Amy Harmon writes a phenomenal article on autism and love. The article is part of a series called "Autism, Grown Up: Love on the Spectrum". Articles in this series are chronicling the coming of age of a generation of autistic youth. Read More...

Hello ASW Community,

I am so honored to be writing to you as the new Executive Director of the Autism Society of Wisconsin. I have always looked up to ASW as the “voice” of autism in our state and am thrilled to now be a part of this organization.

My own journey with autism started when I began working as a line therapist while pursuing my Bachelor’s degree in Communicative Disorders from UW-Madison. I quickly became passionate about working with those affected by autism. Over the years, I’ve had the opportunity to work with families across Wisconsin and spent almost a year working with families in Malaysia. Most recently, I worked as a part of the Connections Initiative of the Children and Youth with Special Health Care Needs program, which was designed to strengthen the infrastructure of ASD related services in Wisconsin. My experience working with families and professionals has taught me much about the needs of the autism community but I know that there is still so much for me to learn. I’m really looking forward to this new opportunity to learn from all of you and to work towards “Improving the lives of all affected by autism”.

One of the goals of ASW is to see a unified state that is able to meet the needs of a diverse autism community. I’m delighted to be given the opportunity to work alongside of our board of directors and staff to achieve this goal by strengthening our current partnerships and building new ones. As a community, we will continue to face challenges but when we confront them together, the obstacles become smaller. Please always feel welcome to reach out to ASW. We are here to support you.

"Individually, we are one drop. Together, we are an ocean." ~Ryunosuke Satoro

Kirsten Cooper
Executive Director