Good morning, everyone. Got my cup of coffee in hand, ready to greet the day. @lisalucier , I was so excited about this new beginning, I could not go to sleep last night. It took forever for me to fall asleep.

One of the things that kept bothering me was the fact that I made a mistake in the counting of years when I was first introduced to the concept of a Spectrum. Prior to that time the only images I had in my head of Autism was in my Psychology textbooks. Pictures of children all by themselves, sometimes tied to a radiator.

So it was a couple of years shy of that 25 years ago when I discovered that there are as many versions of Autism as there are Autistic people.

When you've seen one Autistic person,...you've done just that. Seen one Autistic person. We all are not geniuses. We all don't excel at computers or math. But many do. We all are not verbal, but we all communicate.

Some very famous people have come out and told the world they are on the Spectrum. This is very helpful to everyone. It "normalizes" a particular wiring of the brain that we all on the Spectrum have. We tend to think outside the box, appreciate small details, have the ability to focus at great lengths on our own special interests, and often are considered "sensitive to the Neurotypical world. In all my studies, in all my experiences, that last statement resounds quite clearly in my head

We are going to meet a lot of very interesting people here. Parents of children on the Spectrum, Grandparents, Educators in Autism Units and in Inclusive Classrooms, Speech Therapists, Occupational Therapists, Service Dog Trainers, School System Psychologists, and Autism Advocates.

That Mayo Clinic Connect would be interested in providing a place for all these different people to interact comes as no surprise. Mayo Clinic is on the cutting edge, as always, in the advancement of health and well being. There is no other place I would rather be than right here.

Thank you, Mayo Clinic Connect. Thank you @colleenyoung, @gingerw, and @lisalucier, for all your support and your vision. Working together, as always, we are better together.

Love and light,
Mamacita