Category: Autism and developmental disabilities

This summer, my family was supposed to go to South Africa on vacation, a huge deal given that we’ve never been anywhere in Africa and that my son, Diego, who has autism, has long been obsessed with...Read More →

We were midway through our run the other day when Diego brought up one of his favorite topics: What, pray, was the plan for the day? I ran through a proposed sequence: “First we run, then take a shower,...Read More →

Autism, as defined in the DSM-5, involves “Persistent deficits in social communication and social interaction across multiple contexts.” My 26-year old autistic son, Diego, decidedly has immense difficulty...Read More →

One of the main reasons I decided to register my sons, Diego and Andres, for religious education class was that I thought the church would be a place where Diego would be wholeheartedly welcomed and...Read More →

I recently showed my 26-year-old son Diego an abstract painting with lots of red on it and asked him what it showed. Without a moment’s hesitation, he declared it a pizza. A decorative wall plate with...Read More →

Put Diego, who's 26 and autistic, in a new situation, and he’ll develop a routine in no time. When he was a child, changes in routine triggered epic tantrums. This began to get better when his amazing...Read More →

It used to be that the most adrenaline producing aspect of running with my son Diego, who has autism and an intellectual disability, was preventing him from getting run over. He had no idea how to cross...Read More →

I grew up in a comprehensively Catholic environment. It was not until I went to college that I first heard arguments in favor of abortion rights from supporters of such rights. It's unsettling to face...Read More →

Many years after 9/11, I read an article in The New York Times (Putting a Price of the Priceless: One Life, September 9, 2007) about how families of 9/11 victims were compensated. As I was reading it,...Read More →

My son Diego, who’s 26 and has autism, got braces on February 2, 2019. They came off on January 16, 2020. For 350 days straight, at least once or twice a day, I was meticulous with his oral hygiene. I...Read More →