The Voiceless Minority

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...

  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...

  Above is a woman with medium-length brown hair, glasses, pale skin, and a green shirt. The background of the photo is black. Today, I am writing to you from my living room with some exciting news to share. On April 6, 2025, I am scheduled to present at the inaugural US Autism Show in Oahu, Hawaii. The conference is hosted by Spire Autism & Da Vinci NCR Services LLC . The event aims to celebrate and support the Autism community in the USA, with its primary audience being the Autism community and clinicians. Neurodivergent Board Certified Behavior Analysts, like myself, will speak.   What inspired me to get involved in the event was recording an episode of Safe Space, the ABA Podcast with Daniel Zimmerman of Da Vinci NCR Services, LLC, about assent-based programming (to listen to the episode, click here ). Before recording, he told me about how they would host the US Autism Show in 2024; however, it was moved to April 2025 because they wanted to coincide the event with Au...

The National Autistic Society has released a guide to help raise awareness about menopause for people with autism. The guide explains menopause, how it affects people, the latest research, and tips on managing symptoms. One part of menopause is called perimenopause, which happens before menopause begins. During perimenopause, hormone levels change, leading to symptoms like irregular periods, hot flashes, mood swings, and trouble sleeping. It’s important to know that both perimenopause and polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) can cause irregular periods, but they are different. Perimenopause is a natural part of aging and comes with symptoms like hot flashes and night sweats. PCOS, on the other hand, is a hormonal condition that can cause extra body hair, acne, and problems with weight or fertility, which you don’t usually see with perimenopause. Understanding these differences is important because it affects how each condition is treated. As a woman with autism, I found the guide v...

  Love on the Spectrum U.S. won two Emmy Awards for outstanding casting and directing of a reality program. The docuseries highlights the dating experiences of individuals with autism, offering a rare look at their unique journeys. While some participants, like Abbey and David, find love, others leave without success or experience relationships that don’t last. So why are we still talking about this two months after the Emmys? Because the challenges faced by people with autism in areas like dating are often misunderstood or ignored. Love on the Spectrum U.S. not only shares the personal stories of its participants but also helps foster empathy and understanding, giving viewers a chance to see the importance of representation and inclusivity in media. Does my own dating journey mirror the experiences shown in Love on the Spectrum U.S. ? Not exactly. I was introduced to the concept of dating in junior high, and at the time, I had a very narrow view: meet someone, fall in love...

  Imagine that you are a photographer covering a story. You aren't the story's subject - your only purpose is to zoom in, adjust the settings, and click the button. The subject(s) of the photo are the story - they know what to expect and how to respond given the situation. However, you're not in the picture as the photographer - you're just observing. You aren't asked to be in the photo, let alone be involved in the story, outside of clicking the button. You see the final image, and you publish it online, and when people see it, they comment on the people within the photo and the event that occurred. That is what life is like from my perspective of being on the Autism spectrum - I am on the outside looking into neurotypical life.   Growing up, I didn't have many friends. In elementary school, I went to a Christian school. You would be incorrect if you think a Christian school is different from a public school in terms of how friendships are created. There w...

  Luke Jackson (pictured above) has been working with Disability Advice and Welfare Network (DAWN) and Suffolk Law Centre on the Autism Education Leavers Passport. On October 14 th , lawmakers in Canada approved an educational passport, thanks to a University of Winchester graduate. The passport is geared toward helping young neurodivergent people transition from education to work. The 25-year-old, who graduated with a degree in Computer Aided Design in 2023, contributed to the content and design of the 35-page booklet. Luke drew from his experiences as a job seeker and the skills he learned at university. “I enjoyed what I learned at Winchester and the one-to-one tutoring I received,” said Luke, a volunteer with DAWN, where he is a website administrator. The booklet comes in response to the findings from the Office of National Statistics, which showed that almost 80% of autistic adults are not working and that they are the least likely disabled group to be in any employ...

Times are crazy here at The Voiceless Minority. Over the last month and a half, we have had overwhelming support from both the disabled and the able-bodied community, and today, we continue that momentum.   Today is the beginning of a new era here at The Voiceless Minority. Today, we welcome our newest voice for the voiceless, Michelle Zeman. Michelle is an Autistic Board-Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA) living in Winter Springs, FL. She discovered the value of self-advocacy and activism through her career in behavior analysis and her time in Partners in Policymaking (PIP). She's a 2023 PIP Graduate, a FL SAND Fellow, and an advisor to FL SAND's MAGICAL self-advocacy group serving greater Orlando. Michelle is passionate about policy change in behavioral health services and disability training for all community workers. Below is Michelle’s first contribution to the blog. The content has not been altered. It has only been edited for clarity purposes. Thank you for joining the te...

  My inner theater kid is having a brain explosion. I just learned of a cool new theater project highlighting people on the Autism spectrum. I will link the article I read below and a video from South Florida news media highlighting an upcoming event the Autism Theater Project is putting together.   Before I get into my thoughts on how it is about time that theater and the arts regularly highlight persons with disabilities, let me tell you more about the Autism Theater Project (ATP). (See the links below for those who don’t want to read this blog part.)   The Autism Theater Project was started in 2020 by South Florida resident Gena Sims after a relative of a non-verbal student murdered the student she taught. To learn more about the project, you can visit their website at https://autismtheaterproject.org/   The work Ms. Sims is doing for the Autism community got me thinking: Why aren’t there more theater productions involving people with disabilities in t...

Your friendly neighborhood super advocate is back! Since I last posted a lot of things have happened in terms of disability related issues and content. This post is the first of several posts to come. They will discuss a wide variety of topics including dating and relationships as well as finances and the low expectations society still has for people with disabilities.  Today’s post will highlight a recent encounter that I had at Wal-Mart. The encounter reinforces the idea that there is still a narrow view of disability in society. Let me set the scene.   As I often do, I was shopping at my local Wal-Mart a couple weeks ago. Most of the time I go in to the store with my caregiver or I pick up the groceries I have preordered. On this day, I did not go in, instead I decided since I only had a few things to pick up I would have my caregiver run in for me. As most of you know, I currently live in Florida. The weather in Florida often fluctuates between warm and extremely hot ...