2017 World Autism Awareness Day
After standing on a chaotic line in monsoon-like rain for 45 minutes, I was relieved to clear security and enter the warm, dry interior of the United Nations for the March 31st World Autism Awareness Day. The last time I attended World Autism Awareness Day two years...
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Why We Need to See More Actors With Disabilities
Hollywood has a long and controversial history of actors and actresses portraying characters from different ethnic backgrounds and with different sexual orientations than their own. An extreme example would be Laurence Olivier playing Othello in blackface. And while...
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Autism: Good News/Bad News from the Supreme Court
When it comes to support services for people with autism—an exponentially growing population of 1 in 68 births—finding good news is like digging for buried treasure. However, this week we struck gold. The Supreme Court unanimously overturned Supreme Court nominee Neil...
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Casting Call for Actors with Autism
Last week we learned that Keep the Change would be in the Tribeca Film Festival, and this week my daughter Samantha was invited to a casting call for actors with autism! We had barely caught our breath from what Samantha calls our “happy dance.” There was no time to...
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Granting an Autism Mom’s Birthday Wish
Could fate deliver one of my heart’s greatest desires in time for my birthday next week? That was the subject of a whimsical blog which I had intended to post, but have now totally discarded. Why? Because one of my crazy, seemingly over-the-top ambitious wishes has...
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Autism Services Across the Life Span
In the spirit of never giving up, I went with my daughter this week to ACCES-VR, the government agency responsible for helping people with disabilities find employment. Samantha and I met with Stacy Genn, the same nice Vocational Rehab Counselor on the 5th floor of...
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Letter to President Trump from an Autism Parent
Dear President Trump, I’m writing on behalf of disabled Americans—roughly 20% of our total population—and also on behalf of my 26 year-old daughter on the spectrum. Mr. President, I want you to know that I go to sleep every night terrified of what might happen (or not...
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Saying No to Betsy DeVos
Although I’m desperately trying to STOP writing about our newly crowned dictator-in-chief, I MUST object vehemently to his choice of Betsy DeVos as Education Secretary. How could any parent of a child with special needs remain silent? I’m counting on our New York...
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Disabilities Website – MIA- Another Trump Atrocity
Disabilities Website –MIA—Another Trump Atrocity Q: What happened to the White House website with information on federal policies about people with disabilities? A: It was erased within moments of Trump’s inauguration. According to a Washington Post last week, the URL...
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Autism – Life Skills 101 For My Adult Daughter
Ever since my daughter Samantha graduated from Pace University in 2014, I’ve been trying to help her move toward independence by finding her life skills support and vocational training. After filling out mountains of paper work and meeting with well-meaning (but...
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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. 