CUMMINGS AND GOINGS
T
his ZOOM is all about love and relationships. There are so many types of
relationships, and one that is important
to us is faith. Faith constitutes a vast
spectrum. Faith is a personal individual journey that may or may not be religious-based.
For Conner and I, our FAITH journey starts on
Sundays with our own special ritual.
Every Sunday, Conner and I watch Joel Osteen
together on television. Conner is a huge Joel
Osteen fan and at times even quotes him, both
verbally and in his writings. We actually saw
Joel Osteen speak once. Afterwards, we stood
in line to meet him. No pictures were allowed,
and you were only supposed to say hello, shake
hands and keep moving. Conner had a different idea in mind when it was his turn to meet
him.
Conner went to pull a Conquer for Conner blog
card from his pocket to give to Mr. Osteen, and
within a split second, security surrounded him.
I pushed my way to Conner. He started stimming and was understandably upset and confused. Joel Osteen, realizing at least somewhat
what was going on, motioned to security to
step back. He smiled at Conner and asked him
to repeat himself. Conner told him, “My name
is Conner Cummings; I want to make a difference and make the world a better place,” and
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ZOOM Autism through Many Lenses
he gave Joel his card. Joel smiled again and
asked Conner, “Do you want me to read this?”
And Conner said, “Yes, please. God already
knows about it.” Then Joel shook Conner’s
hand, holding it for a moment in both of his
own, and told him how nice it was to meet
him. Joel then looked at me and said, “Your
son is a blessing!” At that point we were motioned by security to move on. Conner had
wanted to meet Joel Osteen, and he did – Conner’s way!
Conner’s favorite words are believe and faith.
Perhaps that is why we were asked by the
Autism Society of Northern Virginia (ASNV)
to reach out to the vast faith communities to
help make them inclusive. ASNV receives
numerous phone calls asking where families
or individuals can go to church, temple, hall,
community, nature or whatever place their belief may be practiced. One issue that seems to
cross all paths is that attending can be difficult
for children and adults on the spectrum. They
want to attend, yet rarely do they feel comfortable. Our job, led by Conner and a group of
autistic individuals, is not to solve every issue
but to educate to the best of our abilities and
learn together while we tackle this task.
separate room where the kids can move around
as needed but still listen to and/or watch the
service through speakers or on a screen. Some
are going the extra mile and training the day
care volunteers to work with our children. We
have seen handouts and/or the speakers’ words
being displayed on a screen so that those who
need it can both view and hear the words being
An example of my son’s faith. While in the Disney store, Tinker
Bell asked over the intercom for everyone to help save magic...
spoken. Seating preferences with easy entrance
and exit access is another accommodation being
made.
The goal is to help ensure that all of us feel
welcomed, valued and comfortable. Conner and
I both believe and have faith that it is a goal that
hopefully, someday, will be in every aspect of
our lives!
Sharon Cummings
Executive Director/Co-Publisher & Founder
[email protected]
Some faith communities already seem to have
it right, and we will be learning from them
what does and does not work. A few modifications that have seemed helpful so far include a
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