♿ Miami-Dade Disability & Autism Newsletter 🧩 Good morning, my fellow Miamians 🦩 On July 15, 2026, at 2:30 pm, in a D.C. Senate office, 10 Capitol Police officers did the one thing that in 2016 could have kept behavior therapist Charles Kinsey from getting shot by police on a North Miami street: they slowed down. A man with severe autism had gone into crisis, the floor was evacuated, and the standoff ended with the autistic man walking out on his own 2 feet, and nobody hurt. That's not luck,...
1 day ago • 4 min read
👍 Facebook: Join the Miami-Dade Disability & Autism Hub for local events, resources, and ongoing support ♿ Miami-Dade Disability & Autism Newsletter 🧩 Good morning, my fellow Miamians 🦩 Today we honor Wilbur Hawke. In 1994 he started the first Florida fathers group for dads of children with disabilities: Florida Fathers Network. He didn't fit the support groups mothers had designed, so he created his own and called the workshop "Dadvocate." I carry that word in my newsletter every week, and...
3 days ago • 2 min read
♿ Miami-Dade Disability & Autism Newsletter 🧩 Good morning, my fellow Miamians 🦩 The ADA turned 36 on Sunday and Miami Beach commemorates it Tuesday with the Karen Peterson Dancers, a dance company with performers in wheelchairs and dancers with conditions like Multiple Sclerosis. The rest of the week doesn't slow down. Wednesday has 3 meetups across the county for toddlers to adults with IDD. Friday & Saturday the Florida Youth Council sends young leaders with disabilities ages 15-30 to...
4 days ago • 9 min read
♿ Miami-Dade Disability & Autism Newsletter 🧩 Good morning, my fellow Miamians 🦩 🇺🇸 Disability activists at the Capitol Crawl, March 12, 1990, four months before the ADA became law. The Americans with Disabilities Act turns 36 on Sunday. Signed into law on July 26, 1990, it's the reason there's a ramp at the school entrance and a right to your kid's IEP a school can't wave off. Miami-Dade marks it today at the Stephen P. Clark Center from 11am to 2pm. The rest of the weekend: Mark Twain's...
7 days ago • 2 min read
♿ Miami-Dade Disability & Autism Newsletter 🧩 Good morning, my fellow Miamians 🦩 On Sunday, Marc Cucurella won the World Cup with Spain. What he does before signing with any club is why he's in today's edition: he checks the schools and therapies for his non-verbal autistic son, Mateo, before the salary and before the trophies. "My family comes first," he told El País. The full story's below. Closer to home, the Parent Leadership Network trains local parents and caregivers to do the same for...
9 days ago • 3 min read
♿ Miami-Dade Disability & Autism Newsletter 🧩 Good morning, my fellow Miamians 🦩 AI moved to the center of the autism conversation this week. Stanford researchers reported that a chatbot boosted autistic adults' real-world empathy. Yale mapped how autistic brains process faces differently. The tools are showing up faster than anyone's stopping to ask what they cost. That question is the whole episode this week: AI and Autism: The Risk Nobody's Talking About. It's the side of the story the...
10 days ago • 1 min read
♿ Miami-Dade Disability & Autism Newsletter 🧩 Good morning, my fellow Miamians 🦩 Last week I had the pleasure of sitting down with Lucas Castillo and his mom Martha from Team Matthew on the podcast. We talked about what it's really like to be a special needs sibling. It's a side of our world that doesn't get talked about enough, and Lucas didn't hold back. 👉 Lucas Castillo on Growing Up as a Special Needs Sibling Today's Edition Includes This Week’s Inclusive Events Calendar July's Inclusive...
11 days ago • 7 min read
♿ Miami-Dade Disability & Autism Newsletter 🧩 Good morning, my fellow Miamians 🦩 Tonight, Best Buddies opens its flagship conference, the Best Buddies Leadership Conference. 4 days at Indiana University and nearly 2,800 leaders and advocates from around the world. And you don't have to fly anywhere to see it, they stream the opening ceremony, select sessions, and the closing free on their site and on Facebook so you can watch the whole thing from your living room. The 3rd Saturday of the...
14 days ago • 2 min read
♿ Miami-Dade Disability & Autism Newsletter 🧩 Good morning, my fellow Miamians 🦩 Breaking the regular schedule for this one because the deadline is Monday morning. 👉 Sign the Petition There's a federal proposal to move the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) out of the Department of Education and into Health and Human Services. OSERS is the office that enforces IDEA, IEPs, 504 plans, and every federal protection our kids rely on to stay in the classroom with their...
15 days ago • 1 min read