Haley Moss is Florida’s first openly autistic lawyer and the author of five books that guide neurodivergent individuals through professional and personal challenges. She is currently a speaker, consultant, and neurodiversity advocate for organizations and corporations that seek her guidance in creating an inclusive workplace and a sought-after commentator on disability rights issues. Her articles have appeared in outlets including the Washington Post, Teen Vogue, and Fast Company. Haley’s life experiences, advocacy, and dedication guide her to leave the state of inclusion better than she found it.
Every July, people with disabilities celebrate Disability Pride Month. The month started as a way to remember when the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) was signed into law. Now, Disability Pride Month is celebrated beyond the U.S. and has a bigger meaning. Today, it celebrates many kinds of disabilities. It honors our shared past, culture, how we depend on each other, and what we give to society. People with disabilities are the largest group of minorities in the world and in the U.S. But it can be hard to see this because there are so many different types of disabilities. The purpose of this post is to shed light on different disabilities and gain a deeper understanding of each other’s differences. Although a full list of all disabilities is not included in this piece, we are all united in the fight for inclusion, civil rights, and accessibility, and as a collective, face ableism regularly.
Historically, disability is seen in two main ways: the medical model and the social model. Most people who do not have disabilities believe in the medical model. This means they often see individuals as the problem, or disability as something to fix. This is done by making people fit in or by medical treatments. Disability pride is new and special because it comes from the social model of disability. This model says that society creates more problems than any health condition. Instead of fixing people, this model says we need to fix unfair systems and remove things that stop inclusion and access in our world. This means that people with disabilities need more chances, understanding, and acceptance.
To celebrate Disability Pride Month, there is also a flag you might see at parties or online. The first zigzag flag was made in 2019 by a disabled writer named Ann Magill. It was changed in 2021 to be easier to see for disabled people with vision problems like epilepsy. The order of the colors also helps people who are colorblind or have migraines.
Each stripe on the flag stands for a certain group of disabilities.
Blindness can be different for different people. Some people have low vision and can see some light and shapes. Others cannot see colors. And some have “total blindness,” where the world seems dark. Some, but not all, blind or low vision people use things like white canes or service dogs to be more independent. Of course, like with all disabilities, it’s best to ask if you can help someone or if you can pet a guide dog before doing anything right away.
Hearing loss and deafness also include many different disabilities and have their own culture. People who are culturally Deaf (with a big “D”) find a sense of belonging through visual ways of talking, like sign language, and shared traditions and values. But not everyone who is deaf or has hearing loss will feel they are part of Deaf culture.
The blue stripe stands for emotional and psychiatric disabilities. This is about mental health. It’s possible to have more than one emotional and/or psychiatric disability, or to get an emotional or psychiatric condition later in life.
People with emotional and psychiatric disabilities, such as anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and personality disorders, face a lot of extra judgment in society. Mental health conditions can affect how a person feels. This can lead to feeling sad or nervous. Or it can cause bigger problems like seeing things that are not there, trouble controlling impulses, or risky behaviors. At its worst, emotional and psychiatric disabilities can lead to self-harm or thoughts of suicide. So if you or someone you know is struggling, reach out to a trusted doctor, support person, family member, or caregiver, or call the 988 hotline.
The white stripe stands for invisible or non-obvious disabilities. It also stands for those that are not known or not diagnosed. When we think about non-obvious disabilities, these usually include health conditions and long-term illnesses that we cannot easily see. But they are just as real and hard for the people who have them.
Some people with disabilities or long-term illnesses are not officially diagnosed. For example, many autistic teenagers are not diagnosed, especially if they are not white. This is also true for other disabilities, where diagnosis can vary based on race, gender, income, and location. This means many people who identify as disabled may not have an official diagnosis, or they might not even realize they are disabled.
Long-term illnesses and health conditions are complex and not always easy to see. That’s why they are called “invisible” or “non-obvious” disabilities. But this does not make them any less real for the people who live with them. Long-term illnesses like lupus and fibromyalgia can cause tiredness and pain and affect a person’s immune system. Health conditions like diabetes affect a person’s blood sugar and may need regular medicine or insulin.
The yellow (or gold) stripe represents neurodiversity. While autistic people are part of the neurodiversity group, neurodivergence also includes (but is not limited to) people who have learning disabilities, ADHD, intellectual disabilities, and Tourette syndrome. About 19% of people in the U.S. are neurodivergent.
Neurodiverse conditions affect a person’s brain and how they think. Each of us is different. But difficulties with planning and organizing, sensory differences, and differences with learning and talking are common signs of most types of neurodivergence.
Neurodiversity is not meant to limit who is included. Instead, it’s a broad term that covers more than just autism, ADHD, and learning differences. Neurodivergence does include intellectual disabilities like Down syndrome, as well as mental health conditions. However, the disability pride flag has separate stripes for emotional and psychiatric disabilities, which can also happen along with other forms of neurodivergence.
The red stripe stands for physical disabilities. Trouble with walking or moving is the most common disability in the U.S. today. Nearly 7% of Americans say they have trouble walking or moving. Physical disabilities can be present at birth, or be the result of birth defects, illnesses, injuries, or age. They do not make a person less capable or necessarily affect their thinking abilities.
Physical disabilities cover many different things. But most people think of the common image of a wheelchair user on accessible parking signs. Wheelchair users might have limited ability to walk without help (these people are called ambulatory wheelchair users). Or they might find that a wheelchair (manual or power) gives them more freedom than a walker or crutches. Or they might not be able to walk at all. Many different types of disabilities affect mobility, such as cerebral palsy, spinal cord injuries, and paralysis.
Some physical disabilities only affect a person’s movement. Others might be visible or affect other parts of a person’s life. Some examples are limb differences, where someone might be missing a limb. Or cystic fibrosis, which affects someone’s lungs and ability to breathe.
And finally, the charcoal black/grey background stands for disabled people we remember who have died because of ableism, abuse, neglect, suicide, illness, or eugenics. We also remember some of these losses in our community that happened because of family members and caregivers on March 1, Disability Day of Mourning.
Celebrating Disability Pride is different for everyone. Sharing about the disability flag is just one way to learn about this topic. I know that for me, getting to a point of disability pride has been a journey. When I was a younger autistic person, I felt safer masking, avoiding disclosure, or trying to distance myself from the portrayal of autism as incompetence or an intellectual disability. Now, I know I am very much in community with people who have intellectual disabilities, and whose autism is not the same as my own. Learning more about the achievements and resilience of our community gave me a sense of pride and belonging. Even though I studied disability in college, it was not until the movie Crip Camp came out that I truly felt connected to the larger disability community and our shared history.
There is no single way to celebrate. You can celebrate online, quietly by yourself, if your local community has events or a parade, or if your workplace has speakers or training about disability. Whatever feels most accessible to you, and lets you feel real and take ownership of your disability identity, is what pride is truly about.
To learn more about disability history and pride:
Of course, the best way to learn about disabilities and views that are different from our own as autistic people is to learn from other disabled people. Part of disability pride is also to uplift the voices of disabled people.
Felicity House hosted a Self-Advocacy Advisory Board Friends and Family Wellness Event on December 10. The event featured two members of Felicity House’s Self-Advocacy Advisory Board, Lindsey Nebeker and Brigid Rankowski, who discussed the topic of autism and wellness with community members who asked questions about self-care. Lindsey is a musician, photographer, and disability rights advocate. She is strongly focused on the message of presuming competence for all people regardless of their labels. Brigid is a disability advocate and performer. She has a vested interest in women and LGBTQIA+ rights and the promotion of the arts as a creative outlet and career path.
Both Lindsey and Brigid gave personal and thorough responses to questions about wellness such as “what are some ways that you cope with stress?” and “how do you navigate wellness and take care of yourself when you are approaching burnout or are in burnout?” They also shared their own unique ways of practicing self-care.
When speaking about stress, Lindsey said, “managing stress is about respecting yourself. Figure out what is at the core of what is making you stressed so you know how to handle it.” Brigid said, “I manage stress by reminding myself that I have the power to react internally to events that happen to me externally. I can’t control everything external, but I have the power to control how I react to it internally.”
In response to the question of how to navigate burnout, Lindsey and Brigid encouraged community members to set intentional habits for themselves, such as turning off notifications on their phones and only using their phones for a set amount of time a day. They also recommended community members ask themselves, “what do you want and what do you need to be your truest self?”
After the Self-Advocate panel discussion, community members got the chance to decorate their own wellness pouch and fill the pouch with self-care items such as fidget toys, worry stones, and affirmation cards. Members also got the opportunity to fill out wellness cards with questions about how they practice their own forms of self-care. Some of the completed wellness cards will be featured in Felicity House’s wellness room.
The event concluded with a reception that included light refreshments and the opportunity to listen to Lindsey and Brigid share their art and hobbies with community members.
In case you missed it, check out audio of the discussion with Lindsey and Brigid, below!
The third annual Felicity House Art Gallery Show opening reception and family and friends event took place over the course of two days this past September. The event showcased 80 pieces of community member artwork including poems, sculptures, paintings and photography in a gallery setting.
The opening reception held on September 26th gave community members the opportunity to come together, alongside their guests, and enjoy the art in a cocktail party-type environment.
A video about Felicity House’s pilot Arts Residency Program was also shown, highlighting a new program that will soon be offered to all members.
The “Friends and Family” hours held on September 27th invited community members and their guests to experience the artwork in a quieter, more museum-like setting, where they could walk around the gallery as much or as little as they wished, with no interruptions.Members thought “the layout was so beautiful and professional. It looked like a gallery I would pay to see.”
Both days offered community members the opportunity to appreciate community member art, work on a community mosaic tile project, and chat about their favorite pieces. One member who attended the event said, “The art was so amazing and impressive. I’m a big fan!”
In case you missed it, check out a brief walkthrough video of the art show below, or take a look at the 2024 Community Member Zine to view the artwork more closely.
British author and comedy writer, Sara Gibbs, virtually joined Felicity House on Saturday February 25th (2023). She shared how her passion for writing developed, how she explored her special interests, her reactions to her autism diagnosis, and how she has used her strengths to shape and develop her career. She read an excerpt from her book, “Drama Queen One Autistic Woman and a Life of Unhelpful Labels,” and shared tips for aspiring writers.
Sara ended the event by encouraging community members to explore their passion for writing by saying “even if you are just doing it for yourself at first, keep a notebook, or your notes app or whatever else, just write down your observations, write down things that make you laugh, write down things you find interesting, write down unusual things that happen, just do it, just keep writing!”.
You can watch the whole webinar session down below:
In the month of November (2022), Felicity House community had the incredible honor of hosting disability rights advocate, Judy Heumann, in a virtual webinar that was open to community members and their guests. Over 70 guests tuned in for this webinar and got to hear Judy converse with Felicity House members about disability representation and advocacy. During the webinar Judy reminded us about the power of coming together as a community and how this is a form of advocacy, to choose and create community. Judy noted that “Felicity House is a place where people choose to convene, to come together, to have discussions, to learn from each other, to strengthen each other and I think all of that is important!”
You can watch the whole webinar session down below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JI1mSk1y5xA
By Dr. Chang Tan, Assistant Professor of Art History and Asian Studies at Penn State College of Arts and Architecture, and guest presenter at Felicity House’s Global Cultures Social, May 2022
As a part of the “Global Cultures” series and a way to celebrate the Asian American and Pacific Island Heritage Month, I had the pleasure of introducing Global Asias to the members of the Felicity House. I curated this exhibition in 2021; it will open at the Heckscher Museum of Art in June 2022. Featuring works of fifteen artists of Asian heritage, Global Asias showcases the cosmopolitan, playful, and subtly subversive characteristics of contemporary Asian and Asian American art.
The exhibition is divided into three thematic sections. Exuberant Forms features works that use traditional “Asian” craftsmanship, such as ceramics and papers kites, to make abstract art that are wildly inventive. Jun Kaneko exploits the uncontrolled qualities of the ancient raku ware to create explosive motions.
Jun Kaneko, Japanese (b. 1942). Untitled, Raku Wall Slab, 2014
Jacob Hashimoto’s unique 3D printing techniques leads to dynamic and versatile designs. Moving Stories reflect on the experiences of migration, showing both the traumatic and the hopeful aspects of moving across borders. Roger Shimomura, for example, uses a cartoonish format to portray how his Japanese American family were sent to internment camps during WWII.
Roger Shimomura, American (b. 1939), American Guardian, 2007
Hung Liu, meanwhile, uses three self-portraits to illustrate how she transitioned from a forced laborer in China to a proud citizen in the United States. Asias Reinvented highlights how Asian art and cultures engage contemporary global issues such as commercialism and climate change. Takashi Murakami’s Wink refers to the icon of a Buddha but also works as a toy, with Murakami’s signature three-eyed “Mr. DOB” and grinning sunflower designs that are both cute and creepy.
Takashi Murakami Japanese (b. 1962), Wink, 2000
Manabu Ikeda’s Iceberg draws from his study of the 2012 nuclear meltdown in Fukushima, Japan but also suggests how fragile our world could be while facing natural disasters.
More information about the artwork can be found in this virtual tour. Organized at a time when anti-Asia racism in the U.S. was on the rise, Global Asias shows how diverse “Asia” is, and how it is tied to the rest of the world. The divide between peoples is often misplaced and illusionary. Art lays bare our shared fears and dreams, and help us map our entangled destinies ahead.
“It’s a place where I can remove the mask I’ve created for myself out in the world and just be who I am without any fear of judgment.”
Look, we’re on TV! Click here to watch the segment.
On January 21st , we had the incredible opportunity to spread the word about Felicity House on the Today Show to audiences across the United States! The segment featured some of our community members, our Executive Director, Beth Finkelstein, and Sharon daVanport, Felicity House Advisory Board Member and founder of the Autistic Women & Nonbinary Network. The segment focused on the mission and impact of Felicity House for both our community members and the autism community at-large. The episode aired on January 21st at 10:00am on the 3rd Hour.
In November, we celebrated thankfulness and gratitude by hosting Thanksgiving-themed events throughout the month. We focused on what we are thankful for in our lives and also gave back to the community by making holiday cards to senior citizens. Our Thanksgiving festivities included classic dishes prepared by Felicity House Chef, Maggie. For those of you hosting your own Thanksgiving holiday, we wanted to share our very own chef Maggie’s delicious turkey recipe below. Enjoy!
Felicity House Turkey Recipe:
1 boneless/skinless turkey breast (approximately 1 ½ – 2 pounds in weight)
1 small bunch of sage
1 small bunch of rosemary
1 small bunch of thyme
3 cups of Kosher salt
3 or 4 cloves of garlic
Zest from 1 lemon
1 Freezer-sized ziplock bag
1 Flat baking pan
Meat thermometer
Instructions:
Prior to cooking the turkey breast, brine the
turkey in a ziplock bag. Place the turkey breast with the kosher salt, herbs,
garlic and lemon zest in the ziplock bag and fill with cold water so that it
just covers the turkey. Place in a large bowl in the refrigerator for 2-3 hours
and let sit.
Once your turkey has brined, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Pull the turkey out of the brine bag and remove and excess salt, herbs, or lemon. Place on a flat, non-stick baking pan and place in the oven to bake. The turkey will cook for 20 minutes per pound of meat- so if your turkey is 1 pound it will cook for 20 minutes; if your turkey is 2 pounds it will cook for 40 minutes. Once your meat has cooked for the allotted time, check the internal temperature with a meat thermometer. You want the meat to be at least 155 degrees. Once the meat reaches this temperature go ahead and pull it from the oven. Let the meat rest on the counter for 15-20 minutes before carving.
Did you know that oceans cover 70% of Earth’s surface and that marine species outnumber those on land? In fact, 94% of the Earth’s living species exist in the ocean. These astounding facts were a small fraction of the information we learned at our recent lecture, “Mysteries of the Ocean“.
Throughout the year we try to cover a variety of topics for our lecture series, from history to art, from fashion to science. We recently hosted Dr. Mercer Brugler, an expert on all things ocean-related who specializes in the evolution of black coral and sea anemones.
Dr. Brugler runs a molecular lab at the American Museum of Natural History where high school students and undergraduates are submerged in deep-sea evolutionary biology. He is also an adjunct Assistant Professor at NYU’s School of Professional Studies (Division of Applied Undergraduate Studies) and a Research Associate at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History (Washington DC).
With his enthusiasm and extensive knowledge, Dr. Brugler made coral and deep-sea biology seem interesting and exciting to both science and non-science enthusiasts.
At Felicity House, we offer a wide array of fitness classes that reflect the diverse interests of our community, everything from cardio dance to low impact yoga.
Curious to learn more about fitness at Felicity House? Here’s a sampling of some of our instructors:
Layla Luciano: Boxing
Layla Luciano is Felicity House’s professional boxing instructor. In addition to teaching “jab, cross, punch” sequences at Felicity House, Layla is a master instructor at Barry’s Bootcamp, SLT, Sweat Shed, Lifetime Athletic, and co-founder of PACT Park Kickboxing. You also might recognize Layla as one of the stars of Bravo TV’s show: Workout New York.
Kyla Barkin: Yoga & Meditation
When she’s not teaching yoga and meditation, Kyla Barkin a professional dancer and choreographer who has toured internationally and is a recipient of the Jean Irwin Award. Kyla is the Co-Founder and Artistic Director of BARKIN/SELISSEN PROJECT, a New York City based contemporary dance company that presents both live performances and workshops.
Ms. Vee: Hip Hop & Line Dancing
Ms. Vee brings the fire, teaching party-inspired hip hop routines for our community members at Felicity House. Ms. Vee is a professional dancer with a background in Hip-Hop, House, Ballet, Jazz, Swing, Modern, etc. She’s performed for Queen Elizabeth II and in the Off-Broadway and touring productions of Rennie Harris’ Legends of Hip-Hop.
