Summary
Autism Connection of PA's Executive Director, Lu, shares insight into the many ways we connect through acts of love in the autism community in Pennsylvania and beyond. And "we" means you!
- Are you a past or present board member, founder, paid professional, community partner, or a generous volunteer who has supported the autism community via Autism Connection?
- Could you be one of the seasoned folks who knew us as the original “ABOARD” – or Advisory Board on Autism and Related Disorders – who got this “party” started?
- Are you one of our supportive friends at ACHIEVA, a foundation giver, an individual donor, someone from the corporate world who has decided to sponsor us, or a phenomenal community group who has fundraised for us?
- Could you be a researcher friend, a compassionate judge, or a public servant we call on at all hours with questions or emergency situations needing attention?
- Are you a family member or autistic friend who chooses us for support, or who works as our colleague? Or a marathon runner, or a personal friend or family member who supports our work?
Love Takes Many Forms
“agape
Original Greek: ἀγάπη (agápē)
Agape is often defined as unconditional, sacrificial love. Agape is the kind of love that is felt by a person willing to do anything for another, including sacrificing themselves, without expecting anything in return. Philosophically, agape has also been defined as the selfless love that a person feels for strangers and humanity as a whole.”
What Brings Our Thoughts to Love
Here’s why I’m thinking so hard about this now. Today we received our third request to cite a blog post – this one from Community Circles Restorative Justice Society (CCRJS) based in Ladysmith, British Columbia. Another was a request from Assets High School in Honolulu, Hawaii, and Cerebral Palsy Guidance in Syracuse, New York reached out to collaborate on bringing awareness of dual diagnosis of autism and cerebral palsy for a campaign in March (stay tuned).
This made me consider how we got here. And the logic chain goes like this: Tammi wrote the blog post cited today, found on our website that is funded by givers, the optimization of which was prioritized by our Strategic Plan originally written 12 years ago by board members (some of whom are family members or autistic people), shared by our community partners and friends online, maximizing our visibility so people in British Columbia could find, read, and use our words to benefit others we will never meet. Phew! It was not hard to make that list because I often reflect on our roots and the huge crowd that has the autism community’s “back”, and it is all true.
Love is in The Air
I’m going to close this because I really need to hit “stop” on John Paul Young who’s been playing on repeat as I write this, permanently etching these lyrics into my brain for the foreseeable future.
In the spirit of “sharing is caring”, here’s your earworm for today, with apologies to literal and visual thinkers for using that term. It’s okay if this is stuck in your head too – Here are those words for you to ponder.