Rooted Beginnings, LLC

04/11/2026

I am proud to be on this list! I will be facilitating a support group through PDA North America - Pathological Demand Avoidance for parents starting May 2026.

04/09/2026

Hey friends! 👋
I’m heading to Autism Action Day in Albany and I’ve got a table reserved — I’d love for you to join me! It’s a great chance to connect, share your voice, and support advocacy for autistic individuals and families.
If you think you can make it, please let me know so I can save you a spot at the table.

Can’t wait to see you there!

📅 Mark Your Calendar!

Join me this April at the State Capitol for two events focused on advocacy, awareness, and action:

🔹 Autism Action Day
🗓 Wednesday, April 22, 2026

🔹 Legislative Disabilities Awareness Day (46th Annual)
🗓 Wednesday, April 29, 2026

These events bring together advocates, families, and leaders to highlight priorities for people with disabilities and continue pushing for a more inclusive and accessible New York.

I hope you’ll join us. More details to come!

04/04/2026

Informed Consent Youth Training

Calling all middle & high school students with a disability!

Before you say yes to any service or program, you have the right to know what it is, why it matters, and how it can help you. This session will explain what “informed consent” means and how it helps you make good choices—especially in Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) and planning for your future.

REGISTER HERE: https://tinyurl.com/y4ktsddb

Choose one session to attend:
Wednesday, April 22, 2026 | 6:00 p.m. EST (Eastern Standard Time)
Tuesday, May 12, 2026 | 6:00 p.m. EST (Eastern Standard Time)

Presented by PEATC in partnership with DARS

04/04/2026

Today we remember Teighlor McGee who passed away on April 3rd, 2022. We think of her legacy, from founding the Black Disability Collective to how she consistently lifted the voices of self-advocates of color. Our Teighlor McGee Grassroots Mini Grants program is named in their honor.

04/03/2026

Happening today!

Registration is limited! Come celebrate with us on Friday! We have limited magnets and posters for families! The neurodiversity strength flag will be flown at many OPWDD buildings throughout this month. And, for the first time ever tomorrow, on April 2, 2026, World Autism Day, the colors of the Neurodiversity Strength Flag will be lit up on 16 New York State landmarks.

1WTC
Governor Mario M. Cuomo Bridge
Kosciuszko Bridge
The H. Carl McCall SUNY Building
State Education Building
Alfred E. Smith State Office Building
Empire State Plaza
State Fairgrounds – Main Gate & Expo Center
Niagara Falls
The “Franklin D. Roosevelt” Mid-Hudson Bridge
Grand Central Terminal - Pershing Square Viaduct
Albany International Airport Gateway
MTA LIRR - East End Gateway at Penn Station
Fairport Lift Bridge over the Erie Canal
Moynihan Train Hall
Roosevelt Island Lighthouse

04/03/2026

April is Autism Acceptance Month.

And every year, the same thing happens.

National campaigns.
Statewide initiatives.
And yes—local organizations, including small, community-based ones—flood social media with messages about “inclusion,” “celebration,” and “support.”

But we need to tell the truth about what many autistic people are actually experiencing.

Inclusion is not a slogan.
It is not a marketing campaign.
And it is not something you post about once a year.

If your programs are segregated…
If autistic people are placed in separate classrooms, separate spaces, separate systems…
that is not inclusion.

If autistic people are not in leadership…
not in decision-making roles…
not shaping the very services that affect our lives…
that is not inclusion.

And this is not just happening at the national level.
It is happening at the state level.
It is happening in local organizations.
It is happening in small, community-based programs that claim to “know” us.

The impact of this is not neutral.

It is harmful.
It is dehumanizing.
And yes—it is a form of violence.

Because when autistic people are excluded from decisions about our own lives,
when we are spoken for instead of listened to,
when systems are built around compliance instead of autonomy—

it causes real damage.

It teaches us that our voices do not matter.
It strips away agency.
It increases isolation.
It contributes to burnout, trauma, and mental health struggles.
It reinforces the idea that we are problems to be managed instead of people to be understood.

And something else needs to be said clearly:

Being a parent of an autistic child does not make you an expert on the autistic experience.

It gives you proximity.
It gives you perspective.
It gives you a role that matters deeply.

But it does not give you the internal, lived experience of being autistic.

And too often, parents are positioned as the primary voices, the decision-makers, the “experts”—while autistic people themselves are left out of the conversation.

That imbalance matters.
Because you cannot speak for an experience you do not live.

Autistic people are not here to be pitied.
We are not here to be fixed.
We are not here to be spoken for.

We are here.
We are capable.
And we deserve to be at the table—every table—where decisions about our lives are being made.

If your version of “acceptance” does not include autistic leadership, autistic autonomy, and autistic voices—

Then it is not acceptance.

It is branding.

If this resonates with you, you can support autistic voices by liking, sharing, and engaging with this post—so more people start asking these questions, too

04/02/2026

🌱💚🌱

04/02/2026

🌱💚🌱

04/01/2026

April is Autism Acceptance Month—and if you’re thinking about donating $$$$$$, this matters.

Every year, large organizations like Autism Speaks and places like Summit raise significant amounts of money in the name of autistic people and our families. But very little public conversation happens around where that money actually goes—or who gets to decide.

Here’s what often gets left out:
These organizations do not have autistic people in real positions of power. Not in leadership. Not on boards. Not in decision-making roles that shape priorities, funding, or messaging.
And just as important—they often center their messaging on the hardest, most vulnerable moments of autistic lives to drive donations.

Autistic people are not marketing tools.

Our struggles are not fundraising strategies.

Our humanity is not something to be reduced to before-and-after stories for profit.

So we have to ask—how can organizations claim to support a community that isn’t meaningfully represented at the table?

Awareness without representation isn’t advocacy.

Funding without accountability isn’t support.

If you’re someone who genuinely wants to make a difference this April, there are better options—organizations that are led by autistic people and accountable to autistic people:

Non-Profits to donate to:
• Autistic Women & Nonbinary Network (AWN)
• Autistic Self Advocacy Network (ASAN)
• Autistic Adults NYC (serves our region—I’m a member)
• Global and Regional Autism Spectrum Partnership (GRASP)

You can also:
• Pay autistic educators, speakers, professionals and advocates directly
• Contribute to mutual aid within the disability community
• Invest in small, community-based, neuroaffirming programs (like mine!)
• Listen to autistic voices—especially the ones that challenge systems

This isn’t about guilt. It’s about being informed and intentional.

Because real support doesn’t speak for autistic people.

It stands with us—and follows our lead.

This April—and beyond—choose autistic-led.

Choose accountability.

Choose us.

Pic of me. An Autistic person looking happy in this picture because I was told I have a nice smile and I should smile more. Autism is an invisible experience for lots of us. And it's a dangerous one.

Did you know that Autistic people are up to seven times more likely to die by su***de than non-autistic people.

Su***de Attempts: Studies estimate that 15% to 35% of autistic adults have attempted su***de, and up to 66% have considered it.

Excess Deaths: A 2024 meta-analysis estimated that in 2021, 1.8% of all global su***de deaths were among autistic individuals, with a risk 2.85 times higher than non-autistic individuals.

Higher Risk Groups: Autistic people without intellectual disabilities (formerly often referred to as Asperger's) are at the highest risk, with some studies indicating they are over nine times more likely to die by su***de.

While su***de mortality and ideation are similar between males and females, autistic females are at a higher risk of su***de attempts and self-harm.