Yes She Can Inc

Job Skill Development and Employment Opportunities for Women with Autism

  • About
    • Mission
    • Board of Directors
    • About Autism at Work
      • Temple Grandin on employment skills
      • Hiring employees with autism
    • Yes She Can in the News
    • Contact Us
  • Meet Us
  • Our Program
    • Teaching Job Skills
    • Work With Us
  • Our Store
    • Shop Online
    • Donate Your American Girl Doll
  • Blog
  • Events
    • Advocates for Adults with Autism Awards
    • Advocates for Adults with Autism Awards 2019
    • Advocates for Adults with Autism Awards 2017
    • Advocates for Adults with Autism Awards 2016
      • 2016 Awards Gallery
  • Get Involved
    • Volunteer
    • Donate Dolls
    • Service Projects
    • Our Supporters
  • Donate

Advocates for Adults with Autism Awards 2017


Program

Honoree Amy Gravino, self- advocate, autism coach

Honoree Lesli Cattan, LCSW

Honoree Ron Suskind, father, author of Life, Animated, founder of Sidekicks

Alison Singer, President, Autism Science Foundation

Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino

Full program

 

Thank You to Our Sponsors

GOLD SPONSORS

SILVER SPONSORS

BRONZE SPONSORS

Lisa & Randy Siegel             Doris Perez

 

 

 

 

 

 

Meet Our Honorees

Meet our honorees

 

ron-suskind-headshotRon Suskind is a Pulitzer-winning journalist, bestselling author, and the founder and CEO of Sidekicks. Ron’s latest bestseller, Life, Animated (2014), chronicles his family’s twenty-year journey raising and connecting to their autistic son. The Suskind family is also the subject of an award-winning documentary feature of the same name (2016). Their story has driven activism and research about compensatory strengths of those with autism and others who are “differently-abled” due to distinctive neurology or sociocultural backgrounds. Ron’s company, Sidekicks, is leading efforts to build a next generation of augmentative technologies to lift and support these communities.

Ron’s other works include Confidence Men (2011), about the fall of the U.S. economy and the presidency of Barack Obama; The Way of the World (2008), about the forces fighting the global “hearts and minds” struggle at a time when awesomely destructive weapons are available to the common man; The One Percent Doctrine (2006), about how the U.S. government frantically improvised to fight a new kind of war after 9/11; The Price of Loyalty (2004), about the inner workings of the American government and Presidency of George W. Bush; and A Hope in the Unseen (1998), a nonfiction narrative that helped redefine national debates on race, class and achievement.

Ron often appears on network television and has been a contributor for The New York Times Magazine and Esquire. Ron was the Wall Street Journal’s senior national affairs reporter from 1993 until his departure in 2000, and won the 1995 Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing. He currently lives in Cambridge, MA, with his wife, Cornelia Kennedy Suskind, and lectures about narrative and justice at Harvard Law School.


lesli-cattan-headshotLesli Cattan, developed her professional interest as a college student volunteering in a service organization that took young adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities on outdoor adventure trips.  Working with the residential staff, other students and the young adults with disabilities, together they figured out how to prepare for and enjoy cross-country skiing trips in frigid weather in Northern Minnesota, rafting trips on the Current River in Missouri and numerous local camping and hiking trips.  These experiences were lessons in resiliency and integration and finding joy in the face of challenges.

Lesli worked as a direct care professional and house manager for several group homes, later acquiring a clinical social work degree.  At Westchester Jewish Community Services, she founded and lead the mental health clinic for individuals with autism and other developmental disabilities.  She has led social skills groups, socialization groups, parent support groups; provided individual and family therapy; taught numerous classes on understanding co-occurring disorders, sensory integration, stress management and secondary trauma.

For the past 10 years Lesli has overseen a case management program, transition and forensic services to people with intellectual and developmental disabilities at Westchester County Department of Community Mental Health.  She launched and co-facilitates the Westchester Autism Advisory Committee and serves as a resource to individuals, families and providers in the field of developmental disabilities always looking to use those early lessons in her endeavors to connect, support and advocate for individuals with autism and their families.


amy-gravino-headshotAmy Gravino, is a Certified Autism Specialist and the president of A.S.C.O.T. Coaching. Amy offers autism consulting, mentoring, and college coaching services for individuals on the autism spectrum.

Amy is a professional national speaker who has given two TED talks and presented to numerous audiences on a variety of topics, including autism and sexuality; preventing and ending bullying; issues related to girls and autism; growing up on the spectrum; and autism and transitioning to secondary education.

She also currently serves on the Board of the Golden Door International Film Festival of Jersey City, the Self-Advocate Advisory Board for the Daniel Jordan Fiddle Foundation, and co-facilitates the Morris County chapter support group meetings for ASPEN-NJ.

Amy’s writing has been published in a variety of outlets, including the textbook Exceptional Children: An Introduction to Special Education, the Reader’s Digest book The Best Life Stories, “Autism Spectrum Quarterly” magazine, the official blog of Autism Speaks, and more. She is now authoring The Naughty Autie, a memoir of her experiences with dating, relationships, and sexuality from the firsthand perspective of a woman on the autism spectrum.   Learn more about Amy at AmyGravino.com

 

 

 


 

Donate!

Newsletter Signup

Sign up for our newsletter about our job skills development program.

Blog Topics

  • Autism Spectrum Disorders
  • Coaching
  • Community
  • Development
  • Disability Rights
  • Employment
  • Events
  • Guests
  • Newsletter
  • Program
  • Trainees
  • Volunteers
  • Yes She Can Team

Recent Posts

  • Courage – what I learned from Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman by Selina
  • Women in Science By Selina & Colleen
  • Regeneron Employees Practice Networking Skills with Yes She Can Trainees
  • Thank you Justice Ginsberg – by Marjorie Madfis
  • Enrollment Open for Fall Session of Job Skills Program

Welcome to Yes She Can Inc

Yes She Can Inc., a non-profit founded in 2013, is dedicated to helping young women with autism and related disabilities develop transferable job skills and workplace social skills – through authentic work experience.  We serve teen girls in transition from high school to adulthood and young women with autism spectrum disorders in an inclusion setting at Girl AGain boutique. Read more

Newsletter Signup

Visit Our Store

Girl Again
4 Martine Avenue, Store 2B
White Plains, NY 10606
914-358-1460

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Work With Us

We are a start-up and given the demand for what we do we really need more help! Read more

From Our Blog

Courage – what I learned from Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman by Selina

Women in Science By Selina & Colleen

Help young women with autism fulfill their potential.

Your generous donation will support Yes She Can's job skills development program.

© 2021 Yes She Can Inc.