Temple Grandin
Mary Temple Grandin (born August 29, 1947) is an American academic and animal behaviorist. She is a prominent proponent of the humane treatment of livestock for slaughter and the author of more than 60 scientific papers on animal behavior. Grandin is a consultant to the livestock industry, where she offers advice on animal behavior, and is also an autism spokesperson.
Grandin is one of the first autistic people to document the insights she gained from her personal experience of autism. She is a faculty member with Animal Sciences in the College of Agricultural Sciences at Colorado State University.
In 2010, Time 100, an annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world, named her in the “Heroes” category. She was the subject of the Emmy- and Golden Globe-winning biographical film Temple Grandin. Grandin has been an outspoken proponent of autism rights and neurodiversity movements.
Susan Magdalane Boyle
Susan Magdalane Boyle (born 1 April 1961) is a Scottish singer. She rose to fame in 2009 after appearing as a contestant on the third series of Britain’s Got Talent, singing “I Dreamed a Dream” from Les Misérables. As of 2021, Boyle has sold 25 million records. Her debut album, I Dreamed a Dream (2009), is one of the best-selling albums of the 21st century, having sold over 10 million copies worldwide, and it was the best-selling album internationally in 2009.In 2011, Boyle made UK music history by becoming the first female artist to achieve three successive albums debut at No.1 in less than two years.
Boyle’s debut studio album, I Dreamed a Dream, was released in November 2009; it became the UK’s best-selling debut album of all time, beating the previous record held by Spirit by Leona Lewis, and set a record for first-week sales by a debut album, according to the Official Charts Company. In her first year of fame, Boyle made £5 million (£7.1 million today) with the release of I Dreamed a Dream and its lead-off singles, “I Dreamed a Dream” and “Wild Horses”.The success continued with her second studio album, The Gift (2010), where she became only the third act ever (and the first woman artist) to top both the UK and US album charts with two different albums in the same year.It was followed by Boyle’s third studio album, Someone to Watch Over Me (2011).She subsequently released the studio albums Standing Ovation: The Greatest Songs from the Stage (2012),Home for Christmas (2013), Hope (2014), and A Wonderful World (2016).
On 13 May 2012, she performed at Windsor Castle for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Pageant singing “Mull of Kintyre”.On 23 July 2014, she performed “Mull of Kintyre” at the Opening Ceremony of the 2014 Commonwealth Games in front of the Queen. To date, Boyle has released eight albums, including two Christmas releases, The Gift and A Wonderful World. In 2019, Boyle celebrated ten years in show business, with a compilation album titled Ten and a tour.
Chris Bonnello
Chris Bonnello is an autistic advocate, speaker, writer, novelist and former teacher (in both mainstream and specialist education) based in Great Britain. Since 2015, he has become a national and international speaker on autism issues, and the multi-award-winning writer behind Autistic Not Weird. He is also the author of the Underdogsnovels, a near-future war series featuring autistic and otherwise neurodiverse heroes.
Bonnello was first assessed for autism in 1989, at the age of four. Despite a damning report into his deficiencies concerning speech, expressive language and social competence, he did not receive a diagnosis since he was not deemed severe enough by 1989 standards.
At the age of ten, an educational psychologist reported him as having a “slightly odd personality”. He grew up believing himself to be the weird kid, until his Asperger Syndrome diagnosis finally came at the age of 25. Since then, he has been able to turn his attitude around and define himself by his strengths rather than his weaknesses, and encourages other autistic people to see their own strengths.
Having qualified as a teacher and worked in both primary and special education, he left the profession and launched Autistic Not Weird in April 2015, to share his insights from both a personal and professional perspective. At time of writing (August 2023) autisticnotweird.com has had over three million page hits, and his Facebook community stands at over 170,000 followers.
He also has followings on LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube and Twitter. In July 2017, follower support on Patreon allowed him to quit his day job to write for Autistic Not Weird for a living.
Bonnello delivers talks (nationally and internationally), has been nominated for eight awards to date (winning four), has played chess internationally (winning nothing), can solve a Rubik’s cube in 12.009 seconds (although the 9x9x9 Rubik’s cube takes him 18 minutes), captained his local Boys’ Brigade company for 13 years, and has been a published author since 2016. He is a proud stepfather of two, and proud godfather of many. The first of his four Underdogs novels came out in May 2019, its second becoming joint runner-up in The Guardian’s 2020 Not the Booker Prize.
His personality remains slightly odd.
Carly Fleischmann
Carly Grace Fleischmann (born January 26, 1995) is a remarkable Canadian young lady who has defied all odds and inspired people worldwide. Although she was diagnosed with autism, oral-motor apraxia and cognitive delay as a child, her voice eventually came out, and she now successfully communicates through a computer. She currently takes advanced and gifted classes in mainstream education and her IQ has been confirmed to be over 130. She is an author, a songwriter and since 2016 she is also part of a talk show and has become a public speaker through her computer. Her memoir, Carly’s Voice, is in production with Simon & Schuster and is available online or at popular book retailers. She is also included on this list of Great Women of Our Time and is the winner of the 2019 Donna Williams Bravery Award. Read more about this truly remarkable and courageous lady on her Facebook page or her YouTube channel. Unfortunately her website is currently not active and seems to have been hacked, but you can still enjoy her Facebook page and her YouTube channel.
Update (September 2020): Unfortunately Carly’s Facebook page and YouTube channel have become inactive too, and we have been unable to find out how she is.
Dr. Stephen Shore
Stephen Mark Shore (born September 27, 1961) is an American autistic professor of special education at Adelphi University.He has written several books on autism: College for Students with Disabilities,Understanding Autism for Dummies, Ask and Tell, and Beyond the Wall. Currently, he serves on the board of Autism Speaks, and is one of the first two autistic board members in its history, looking to improve the potential of those on the autism spectrum. He once headed the Asperger’s Association of New England and was on the board of the Autism Society of America.
Shore lost language skills at age 2 and a half, then started getting them back at four years old. He has been described as having a special interest in music. He has discussed difficulties with completing assignments presented in formats that he wasn’t used to, leading him to transfer from a doctorate in music education to an ED.D. in Special Education with a focus on matching researched practice to individual profiles.
His book, Ask and Tell, describes ways that autistic people can advocate for their needs. His most popular two books, Beyond The Wall, and Ask and Tell were translated into Russian, Polish, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Arabic, Bengali and Vietnamese languages.
Autism Spectrum Social and Communication Skills Training in Europe
One in every 59 children born is diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) revealed that less than 10% of people with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) are employed. Those employed are often in low-wage jobs. Key barriers to their employment are lack of access to vocational training, communication difficulties, denial of reasonable accommodation and prejudices about autism. During a discussion on employment of autistic people at the European Parliament in 2019, the Director of Autism-Europe, Aurélie Baranger, emphasized that many strengths are associated with autism and that it is key to build on these individual strengths to foster successful employment. She described the possible types of employment and support methods, giving as good practice job coaching and hiring programmes in the field of new technology. 42% of autistic adults in employment say they require support, but only 12% receive any.
The ASES project will focus on the development of a training material and tools for SME management to increase workplace inclusion of adults with ASD. It will develop VET digital training resources to train employers and HR staff to recruit, mentor and empower staff with ASD throughout their employment cycle. The training resources will be designed to be used for distance learning and will embed gamification elements to facilitate learning process. Additionally, the training resources and curriculum will be pilot-tested over the course of 6 months, in the third year of project implementation. The pilot test will serve as an opportunity to see the effectiveness of project results and their short and long-term impact on: a) SMEs who to apply inclusive employment practices b) The performance and well-being of Individuals with ASD who will be employed by SMEs in the context of the Pilot test.
Autism Treatment Network (ATN)
The Autism Care Network is the first of its kind Learning Health Network for autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Made up of 20 academic institutions and children’s hospitals across the United States and Canada, the Network connects families, researchers and healthcare teams to continuously improve person- and family-centered autism care. By advancing research developments and clinical knowledge about ASD, the Network enables more personalized care and better quality of life for autistic people and their families.
TEACCH
A University-based system of community regional centers that offers a set of core services along with unique demonstration programs meeting the clinical, training, and research needs of autistic individuals, their families, and professionals across the state of North Carolina. TEACCH® Autism Program, founded by Dr. Eric Schopler in 1972, is a model for other programs around the world.
TEACCH Autism Program provides clinical services such as initial referral and consultation, diagnostic evaluations, family consultation sessions, parent support groups, social play and recreation groups, individual counseling for higher-functioning clients, and employment services.
In addition, the TEACCH Autism Program conducts training nationally and internationally and provides consultation for teachers, residential care providers, and other professionals from a variety of disciplines. Research activities include psychological, educational, and biomedical studies.
