The Voiceless Minority

Another week is beginning here at The Voiceless Minority. We hope you had a restful, enjoyable weekend. Now it’s back to the advocacy grindstone. Near the end of last week, we focused on several topics, including AI chatbots and their potential to assist people with autism. We also focused on an initiative put together by Wells Fargo Bank to change the way corporate America thinks about disability. Today, our focus is on something a little different. Last October, Disability Scoop shared an article that was first published in the Portland Press Herald. The article explored the notion that individuals under guardianship frequently lack access to legal counsel. The article defined guardianship for a person with a disability as the legal process that gives someone authority to make decisions for another person, often someone who has an intellectual or developmental disability. In most cases, it’s a parent seeking guardianship of a child once they reach adulthood, but there are many instan...

    Last October, Disability Scoop published an article in observance of Disability Employment Awareness Month, which takes place every October. The article focused on a new partnership between Wells Fargo Bank and the University of Connecticut. The program aims to increase training in corporate America and help employers better accommodate their neurodivergent employees. According to the article, there is a large portion of neurodivergent people in America who are either unemployed or underemployed. Indeed, Judy Reilly, the executive director of UConn's center for neurodiversity, said the partnership with Wells Fargo shows promise and is the first of its kind to focus specifically on neurodiversity. The article is brief, but I have attached it at the bottom of this post for those who are interested in reading the full version. However, it got me thinking. If a partnership like the one between Wells Fargo and UConn is possible for corporate America, isn't it time that si...

  In September 2024, GemmoAI and the University of Limmerick launched the MoveMuse chatbot—a tool designed to help adults with Autism become more physically active. Through the application, it utilizes a method called “WOOP” - Wish (what you want to do), Outcome (how you’ll feel), Obstacle (what might stop you), and Plan (how to overcome the problem).   When I read this article, I found it interesting because I’ve seen applications that use different methods for weight loss. However, I hadn’t quite seen an application like this - one that provides this level of encouragement or planning. Many applications I see offer general exercises and diets that may help with weight loss, but they don’t necessarily have something that works for me.   If you know me, you know that I hate exercise. When I was in college, I lost roughly 70 pounds; however, I was too caught up in the number on the scale. I had anxious thoughts about what I was eating, how much I ate, and how often I exer...

  I hope everyone is having a wonderful Wednesday, that you slept well, and are ready to tackle the day. Advocacy never stops, nor does a good writer. When I was thinking about today’s post, I originally wanted to cover another topic; however, something came into my inbox, and it was as if God and the universe were telling me to pay attention, because here was something special. On July 21 st , which happens to be the day after my 39 th birthday, PBS will premiere a documentary entitled “The Ride Ahead” about a young boy named Samuel Habib, who has a rare genetic disorder that challenges him daily. He uses a communication device as well as a wheelchair and other assistive technology. I first read about this documentary in an article written by Shaun Heasley. I do not know much about Samuel yet, but I am eagerly awaiting the documentary. The reason I’m writing about it today is twofold. I am not only interested in it from a journalistic perspective, but also from a personal one. As...

    I have been giving a voice to the “Voiceless Minority” for over 12 years. I have been blessed by both my loyal readers and by my amazing colleagues and friends. I have been able to use this platform not only to document my advocacy journey, but I have also been able to highlight fellow disability champions. Today, I would like to highlight 1 of those fellow champions. Gordon Hartman of Texas is a former home builder in San Antonio, Texas, who has a daughter with multiple disabilities. In 2010, he founded Morgan’s Wonderland, the first fully inclusive amusement park in the United States. I hope to visit the park sometime next year, not just as a journalist, but as a fellow member of the Voiceless Minority. The park is only one part of Morgan Enterprises. Since it opened in 2010, the organization has added a camp and other offerings. You may be asking yourself, Why is this news in 2025? The answer is quite simple. The next chapter in Morgan Enterprises is here. Morgan’s Hote...

  Happy Monday, everyone. We hope you enjoyed our post from Friday. Today, we will discuss a rather disturbing trend. Last October, Disability Sco T op published an article entitled How School Shooting Fears Led to A 10-Year-old Boy with Autism Being Handcuffed. Due to the publication's limited number of free views per month, I will summarize the article below before I comment on the issues it raises. In 2023, after saying to a teacher that he should bring a gun to school so that kids would listen to him, it would come out later that the student wasn't referring to using a firearm in the typical way. Instead, he wanted to ride it like a horse so that kids could laugh with him. While this does not make sense to most people, we must understand that people with Autism have a different way of thinking about things sometimes, and they may not understand the impact of their words. Especially given the context in which they say certain things. America has always been on edge, and righ...

  It is time to put virtual pen to paper once again. The Voiceless Minority has been silent for the last two months, and we apologize for that. As anyone who is an activist for any cause knows, advocacy never stops. We recognize that our silence over the last two months not only affects us personally, but also significantly impacts The Voiceless Minority as a whole. That being said, let’s transition into today’s post. On June 14th, Michelle Zeman, Samantha Lebron, and I gave a presentation at the 27th Annual Family Café, which told the story of the Voiceless Minority, at least, up until now. For those who are not aware, The Family Café is a Florida-based organization that has held the largest disability resource expo in the United States for the last 27 years. According to their website, The Family Café began in 1998 when a group of parents of children with disabilities recognized their shared challenge in finding the information, resources, and knowledge they required to facilitat...

The picture above is of Michelle Zeman. She is wearing glasses and a green blouse.  As you may or may not have heard by now, Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. recently shared some statements about people with autism in an April 14 press conference. The rhetoric that he is spreading is causing an uproar within the autism community.   If you're new here, RFK has made some… bold (for lack of a nicer word)... statements about autism. : They will never pay taxes, they'll never hold a job, they'll never play baseball, they'll never write a poem, they'll never go out on a date. Many of them will never use a toilet unassisted." Do his comments represent me? Not. However,…is this a reality for some people with autism? Absolutely. That being said, it does not mean that they should be treated like they are less than a neurotypical person.   Another statement that he made was that autism is a preventable disease." It doesn't take...

  Above is a picture of an empty plane cabin with gray seats.  I have written a lot about travel for this blog. I have written about cruises and concerts, but I have never written about travel. That is because, until recently, air travel has not been accessible to someone like me. I’m not saying that someone can’t transfer from a wheelchair into a seat on the plane; it would be complicated for me to do so in my current state. When I was younger, people could lift me and transfer me to a seat; however, as I've gotten older, this is no longer possible without the help of multiple people and a lift. Unfortunately, on a plane, the aisle seats are not wide enough for a lift, and even if they were, the lift would not be able to be stored underneath the plane with the rest of the baggage since most lifts are complex to disassemble. However, a new possibility has emerged that may make air travel fully accessible to all after all. A company headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, C...

  The person above is on a stage with their arms spread wide, standing in front of a microphone, looking out over a large audience.  Anyone who knows me knows I love to crack a good joke. Sometimes they’re clean, and sometimes they’re filthy, depending on my mood. I recently learned of an inclusive comedy show that caters to people with disabilities. In particular, this comedy show catered to people with Autism. By catered, I don’t mean it infantilized them; it treated them like the weird but awesome people they can be. My good friend Michelle Zeman, who also writes for this blog, has a form of Autism that causes her to interact differently socially sometimes, but it does not detract from her awesomeness. I think more people with disabilities need to engage in the world of stand-up comedy. I have performed twice, and it is not only fun and free but can also be used as an educational opportunity for those who don’t have disabilities. The inclusive comedy show I mentioned above ...

  The picture above shows a group of people sitting around a table. One of the people in the picture has a disability; she is sitting in a wheelchair.  On Monday, we posted an article about a quicker process to diagnose Autism. Today, we continue our series on Autism. This time, we're dealing with an article discussing new autism research. Last October, Disability Scoop published an article discussing the interesting finding that Autism may run in families. Without citing the entire article, I will outline the basics. The primary conclusion of this study, discussed in the article, was that children who have older siblings with Autism are 20.2% more likely to develop Autism themselves by the age of three. If they have multiple siblings on the spectrum, their risk increases to 37%. The study that drew these conclusions examined over 1,600 children from Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom for two and a half years, starting at 6 months and continuing up to three ...

On April 6, 2025, the U.S. Autism Show occurred in Honolulu, Hawaii. Speakers Michelle Zeman (L) and Martin Slyngstad (R) are standing with Daniel Zimmerman (M) to show off the Proclamation that Slyngstad and Zimmerman received in honor of April being Autism Acceptance Month in Honolulu A couple of weeks ago, I shared that I would travel to Honolulu, Hawaii, to speak at the first U.S. Autism Show. Now that the event has wrapped, I wanted to reflect on the experience and share what that was like.   I was honored to be one of only eight presenters at this event. Standing at the podium and sharing my story was profoundly personal and empowering. It was a chance to speak openly about my journey – through diagnosis, therapy, professional growth, and advocacy – and connect with others through shared experiences.   If you couldn't attend the talk, I shared my journey through several key areas of my life. I started by talking about my experiences before receiving a diagnosis—what life...

  The picture above shows a little boy being examined by a doctor. The boy is pale and wears a striped shirt, blue shorts, and socks. The clinician is shown talking to the little boy.  In a world where artificial intelligence is more prevalent now than ever, it is crucial to understand the technology and its possible impact on the disability community. Most of us are familiar with applications such as Chat GPT. Chat GPT allows a user to provide a prompt and then has artificial intelligence write a document based on the prompt for those unfamiliar. Numerous other applications are similar to Chat GPT, and AI is slowly taking over the world. Soon, we will live in the Matrix, but not all AI will necessarily be bad. In an article published by Disability Scoop last August, which I will link below, a new and exciting use for AI was discussed. Researchers at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden have developed an app that has the potential to diagnose Autism early in childhood. The model...