On April 5th, Felicity House community members had the honor of attending World Autism Awareness Day at the United Nations where our Executive Director, Beth Finkelstein, participated as a panel member. The theme for the conference was “Empowering Women and Girls with Autism.”  This topic came about as a direct response to a 2017  United Nations General Assembly resolution to draw attention to the challenges  women and girls with disabilities face in the context of the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).

The panels included topics like, “Ableism, Sexism, Racism…How They Intersect” and “Gender Disparity in Diagnosis: Causes and Consequences.” The panels  included  Felicity House Self Advocate Advisory Board Members  Julia Bascom, Sharon daVanport, and Morenike Giwa Onaiwu. Other panels included esteemed actress Dakota Fanning and Director Ben Lewis.