Autism Inclusion in the Entertainment Industry
I’m going out on a (potential) limb here to say I’ve noticed a worrisome new trend: hiring actors who self-identify as living with Asperger’s to play characters with more symptomatic autism. In other words, gorgeous/handsome, slim actors with high IQs are being cast...
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Audition Updates for Actors with Autism
Well, Samantha didn’t win the role of Laura on the ABC pilot, “Until the Wedding.” But I enjoyed a lovely birthday anyway—even though my cherished birthday wish did not come true. We haven’t heard back yet about the Target print ad. There’s no way to know if no news...
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EPIC Players Underground – A Celebration of Personal Narratives
EPIC Players Underground – A Celebration of Personal Narratives Tired of enduring misrepresentations and caricatures of people with autism on stage and screen? If so, you would have appreciated EPIC Players’ Underground performance at Gossip Bar. Both tender and...
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Auditions and Autism
Auditions and autism may seem like two words that are incompatible—an oxymoron even. But in the past two weeks my daughter Samantha (yes, an actress with autism) has gone on four audition. The first and most exciting audition was for the role of a young woman with...
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Deconstructing Valentine’s Day
In my earliest Valentine’s Day memories, I exchanged cards with all of my second-grade classmates. Never mind that we were all girls! In those days, it was possible to buy a booklet of inexpensive cards with perforated edges at Lamston’s (long out of business). I...
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Autism and Helicopter Parenting
As an autism parent of a grown daughter on the spectrum, I read with great interest Pamela Druckerman’s New York Times op-ed piece, “Helicopter Parenting Works,” (2/8/19). Druckerman says that “in our unequal era, this kind of parenting brings life changing...
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Off the Wall
I am an exhausted autism mom who is so tired of hearing the word “wall” that I’m ready to scream. How did Americans allow a wall to become inextricably tied to loss of jobs and income (not to mention aviation safety and national security)? How did we arrive at a time...
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Autism Sabbaticals for Exhausted Parents
For the past two weeks, I’ve had writer’s block (blogger’s block?); the light bulb in my head seemed burned out—temporarily at least. Starting each day by reading endlessly depressing newspaper headlines (including the longest government shutdown in history for the...
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An Autism Mom’s 20 New Year’s Resolutions
Everyone has New Year’s resolutions, but autism moms must be especially persistent and may need to work harder than neurotypical parents to maintain a sense of humor. Seeing success in the face of failure can be different for parents of adult kids on the spectrum....
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EPIC Players 2018 Season Ends on a High Note
EPIC Players finished their 2018 season with two moving performances of The New Girl in Town, a devised play written and conceived by EPIC cast members about the challenges of inclusion in the arts. The New Girl (Cat Cristofano), an aspiring actor with disabilities...
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About Marguerite
Marguerite Elisofon is a New York City writer and the author of My Picture Perfect Family, a memoir about how her family navigated life with a child on the autistic spectrum before the internet and support groups existed. She also blogs about parenting young adults and disability related issues in The Never Empty Nest. Her writing has been featured in a variety of publications, including Time and NY Metro Parents magazine, and her family’s story has been featured by the NY Post, Fox News, The Daily Mail, and on Jenny McCarthy’s Dirty Sexy Funny radio show. A Vassar graduate, Marguerite was born and raised in New York City, where she still lives with her husband, Howard, in their mostly-empty nest. She is available to speak about a wide variety of issues relating to twins, parenting, and autism. 