The Voiceless Minority

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...

  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...