Another year in this wild decade and this I could say with confidence that this was my best year in a while. This was where I not only established this website and my public speaking services, but I was able to get back into working at a special education school. After dealing with personal losses during the COVID years, this was the year of me rebounding and getting back what I love to do, which is collaborating with professionals and working with transition aged students. There were so many experiences that shaped the current me, like my keynote presentation with Autism Connections back in April or my presentation with Autism New Jersey at Atlantic City. Not to mention, spending time with my lovely job at FOCUS Center for Autism where I am a teacher’s assistant. While there were a bunch of positives, there were a few negatives during the year like some family health struggles during the summertime and me processing my COVID losses during the first half of the year. However, those experiences are only temporary, and I managed to grow as a result. For today’s blog, I am listing several goals I want to do for 2024 professionally and personally.  
 
Graduate from Charter Oak State College 
As mentioned on my professional history page, I am attending Charter Oak to obtain my bachelor's degree in psychology. I felt psychology would be a good fit for me with my jack of all trade style of professional history. I only have six courses left before I officially graduate from college. Two courses each for the spring, summer and fall semester. I need that degree to be at the next stage of my life and embrace it. 


Presenting in Pennsylvania 
I presented in the east coast, mostly at New English states. I realized during the month of December that I never presented in Pennsylvania. I find Pennsylvania to be another state where it is active with the autism scene with many organizations existing like Neurodiversity in the Workplace and Neurodiversity Employment Network. One of my employers, Children Hosptial of Philadelphia is present over there too. It is a no brainer for me to reach out over there to present.  


Touring more nonprofits and schools in the east coast 
On my days off, I love touring nonprofits and schools that I don’t have a lot of knowledge about. It is for this reason that I toured places like Golisano Autism Center/AutismUp and Northeast Arc during this year. I love learning about places that can provide local and state impact to individuals and families. If I am able to present for their communities and collaborate in any projects, it makes me feel good to be part of that impact. I do have some tours scheduled for 2024, but I will not be telling you until those tours do happen. Stay tuned! 


Attending a video game convention 
Yes, a non-work goal as I usually would attend these in Connecticut. I never got a chance to attend one this year. I want to change for 2024 as I always love a good convention like RetroWorld in my state where it is always a good time. Not only to meet with local friends of mine but to play some classic video games for a day.  
Have a safe weekend and very Happy New Years! 
 
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Full time employment is not something that is usually discussed in autism circles about employment. When I was initially part time, I had no idea how it looked at. All I knew was that I needed it to make a living and it allowed others to pay for larger quality of life investments like living arrangements or getting a loan for a used car.  During the COVID pandemic, I started full time for the first time because of a collaboration between a neurodiversity focused firm and a driving school. My public speaking took off on learning how to drive and the position, autism transition coordinator came to birth. Said position changed over time and I was full time for about two years before I was laid off. Looking back at those years, there was full of bright and bumpy moments. Lessons learned on managing the changed times and relationships between me and others in my workplace. That is why today I am going over some tips to consider for your future full-time job. 
 
Communication Standards: 
It is important to establish communication standards with you and others in the workplace. If the workplace allows it, talk to your employer on what could work and experiment. Come up with a schedule and after a week, check in with your employer to see if it works. If not, keep coming up with ideas. Keep in mind that rescheduling can happen, so it is important to have back up plans. Be careful of boundaries, which I will go over pretty soon.  
 
Customizing your workspace: 
If you work in an office setting, ask if you are to customize the space. Due to being there for most of the day, it does not hurt to make the space more familiar to you. In the space I used to have, I had various items that related to my special interests. I had two video game posters that showed my fondness for the NieR series. I had a big plush from the same series on its own chair and it is mostly there for sensory reasons. These items never distracted me, and I was able to do the work I needed to do. Make sure the items you can bring are realistic and not something that could add problems for the workplace. 
 
Establishing boundaries: 
 It is important to set up boundaries with how to approach work emails in general. It also depends on the individual where some do not mind, but others do mind. I used to be okay with weekend emails until the moments I get overwhelmed at select times. Overtime and near the end of my time there, it became a trigger. Another point for boundaries is if you have access to your workplace on the weekend, do not get into the habit of going there, even if it is to relax! I am guilty of visiting my office too much and it created a long-term issue where I had some people think I don’t care for family. It never came off that way, but I did know that I could have done some computer work at home. It is why I don’t recommend people to use their office space for the weekend because of these reasons.  
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Watch yourself with budgeting: 
Temptations can increase the moment one has more income to use. What I mean is that it is super easy to overspend and get overcarried with the income. I had trouble in this area during the 2021-2022 years where due to some personal matters, I was going a bit over the top with some video game purchases. I started to realize that I was going a bit much and started cutting down on spending in areas like eating out and gaming. It takes a lot of trial and error to see what works or not. You cannot plan for everything, but you can create standards for yourself.  


Knowing when to let go when workplace gets out of control: 

Sometimes, you can do everything for your workplace, and it is the best feeling. It is meant to be experienced once you do feel it in your blood. However, like many things, it does not last forever. The starting point can look different for these stages, but it may start with a breaking point that strips you of the fondness you had for a job. The next stage is where the workplace starts mentally draining. The good vibes slowly fade away as one tries to hide the feeling that something is wrong. You keep trying to do everything you can, but it doesn’t get rid of the feeling. Emotions like nervousness, fear and sadness start leaking and it feels like you are by yourself sinking deep in the ocean.  Finally, you start piecing the puzzle and realize something is wrong and once you figure it out, it is too late. At the end, you are given a choice of leaving the company or you continue the work in some form. Many emotions are felt, and one may experience a crisis mode.  

If this is something you are experiencing, I urge you to move on! Quit and find the true job path you are looking for. It will get better, and I know from experience. The moment you try pretending it is the same workplace becomes an endless eternity that negatively affects your mental state. It's that moment where the place you knew is long gone. There are workplaces that value your skills in this vast world. To see if something is doable or winnable, you have to try.  
 
All in all, full time employment can have complications and at times, it can make or break a person. What is important to know is that any experience, good and bad, has meaning. Even if you have a bad experience, you have the means to search for something better. It will take time, but it is out there. Take in the lessons, know what works for you and that is where you will shine the most.  


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For this first main blog, I wanted to do something special for autism and driving. For the autism population, resources on driving are inconsistent in each state. Some states where adaptive driving schools may exist, while you have states like Connecticut where the number of driver rehab specialists are low.  Even before all my advocacy efforts, resources were still limited by the state you are in. Some autistic individuals and their families have to work on their own to find a way to make driving work. As part of the new blog section here, I want to do a special project on autism and driving. I am creating a list of driving schools and other resources state by state.  

Each state blog post will cover the following resources ranging from driving schools, providers, pages, laws and other projects that relate to driving. With everything listed, it makes it easier for autistic individuals and their families to get a head start in finding the right program for their needs. These pages will actively be updated soon when new providers and other resources appear. I want these pages to be current as possible, so all of you can make a strong decision! 

Here is the list of current blog posts that are up there. In good times, more pages will be coming up. Bookmark this page to keep up with updates. Feel free to comment on the individual state’s blog post if you know of a resource that should be added. Thank you so much for checking out this.  

6/29/2024 Update: Added a new section: Research Studies


States:

Alabama
Alaska 
Arizona
Arkansas
California
Colorado
Connecticut
Delaware
Florida
Georgia
Hawaii
Idaho
Illinois
Indiana
Iowa
Kansas
Kentucky
Louisiana
Maine
Maryland
Massachusetts
Michigan
Minnesota
Mississippi
Missouri
Montana
Nebraska
Nevada
New Hampshire 
New Jersey
New Mexico
New York
North Carolina
North Dakota
Ohio
Oklahoma
Oregon
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
South Carolina
South Dakota
Tennessee
Texas
Utah
Vermont
Virginia
Washington
West Virginia
Wisconsin 
Wyoming 
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Other:

Research Studies
Books
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If you are interested in checking out my main website, this is the link to go back to home menu. 

Book me for your next autism event. 

Welcome to the blog section of my website. I will be posting several autism topics, and this will be the home for my driving project. the Autism and Driving Resource Database. This will serve as its home to let anyone access schools and other online resources from all 50 states. The project will change overtime and I encourage you all to comment and suggest new resources to make it rich with numerous choices people can seek. Other than my driving project, I may type about the following topics:

1. Language Preferences
2. Employment
3. Advocacy 
4. Special Education

Be sure to bookmark this page to follow this page overtime as more blog posts are created. 

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