The Blog

“My Jewish-Hebrew Name is Emunah, and I Am Autistic.”

My Hebrew name is Emunah. Emunah is most often translated as “faith,” but when it first appears in the Torah, Genesis 15:6 the verse says והאמך ביהוה which translates to “and he put his trust in Adonai.” Emunah also shares the root of the word “Amen” which means, to put trust into something.

My Jewish-Hebrew name is Emunah, and I am autistic.

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Letter of Resignation from the Board of Directors of NEXT for Autism

Almost a year ago I resigned from the Board of Directors of NEXT for Autism (the benefactors of HBO’s celebrity-filled “Night of Too Many Stars”). And it was an especially disappointing divorce under circumstances tied to my being the only autistic Board member they’d had in the years I was with them. Well, the wrong hands appear to have gotten hold of the long-ish resignation letter that outlined my concerns with NEXT for Autism. In an effort to get ahead of the situation, control the narrative myself, and prevent any misinterpretation about how I intended to leave, I’ve leaked the document before do the rather unhappy folks who got their hands on my document.

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Autism Without Fear: The Last Time I Panicked

Today, fewer people seem to want to use the word, “coward.” We know so much more about why our emotions can cause us to freeze, to run away, to fail to come to the aid of a loved one, to desert, or to lie. And while explanation is still not justification, our increased knowledge of executive functioning, emotional regulation, and the long-term damage lurking within all negative reinforcements…has granted us infinitely more humane clarification about why “cowardice” occurs.

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Let’s Talk About Sex

When I think of the sex talk with my mother at age ten, what I remember most is that she seemed to be embarrassed, and I felt ashamed for putting her in that position. She may have felt ambushed as my best friend and I laid down the gauntlet as directly as an innocent child can: “Mom, what’s sex?”

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