Inclusion and more

There are many myths that surround autism but I decided to highlight a few to give people an overview on what it's like to have autism myself.  Myth: When I interact with people, I mean to put them in the spotlight and make them feel awkward No that is not accurate. Interaction is pivotal in everyone's growth. When I interact with people at work, home or in my personal life, I don't mean to make them feel uncomfortable.  I interact with people to show I care about them.   When people interact with me, they realize I am a genuine and caring person. As with any disability,  it takes people a while to acclimate with people who have autism and as a result people often make assumptions about why I interacted with them and how the interaction was met to make them feel. Often times in some cases those assumptions can hurt me as a person and turn something into an awkward situation. Stop and think before you assume something. You wi...

As you might know, I work at Christ Lutheran School in Phoenix and when I started at the school my mom and I knew I needed a job coach so we reached out to the principal who paired me up with Jessica Hartigan. Jessica worked with me to help me understand the campus and  my schedule and has been there when I needed help. Jessica has been a complete godsend in the eyes of my mom and I as she's allowed me to text her questions late at night and when she's been on trips.   The #1 thing that made it so easy for Jessica and I to simply understand each other was the fact we are only a year apart age wise- she is 22 years old and I am 21 years old going on 22 on February 3.  Throughout our time working together at Christ Lutheran School, we discovered that we shared many similarities such as the fact that we both have family at Christ Lutheran School- her brother Ethan goes to school at CLS and is in 3rd grade and my cousins Will and Andrew Eaton and Charlie and Tommy Schmidt g...

People who have disabilities want to fit in- in society.  It is often awkward interacting with a person with a disability for the first time.  One simple way you can break the ice and make it less awkward is by simply saying "Hi" to someone with a disability. If a  a simple "hi" makes your day, imagine how it would the day of someone with a disability. Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple, the company that makes Ipads and laptop and desktop computers, recently filmed this video for the Cerebral Palsy foundation about their just "Say hi" campaign but I feel like it relates with all disabilities not just cerebral palsy.  Tim Cook, Apple CEO, encourages people to "say hi" to people with disabilities ! On the job at Christ Lutheran School and New Way Academy and in the community, it means the world to me when people say hi to me. The best part of teaching is when my students say hi to me. 

When it came time to graduate from Chaparral High School, my teachers and parents were nervous for what would come next year.  The teachers encouraged me to try out to speak during our graduation ceremony. When my teacher, Ms. McGovern told me the morning before graduation that I was chosen, I literally couldn't even believe what I heard. I gave a moving speech about how the Chaparral High School Class of 2014, teachers and administration team saw in me possibilities NOT disabilities. This is an accomplishment I still talk about to this day.  Chaparral High School student Lindsey Eaton addresses the Chaparral High School Class of 2014 during graduation Another important thing that my parents worried about as I prepared to walk across the stage at Chaparral HighSchool's graduation ceremony was employment.  My mom and I found out about a program called Project SEARCH which helps people with disabilities find jobs. I was selected as an intern at the Medtronic work ...

A year ago my parents Doug and Kelly Eaton bid on a trip to Miami, Florida to visit the Best Buddies International Headquarters office, attend the Best Buddies Miami Gala and stay at the Fontainebleau  hotel.  When the trip was finally ours, it took a year to make it a reality.  Best Buddies International staff members with Ambassador Lindsey Eaton Yesterday my dad and I toured the Best Buddies International Headquarters office. Staff member Rachel Lazarus toured us around the HQ Office and let us ask questions. I was personally quizzed numerous times on what I knew about Best Buddies and asked me if I knew certain staff members. I also often had the opportunity to share part of my personal story with the Best Buddies staff members. Below is part of  what I shared:  Before I found Best Buddies, I was often drawn to people who were older than me as they listened and understood what I was dealing with.  When I was a freshman in high scho...

Mrs. Liane Brinkman or Mrs. B-Man to her students, is one of the coolest teachers at Christ Lutheran School.  Her co-workers and students absolutely adore her. Mr. Jon Doyle, the schools principal for upper grades, often asks me how it went with Mrs. Brinkman in the mornings when I eat lunch at 12pm on Mondays and Wednesdays.  I tell him it went well and that Mrs. Brinkman is so cool and that I enjoy helping her out! Mrs. Liane Brinkman and I  I have only been helping out in Mrs. Brinkman's classroom for a few weeks but it's a highlight of my work week at the school as my job coach, my family and several CLS teachers know. In just the few weeks I have been in her class, I have been really touched by how much her students and their parents adore her and how fun it is. She reads them letters from Zero the Hero and a few weeks ago they were given CDs because their unit was about rock and roll music.  Mrs. Brinkman prides herself in giving everyone of her ...

As a person who has autism, I follow the following things to succeed on the job. 1.   I start the day on the right foot I arrive at Christ Lutheran School on time at 10:00am and check-in with Miss Hollie Bailey, who works at the front desk and serves as my contact person for the school. I check in and see how she's doing and if there are any office tasks. From 10:00am on, I follow the schedule my job coach made for me on my phone as that's okay at the school.  2. I say hi to the teachers, admin team and students (and occasionnally I see CLS parents who I know on campus) When I am walking around Christ Lutheran School's campus, I say hi to students, staff and the school's administration team. My family has  known many of the teachers for several years while many teachers are new. Several years ago, we hosted a CLS holiday (Christmas) party for the teachers at our old house so I've known some of the staff since then.   I often see CLS parents who I know on ...

When I was at Chaparral High School one year, one of my teachers noticed I looked different skin color wise during a club meeting. That saved my life. After school, my mom and I rushed off to get a chest X-ray  and soon after that my mom received a call from our pediatrician Dr. Campbell. She said that something was wrong with my lung and that I needed to be rushed to Phoenix Children's Hospital. We did just that and I was immediately hooked up to a chest tube.  Elan Meshkatai, Lindsey Eaton and Emma Kitnick at PCH Although I was in pain, I had many visitors who came to see me and made me smile. I also had nurses and doctors go gave me TLC. They made sure I was comfortable and that I was free of pain that came with the chest tubes. At the hospital, they had dogs that would come in and visit with the Child Life support team.  I was in the hospital until Thanksgiving and then I got out. The surgeon who treated me said I could have a re...

These days disABILITIES are more prominent than you know.  Autism is one of the most known disabilities. Followed by Down Syndrome and other disabilities. In many cases, people with disabilities are bullied, teased and ostracized at school. When a school fosters an inclusive environment for people with disabilities,  people with disabilities want to come to school and learn.   Below is a resource about DISABILITY AWARENESS People First Language is the ability to put the person before the disability. So you'd say He has autism or he is in a wheelchair .  Organizations like Best Buddies which I am a part of, are huge believers in PEOPLE FIRST LANGUAGE!  Click the link below to view a chart of PEOPLE FIRST LANGUAGE:  People First Language chart DISABILITY AWARENESS IDEAS School-wide assembly: Many public and private schools across the US host disability awareness assemblies. During assemblies, they have a person wit...

Yesterday over 100 student leaders and over 40 advisors attended Best Buddies AZ's Local Leadership Training Day at Marcos de Niza High School. Chapter officer teams from Arizona State University and Northern AZ University Best Buddies chapters attended to learned how to lead successful Best Buddies chapters. LLTD offered me the opportunity to connect with Chapter Presidents and Advisors who I knew.  Chapter President Stephen Granger introduced me to his team of officers who are in charge of Shadow Mountain High School's Best Buddies chapter.    During the training, Best Buddies Ambassadors and Buddy Directors wrote moving speeches about how Best Buddies changed their lives.  Then there was one person who wrote about a different topic. That one person was me. I wrote a new speech about why it's important for companies to hire people with disabilities and how my job at Christ Lutheran School has changed my life.  I had been wanting t...

Alexa and I during various BB ASU events last year Over the summer in Michigan, I was asked by a family member "What do you and your buddy Alexa Scudellari do together?" during a question and and answer session after I shared my LC speech at my grandparents house. I answered the question honestly and said that Alexa and I do fun activities that any friends would do such as going to the movies going to ASU Best Buddies events and BBAZ events.  In just a few weeks Alexa and I will be beginning our second year of friendship through ASU's Best Buddies chapter. We are excited for another year of fun events and meetings. We will both be officers within the ASU chapter of Best Buddies. She will be the Vice President while I will be the Social Media manager.  Being leaders will the two of us to form a strong friendship. We get to see each other during Local Leadership Training Day this Saturday and we are really excited to catch up about o...

Graduating from high school can be daunting for people with disabilities. I thought I'd share with you a few groups that offer transition programs for people with special needs:  Best Buddies offers programs in colleges, eBuddies and Citizens. Best Buddies pairs people with special needs in one-to-one friendships with their peers without disabilities.  To find out about Best Buddies go to  Best Buddies International's website  or  Best Buddies AZ's website   Project SEARCH is a one year school-to-work transition program for people with special needs. Project SEARCH aims to create total work immersion at work sites they partner with to host the program and interns. In Arizona, the program is active at the Four Points by Sheraton and Medtronic's Tempe Campus.  To learn more about  Project SEARCH check out their website by clicking here.  Scottsdale Training and Rehabilitation Services (STARS) ...

Over the weekend, Best Buddies Arizona partnered with the Arc of Tempe and the City of Tempe to host Camp EKS (Eunice Kennedy Shriver) at St. Joseph's Youth Camp in Mormon Lake, Arizona. A total of 43 participants from Best Buddies Arizona's programs attended. A majority of the participants came from the Arizona State University Best Buddies chapter.  Best Buddies Arizona participants at Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, AZ All of the participants were paired with a group leader. My group leader was Karly Pillsbury, Chapter President of Best Buddies at Higley High School.  Marie Lucas and Joselle Perez were in my cabin.  Throughout the weekend, I got to know Karly and Marie and Joselle really well.  We bonded during the activities, breakfast, lunch and dinner.  The meals were biscuits and gravy and sandwiches and lasagna, bread and salad and pizza and french toast.  Camp group leader Renee Melera brought her dog Brut...

I thought I'd  take a few minutes to share my thoughts about how EXCITED I am to have my new job at Christ Lutheran School start when I get back from Camp EKS with Best Buddies Arizona! While many people with special needs are unemployed, I am beginning my first job in a couple weeks at Christ Lutheran School!  Christ Lutheran School is part of the Schmidt and Eaton family tradition. Almost all of the cousins have gone there. My cousins Charlie and Tommy Schmidt and Will and Andrew EAton currently go to school at CLS.  It's special to me to know that I will get to see them at school and meet their friends and maybe see their parents from time to time.   As i enter the new chapter in my life, I remember what myself and all of the Buddy Ambassadors were taught recently at a BBAZ Ambassador training about Finding a Job I love and Keeping It which is to be myself and ask for help.  I am so fortunate to know the school decided to hire me and see me outside of...

Best Buddies California is truly outstanding! They have outstanding staff members and two offices- one in Los Angeles and other in San Francisco.  Their staff members truly amaze me.  Program Supervisor Katelyn Quintero just so happens to be one of my favorite staff members.  During the 26th Annual Best Buddies Leadership Conference, I had a student from BBCA "Buddy up" with me while we were at the Indianapolis Airport while were sitting around due to flight delays. She took me under her wing while we were getting food and sat and we ate our food together.  The student was just starting a Best Buddies chapter at California State University, Sacramento.  It was fun talking to her about her hopes for her Best Buddies chapter. It was then that I experienced the true meaning of what BBCA's LC shirts read which was "Overflowing with Inclusion!"  The student made sure I was situated in line before we boarded buses to head to IU which sh...

Every other week from now through the rest of the year, I will be posting "Meet the Program Staff" highlights. This week, I kick it off with Timothy "Tim" Bolen from Best Buddies AZ! Best Buddies Arizona's State Director Tim Bolen is truly an inspiration to all of the people he meets and knows. He is an avid runner and often includes the Buddies in his runs. In just a few months, Tim and Patrick Utitus, a participant from Camelback High School are getting ready to run in the HITS Marathon. Meet Patrick here:  Every step counts: Patrick Utitus !  Tim Bolen and I during the Best Buddies AZ Criterium ride, now the Phoenix Dizzy 250 Endurance Ride Tim puts his heart and soul and passion into his job as State Director. He helped place Best Buddies Ambassador Charles Calhoun in his job at Silicon Valley Bank in AZ. Now Charles is happy with his job.  In addition, Tim helps plan several events that help with the expansion of Best Buddies in AZ. He plans the P...

When I was at Hopi Elementary School, Mrs. Dawn Gutierrez, the now former principal of New Way Academy came to Hopi to see if I'd be the right fit for New Way. Shortly after that my parents transitioned me to New Way.   When I was at New Way, I got to know the students and teachers really well. There I begin to the experiment with public speaking by leading school spirit assemblies! During the assemblies New Way teachers recognized "Students of the Month" and the staff and students alike participated in games. I also learned how to utilize the Cornell Two column notes format for note-taking during English. During the 8th grade graduation ceremony, the 8th grade graduates had to give speeches. I almost did not give a speech but I ultimately overcame my fear of speaking.  After that I begun my freshman year at Chaparral High School.  What I learned at New Way helped me succeed at Chaparral. While I was at Chaparral High, I was often the student who would "do good...

It's almost September which means BACK TO BEST BUDDIES for many schools. As a returning participant in Best Buddies in Arizona, I thought I'd share with you why I am excited for this year of Best Buddies.  BBAZ LC 2015 reunion I am mainly excited for the BBAZ LC 2015 reunion. I am trying hard to accomplish a goal I've set for the event which is to have over half of BBAZ's 50 student leaders, Ambassadors and advisors in attendance to allow them to think back to the fun times that  occurred during 26th Annual Best Buddies Leadership Conference. Program Manager Kara Gregory and I are hard at work planning the reunion. We'll be kicking the reunion off with an Welcome message before we show a video I have been making. This event will help my neighbors learn about Best Buddies as we've never hosted a Best Buddies event in our new house in Casa Blanca.   Continuing to watch the YLC alumni mentorship program I launched flourish The group of mentorship...

Austin Rector has quickly became my best friend for life and my brother from another mother. Check out this blog post to learn about me and Austin's friendship: Austin was Chapter President of Best Buddies at Hamilton High School, which won Overall Outstanding High School Chapter from Best Buddies International during the 23rd Annual Best Buddies Leadership Conference. During his time as Chapter President, Austin and his buddy Drew won the Audi Spirit of Friendship Award during the Best Buddies AZ Spirit of Friendship Award.  To see them be recognized for forming a strong friendship made me so happy. I met Austin during a Best Buddies Arizona and we hit it off. I friend requested him on Facebook and he added me. We also exchanged cell phone numbers so we can/could text. Soon after that event, Austin and I planned our first activity with his parents Niki and Ernie. We hung out at the movies and went to lunch. Austin also attended my 18th birthday part...

For the past two years, I have watched the Time to Shine art and talent show, which happens to be held at the Phoenix Center for the Arts. I had fun watching it and left last year knowing that I wanted to participate in the Talent Show portion of the event one year. Although my former peer buddy Elaine and I actually contemplated having my dad's sister Leslie Vance, who used to teach Art at a private school in Newport Beach, CA, help me come up with an idea for an art piece.  I ultimately decided to enter the talent show portion of Time to Shine this year.  Trevor Paxton and Samantha Mason  Throughout the summer months, the Buddies who decided to participate in the Art and Talent tracks had workshops. I attended the workshops to practice my song I was performing "For Good" from Wicked the Musical . Throughout those workshops, I got to know all of the Buddies who participated in the talent track and Trevor Paxton, the Program Manager fro...

As a person with a disability, I can honestly go on and on about why it is important to allow people with disabilities to fill leadership positions other than the role of Buddy Director which is automatically assigned to them by Best Buddies.  When I was a sophomore at Chaparral High School, I was the assistant public relations director of our Best Buddies chapter. I had the opportunity to approve membership applications and upload photos to our chapter portal on Best Buddies Online and write our Outstanding Chapter application. Being a leader helped me "come out of my shell" by allowing me to work with our Chapter Leadership team which included our Program Manager, advisors and officers.  I ultimately helped our chapter improve its reputation within Best Buddies AZ and Best Buddies International.   When you allow students with disabilities to become leaders within your chapter and fill other positions outside of Buddy Director, you will ...

The Best Buddies program at Arizona State University is  truly an outstanding chapter. The chapter at ASU has won many awards at a national and state level. We've won Overall Outstanding Chapter in 2013. Chapter President Nicole Paxton became involved in ASU's Best Buddies chapter since her brother Trevor is a Program Manager for Best Buddies Arizona.  ASU has some talented buddies. Scott May has performed songs by the Eagles for BBAZ's Time to Shine talent show and Justin Toler has performed during the Time to Shine talent show, the BBAZ Gala and Leadership Conference. Buddy Ambassador Ashlee Coffman has received the Spirit of Courage award during the annual Spirit of Friendship Gala!  ASU Buddy Pair Nicole and Ashlee during LC 2015 Last year the chapter overcame some challenges in leadership. Nicole was named CP halfway through the year and was paired with her buddy Ashlee! Nicole and Ashlee went to BBAZ events and ASU Chapter ...