Inclusion and more

Founded in 1997, HOPE Group provides services including habilitation, vocational rehabilitation and job coaching for people with disabilities. I started receiving habilitation services through HOPE Group when I graduated from Chaparral High School. I worked on goals like cooking, cleaning and budgeting with my providers.  A few years later, I was the Autism Expo at Ability360 with Mary DeCarlo, who originally worked at SARRC. I stumbled up on HOPE Group's table. I grabbed information from them.  Let's go fast forward to today!  I had no idea that I would be lucky enough to receive services again through HOPE Group now that I live independently. I was hoping and praying for an opportunity to get involved with them again.  A few months ago, I received a text from one of their staff members, Allison, to set up VR services. I was reluctant to set up this service but once I met Allison over Webex I realized I wanted to do it.  It didn't take long for Allison and I to...

  My name is Lindsey Eaton and I am 26 years old. I have autism but it doesn't define me.  I am a driven, hard-working and tenacious individual. At a young age, I struggled with making friends, dealing with change and not seeing things as black and white.  I didn't have one friend because people would often overlook the little things about me like the fact that the minute they met me I didn't talk to them.  It was tough for me watching my sisters have friends over to my parents house. I currently live at First Place- Phoenix in my own apartment and cook my meals, budget my money and attend First Place- Phoenix Community Life events! Once I found organizations like Best Buddies, the Southwest Autism Research and Resource Center and Special Olympics AZ, I started to make friends. It didn't take long for me to become a person who had friends over often. There is no doubt that over time, I started to loosen up more. I started to make plans with friends. I was no longer o...

We are in times when a lot of our communication is done virtually via Zoom or Google Meets. It's still important to practice the following communication skills. GENERAL:  1. Body language Body language is extremely key right now. When you don't look at someone, you are conveying you're not interested in talking to them. If you look at them with your eyes, you show that you are interested. 55% of our communication is done through body language. How would you feel if you  were talking to someone and they weren't interested? Probably not good. 2. People skills People skills like practicing empathy are extremely important right now. We all need someone who supports us during these tough times. Other than empathy, it's very important to practice basic people skills like knowing someone's name or learning details about them like if they have any brothers and sisters or where they are from. For many of my friends or professional mentors, I have notes for them like when...

The universality of autism is coming more known. 1 in 54  people have autism. Yes it is spectrum. There is a quote I go by that I have heard staff from the Southwest Autism Research and Resource Center use: If you know one person with autism. You only know one person with autism!" You might know a person with autism who barely speaks.  They can play piano. While another person with autism can speak in front of big groups.                                     Here are 3 learning lessons I have learned as a person on the autism spectrum.  1. Independence IS POSSIBLE I have learned that independence is possible. I graduated from the First Place Transition Academy, operated by SARRC, in 2018. I learned how to cook my own meals, budget my mone and take public transportation like the light rail to and from classes at GateWay Community College. After that, I moved in to First Place-Phoenix. ...