The March 7 AASCEND Job Club will focus on employment in theater arts, and the representation of autism in theater. The meeting will feature Pear Theater’s executive artistic director Sinjin Jones, who will talk about the logistics and decisions involved in the upcoming production of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime. This Tony-award-winning play is based on the novel of the same name by Mark Haddon. The play’s principal character is autistic.

This is a general discussion and no specific jobs will be offered. However, if you are interested in how to become involved in theater work, or if you are already involved in such work, then be sure be attend! As always, attendees on the spectrum will offer their experience and perspectives throughout the program.

Who: Adults on the autism spectrum, families, mentors and professionals all welcome. For more information, please contact: info@aascend.org
When: Sat Mar 7, 10am – noon
Where: The Arc of SF 1500 Howard St. @ 11th St. SF, CA 94103 map

Parking is usually available in the garage at 255 12th Street, with a reasonable flat rate for Saturdays. There is also metered street parking for $2.25/hr.

                            [Be sure to check out the news at the bottom…]

Slides from Lawrence Fung’s February 8 Job Club presentation.

On Saturday, March 14, the Stanford Neurodiversity Project will be holding a Job Fair with Bay Area employers who are specifically interested in hiring adults with autism.  At AASCEND‘s February 8 Job Club Dr. Lawrence Fung, the Project director, will provide an overview of the Job Fair, and work with Job Club attendees to prepare their presentations to employers. Employed autistic people will discuss their current jobs and how they envision their jobs and careers in the future. The Stanford Conference and Job Fair are FREE and, space allowing, open to all with relevant interest. Please see details and a link to the registration below. Don’t miss this remarkable opportunity!

Conference Information and Eventbrite Registration

For the Feb 8 Job Club:
Who: Adults on the autism spectrum, families, mentors and professionals all welcome. For more information, please contact: info@aascend.org
When: Sat Feb 8, 10am – noon
Where: The Arc of SF 1500 Howard St. @ 11th St. SF, CA 94103 map

Parking is usually available in the garage at 255 12th Street, with a reasonable flat rate for Saturdays. There is also metered street parking for $2.25/hr.

News at the bottom:

AASCEND received a request for participants in a research study about Societal Attitudes About Disability. It looks legit, pays a bit, and you might want to participate.

And for your interest:
Here’s a San Francisco Meetup group to Enhance Your Social Intelligence
and a Scientific American article on A Solution for Loneliness

At the March 2 Job Club,  AASCEND  hosts Patrick Regan, Director of Business Development with Toolworks , a San Francisco-based non-profit agency dedicated to helping  all people with disabilities connect with the opportunities in their community. Mr. Regan is an experienced professional in workforce development who began working in the field at a nonprofit social enterprise called Community Vocational Enterprises (CVE) in 1999. CVE focused on job training and placement for people with mental health disabilities.

In 2008, Mr. Regan and CVE started working closely with the San Francisco Office of Economic and Workforce Development (OEWD) through the Disability Program Navigator grant. In 2013 Patrick joined Toolworks and continues to work with OEWD and the Comprehensive and Neighborhood Access Points as well as working closely with the California Department of Rehabilitation.

Patrick has also participated in many community collaborative groups such as the San Francisco Mayors Committee on Employment of Persons with Disabilities, the JOBS Group, the Mental Health Contractors Association, and as both Secretary and Treasurer for the San Francisco Mental Health Association.

Come with your questions for this experienced presenter! As always, attendees on the spectrum will offer their experience and perspectives throughout the program.

Special thanks to the Autism Studies Department at SFSU for volunteers!

Who: Adults on the autism spectrum, families, mentors and professionals all welcome. For more information, please contact: info@aascend.org
When: Sat Mar 2, 10am – 1pm
Where: The Arc of SF 1500 Howard St. @ 11th St. SF, CA 94103 map

For more information about employment on the autism spectrum, join us at:
Spectrum Employment Community by AASCEND on LinkedIn

Parking is usually available in the garage at 255 12th Street, with a reasonable flat rate for Saturdays. There is also metered street parking for $2.25/hr.

…the joys, challenges—and resources. Join AASCEND members for a fascinating panel of autistic and NT adults. An autistic-NT couple discuss  their  experiences raising their autistic child. An autistic adult presents the challenges of caring for an aging parent. An autistic parent will discuss caring for NT children. Resources provided.

As always, attendees on the spectrum will offer their experience and perspectives throughout the program.

Who: Adults on the autism spectrum, families, mentors and professionals all welcome. For more information, please contact: info@aascend.org
When: Sat Feb 16, 10am – noon
Where: The Arc of SF 1500 Howard St. @ 11th St. SF, CA 94103 map

Parking is usually available in the garage at 255 12th Street, with a reasonable flat rate for Saturdays. There is also metered street parking for $2.25/hr.

Next up for AASCEND is the December 8 Holiday Potluck Party! (preceded by a brief Job Club downstairs for those who come early—details below). Come join our community for food, conversation, music and good cheer. There will be Entertainment, Music, Games, Santa D.J., did we mention food, and a low-sensory space available. It’s a potluck, so bring food to share if you can — but if you can’t, show up anyway!

Be there and in the square!

Way back at the March 17 AASCEND meeting board member Paul Nussbaum previewed his next outdoor challenge—conquering the Pacific Crest Trail, which extends from Mexico to Canada. Those who came heard how Paul planned to accomplish this inspiring demonstration of autistic ability, and how to participate. Four and a half gruelling trail months later, thanks to his effort and your support, Paul is back from this epic adventure and ready to tell all about the experience. Come to the November 17 meeting to hear the saga, and bring your questions about surviving in the grit and wilds on the spectrum!

ALSO at the meeting AASCEND members Anlor Davin and Greg Yates will be freshly back from the World Autism Organization conference in Houston, where they will have presented on meditation in autism. They bring news from the world of adult autism worldwide, and of meetings with AASCEND friends at the conference.
In addition, and time permitting, we will also look ahead to the coming year and brainstorm about future programs. Come with your inspirations and your willingness to pitch in!

Join us at the AASCEND Job Club on Saturday, November 3, for a discussion with Ranga Jayaraman, a prominent tech executive, who is now working full-time on increasing employment opportunities for adults on the autism spectrum, in tech and a range of other fields.

Ranga’s current passion is to empower neurodivergent individuals with the desire and ability to contribute, to find meaningful, rewarding, and sustained employment and to help organizations in their journey to embrace neurodiversity inclusion in their workplaces. In a past life, Ranga was an accomplished Senior Executive of digital transformation  (Stanford University, Nvidia, Hitachi), with expertise in providing innovative and cost effective solutions and services to enable and support business strategy and growth in the Higher Education and Information Technology industry. 

AASCEND‘s 10th (!) collaboration with the SF State University autism programs—the In the Spotlight conference on adult autism held October 20—was a great success! Speakers Charlene Tilton, star of the hit TV series Dallas and longtime president of Actors for Autism throughly charmed us with tales of helping young autistic actors find their way; and Tom Iland inspired with his fascinating experience of coming to life as an autistic person in the world of television..

Other highlights included the acceptance of a coveted AASCEND’s ENDS award by the cast and crew of the autism rom-com Keep the Change—via video from New York—and a beautiful and rocking musical performance by Rebirth Canal, fronted by spectrum lead Camille Mai singing in Portuguese, and Vietnamese. (Camille also designed our conference banner, above.)

Main room at the conference

The many breakout groups and panels composed of people both on and off the spectrum thoroughly explored the conference topic of autism and the media, giving the day a great sense of focus. Here is the program for the day, and the presentations.

Many worked behind the scenes to make the conference a success.

Thank you to all!

THE CONFERENCE IS SOLD OUT! See y’all there!

 Conference details HERE.      (Printable flyer here.)

          @AASCEND_SF  #autismmedia2018      

[ Aug 17 update: Paul on the PCT presses onward toward fire! Details HERE ]

Housing is a perennial problem for people on the autism spectrum. On August 18th AASCEND  hosts a presentation by Lindsay Johnson of The Kelsey, a  disability housing innovator now supported by a grant from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. 
The Kelsey is working to solve the disability housing crisis by building affordable and inclusive communities in the Bay Area.  Come learn about The Kelsey’s model and what they’ve learned to date. Give feedback on their approach and find out how to get involved.  Bring your questions and your housing experience! And as always, attendees on the spectrum will offer their experience and perspectives throughout the program.

Who: Adults on the autism spectrum, families, mentors and professionals all welcome. For more information, please contact: info@aascend.org
When: Sat Aug 18, 10am – noon
Where: The Arc of SF 1500 Howard St. @ 11th St. SF, CA 94103 map

Parking is usually available in the garage at 255 12th Street, with a reasonable flat rate for Saturdays. There is also metered street parking for $2.25/hr.