Very OT - Personal

[Guest guest]

Dear Listmates: To those of you who have ever been to

a DAN! conference, you know that for over 10 years, RN

Maureen McDonnell spearheaded these always exciting

and successful events. From the beginning of my

connection with ARI starting in 1999, I deeply loved

and admired Bernie Rimland as the guiding light of the

world of autism and Maureen as the " Boss " of ARI and

DAN! What a beautiful, brilliant capable dynamo! I

had started physician training conferences in 2002

with the publication of CSB; I met Maureen when she

came to a training I was conducting in MA and said,

" This has to be a DAN! project! " so she along with me

and Binstock in the early days started taking

the DAN! message out as " mini-DAN!s " with clinician

training, which was soon added to the big bi-annual

national conferences. She is an initiator, an

innovator, loving, smart, and a Goddess in every way.

The conference in Spring in Cherry Hill was Maureen's

last one for DAN! She has moved on to other very

compelling interests, one being health based on

natural foods and non-prescription nutrients, AND, the

empowerment of women, also two strong interests of

mine. She is spearheading a wonderful conference

happening on the week-end of June 20-22 in Asheville,

NC. In terms of autism, Dr. Bock was going to

be speaking about his current book on autism and other

current children's disorders, but I noticed today that

he is no longer on the schedule; I don’t know why.

Maybe because the theme of this conference is not

autism. However, I am on the workshop program, and so

is my husband Jack, leading a workshop along with

Maureen's delightful husband " H " for brave men who

would like to learn about living with an empowered

woman. Check out the brochure www.timeforourpower.com

and look under WORKSHOPS to see what I will be

teaching at that conference. You can rightly ask,

“What does this have to do with autism?”

I happen to think women who have been chosen by the

universe to be mothers of children with autism are a

very special breed, and I have seen many of you in

your devotion to your children (and not only mothers

of children with autism) neglect your own health

physically, emotionally, and relationally in your

infinite zeal to get your kids as well as possible.

Understandable, that’s our innate “modus operandi.”

However, one of the first things that often gets

sacrificed in this full-time devotion is the parents’

relationship, and estimates are that 80% of couples

with autism in the family end up in divorce compared

to the 50% in the general population. Since I see

every woman as a Goddess, realized or not, I want to

promote the recognition and celebration of that; this

is what I was teaching and writing about (see “Flesh

and Spirit, the Mystery of Intimate Relationship”)

when autism entered my life in the form of my very

special junior Goddess Chelsey. One book I’m now

writing, “Awakening Love’s Body, A Guide to Erotic

Love for Mature Women” is the theme of my workshop at

this conference. If any of you can give yourself the

gift of this conference and live close enough to

Asheville North Carolina please consider joining us.

Jaquelyn