills groups, but instead will tell you about things like the Saturday Bird Watch Hikers, the Quilting Class at JoAnn Fabrics and the Open Studio at the Pottery Shop – established groups or classes where participants share one of your interests.

At this point in history, because society views having autism and being autistic as the same thing, autistic people are assumed in need of fixing – as if having autism is the sum total of our existence. The opportunities people extend to us are based on this notion. No matter how old we get we are continually segregated into things like Art Therapy, Music Therapy and Social Skills Groups.

Some days it is down right impossible to get others to see I am more than my autism diagnosis. In reality I am an autistic person wanting to enjoy life and learn new things just like any other person. Sometimes I need support or a particular accommodation to make this a reality – not therapy.

BOOKS BY JUDY ENDOW

Endow, J. (2019).  Autistically Thriving: Reading Comprehension, Conversational Engagement, and Living a Self-Determined Life Based on Autistic Neurology. Lancaster, PA: Judy Endow.

Endow, J. (2012). Learning the Hidden Curriculum: The Odyssey of One Autistic Adult. Shawnee Mission, KS: AAPC Publishing.

Endow, J. (2006).  Making Lemonade: Hints for Autism’s Helpers. Cambridge, WI: CBR Press.

Endow, J. (2013).  Painted Words: Aspects of Autism Translated. Cambridge, WI: CBR Press.

Endow, J. (2009).  Paper Words: Discovering and Living With My Autism. Shawnee Mission, KS: AAPC Publishing.

Endow, J. (2009).  Outsmarting Explosive Behavior: A Visual System of Support and Intervention for Individuals With Autism Spectrum Disorders. Shawnee Mission, KS: AAPC Publishing.

Endow, J. (2010).  Practical Solutions for Stabilizing Students With Classic Autism to Be Ready to Learn: Getting to Go. Shawnee Mission, KS: AAPC Publishing.

Myles, B. S., Endow, J., & Mayfield, M. (2013).  The Hidden Curriculum of Getting and Keeping a Job: Navigating the Social Landscape of Employment. Shawnee Mission, KS: AAPC Publishing.

Originally written for and published by Ollibean

The Scarlet A: Why I Don’t Want My ID to Broadcast My Autism

January 21, 2014Activism/Advocacy, Autism and Agingadmin

A few days ago I read the article Law Allowing Autism to be Listed on IDs Moves Through Legislature. The original story being referenced is from NBC News (story24473883 ©2013 Law Allowing Autism to Be Listed On IDs Moves Through Legislature may be available in archives).

There are good reasons why many autistic people do not want to be publically identified, such as having it stated on an ID card/driver’s license, as having an autism spectrum disorder. Even though autism awareness campaigns of recent years have produced a society that is now pretty much aware of autism that awareness often includes misconceptions and stereotypes of what an autistic person is actually like in everyday life.

Here are some everyday misconceptions and stereotypes from my own life in recent months:

“Oh, don’t worry! You cannot have autism because you talk.”

“Autistic people can be sweet on the surface, but are prone to violence at the drop of a hat. They can switch from docile to killers in an instant.”

“Everybody knows autistic people are antisocial….no good ever comes of being antisocial.”

“People with autism rock, wear hoodies and hurt themselves. I just stay away from them…don’t want them striking out at me just because I get in their way.”

“Either they are smart likeTemple Grandin or a killer like Adam Lanza.”

Misconceptions about who I am as an autistic person abound. I do not always choose to disclose my autism when in public because when I have done so it has not served me well. It seems John Q. Public is indeed aware of autism, but that awareness doesn’t include many useful facts. Thus, public perception of autism is largely based on what is picked up in the news, from TV shows and from other, mostly uninformed, people.

When people are aware of something such as autism it seems they start soaking up tidbits of autism related information as if they have feelers out for this information. I think it is similar to the phenomenon that once you purchase a new car you start noticing all the other cars of that make, model and color as you drive around town. Once you are aware of autism you notice when others are talking about anything related to autism.

The problem with where we are at this period in history is that nearly everyone in our society is aware of autism. Their feelers are out and they pick up various sorts of information to inform themselves. Some of that information is merely another person’s misinformed opinion. Sometimes it is the misperception of news stories that link crimes with a person’s autism. Other times society is lured into thinking an autistic person is like a sitcom character such as Sheldon in Big Bang Theory or Max in Parenthood.

Additionally, there seems to be a high degree of invented knowledge. This happens when a person has autism awareness and adds in the neighbors ideas, the news media stories and maybe the information from the friend whose sister’s next door neighbor’s babysitter said….and then John Q. Public adds this sort of information in the hopper of his own sketchy understanding. Together, his sketchy awareness of autism along with his newly heard autism tidbits serve to invent for him his own explanation about people with autism.

This is how the general public comes to their understanding of who I am as an autistic person. Their understanding causes them to believe things about me that are not true. And based upon their beliefs – often, erroneous beliefs – they treat me in a way that makes logical sense to them in the moment. What makes logical sense to a police officer, a fire fighter, an airline attendant, a grocery store check out person, a teller at the bank, a cashier at a department store – or any other place where an ID is requested is typically based on a mix of truth and fiction about autism in general. If my ID is marked in a way to broadcast that I have autism I will be treated in accordance with that person’s current working bag of awareness, hearsay and assumptions about autism. Some will have real knowledge, but most people at this point in time have very little real knowledge about autism – only the socially accepted awareness enhanced by news reports linking autism to various crimes.

I do not choose to disclose my autism in most of the situations stated above. The times in my life when I am out and about in the public and do choose to disclose I have occasionally been pleasantly surprised by the understanding and accommodations offered by others. But more often I have been unpleasantly surprised by the assumptions made about me. I know only too well the consequences reigned down on me when John Q. Public is aware of autism. Sometimes it means a person will raise his voice volume thinking that somehow I, an autistic person, will understand him better if he speaks to me more loudly. Other times it means mall security is called because it is assumed my behavior will become violent after a friend discloses I am autistic as an explanation for the uncoordinated movements and loud voice that happen to me when I am in sensory overload.

Because at this point in history society is well aware of autism, but very short on understanding autism in a way that leads to acceptance I am not willing to have my ID card state to all who see it that I am autistic. While in rare instances it may be helpful, in many more instances it places a target on my back – one that might as well say “shoot me.” This is very real to me and to many autistics. It is why we do not want to have our IDs stamped with something that can be likened to wearing a scarlet letter – a scarlet A for autism. It simply is not safe in a world where awareness of autism is the status quo.

I ALREADY AM A HUMAN BEING

November 2, 2013Activism/Advocacy, Autism and Aging, Autistic "Behavior", Social Considerationsadmin

Written in English: I ALREADY AM A HUMAN BEING
http://www.judyendow.com/advocacy/i-already-am-a-human-being/ ‎

French Translation: JE SUIS DÉJÀ UN ÊTRE HUMAIN
http://www.judyendow.com/french-blogs/je-suis-deja-un-etre-humain/‎

I do not know if you have ever thought of it this way, but it is a step up that today autistics have the opportunity extended to prove themselves human.

As bad as that is and wrong in ever so many ways it is a step up from 50 years ago when I was a kid and we were not even given any chances to try to convince anybody of our worthiness as a human being much less our intelligence. It is all so wrong and such a slow moving shift it is sometimes difficult to remain positive.

This past week I read two news articles on the same day that made me wonder if anything at all is changing in the attitudes of the general public in terms of knowing and accepting autistics for the human beings we are – YES, AUTISTICS ARE HUMAN BEINGS. Even when we do things differently based on our different neurology WE ARE FULL-FLEDGED HUMAN BEINGS. We do NOT need to first be made to act neurotypical before you grant us the status of HUMAN BEING because WE ALREADY ARE HUMAN BEINGS. I get so weary of reading sentences embedded in autism related news articles that seem to be based on an assumption that we are not truly human, but perhaps can be made into a human being by being forced to behave like a neurotypical person. Here are a few examples:

EXAMPLE 1: This study “examined the relationship between loneliness, friendships and well-being in 108 adults with autism aged 18 to 62 years. The study found that people with autism who have a group of good friends are less likely to feel lonely, depressed and anxious than those without many close friends.”

MY COMMENT: If the presumption is that autistic people are human beings why do we need a study to show that autistic people, just like human beings, feel less lonely, depressed and anxious when they have friends?

EXAMPLE 2: “A diagnosis of autism does not eradicate the essential desire in people to need intimacy. The desire is present, even if the means to achieve the desire – such as confident eye contact, an appropriate smile, looking and not staring – requires intervention by sources that understand autism. The main problem reported for the current lack of tools to help autistic people romantically is funds.”

MY COMMENT: Autistics have human desires because WE ARE HUMAN BEINGS. The means to achieve intimacy (or to achieve anything at all connected with our own quality of life enhancement) does not depend on funds to create programs with interventions that force us to act neurotypical.

It is burdensome to have to continually try to convince so many people that AUTISTICS ARE TRUE HUMAN BEINGS. I so much appreciate my autistic friends and allies especially on the days I feel down about the way I am perceived as not quite a real human being. This is why we so much need each other – so we can take turns holding the space for one another when it seems personally hopeless. And onward we go living our lives to the best of our abilities sometimes taking the tickets others extend to us to be part of their world.

And when people don’t willing give me a ticket to participate in the human race – well I hate to say this, but I have learned how to sometimes steal tickets and force my way in at times. I hate stealing, but sometimes it is better than being denied access. The devil part of me wants autistics to go to stealing tickets classes rather than social skills groups. It would be great to learn to take our place in the world being who we are rather than being made to act the part of who we are not as the only way to be allowed access to membership in the human race.

Inclusion is great when it happens, but it puts me in the position of being dependent upon your benevolence to extend it to me. Even though inclusion is meant to be a good thing, and it often is, inclusion also practically turns out to mean that you get to decide when, where, if and for how long I will be given the ticket to be part of humanity.

I am near retirement age and tired of needing to continually wait for society to bestow my own humanity upon me and to act as if that is really theirs to extend to me when in fact it is not! Because you see, regardless of what you believe or how you act – I ALREADY AM A HUMAN BEING.

REFERENCED LINKS

http://sfari.org/news-and-opinion/blog/2013/adult-focus

https://www.autismdailynewscast.com/romance-and-autism-dating-is-more-than-possible-for-people-with-asd/

BOOKS BY JUDY ENDOW

Endow, J. (2019).  Autistically Thriving: Reading Comprehension, Conversational Engagement, and Living a Self-Determined Life Based on Autistic Neurology. Lancaster, PA: Judy Endow.

Endow, J. (2012). Learning the Hidden Curriculum: The Odyssey of One Autistic Adult. Shawnee Mission, KS: AAPC Publishing.

Endow, J. (2006).  Making Lemonade: Hints for Autism’s Helpers. Cambridge, WI: CBR Press.

Endow, J. (2013).  Painted Words: Aspects of Autism Translated. Cambridge, WI: CBR Press.

Endow, J. (2009).  Paper Words: Discovering and Living With My Autism. Shawnee Mission, KS: AAPC Publishing.

Endow, J. (2009).  Outsmarting Explosive Behavior: A Visual System of Support and Intervention for Individuals With Autism Spectrum Disorders. Shawnee Mission, KS: AAPC Publishing.

Endow, J. (2010).  Practical Solutions for Stabilizing Students With Classic Autism to Be Ready to Learn: Getting to Go. Shawnee Mission, KS: AAPC Publishing.

Myles, B. S., Endow, J., & Mayfield, M. (2013).  The Hidden Curriculum of Getting and Keeping a Job: Navigating the Social Landscape of Employment. Shawnee Mission, KS: AAPC Publishing.

Originally written for and published by Ollibean