The Autism Spectrum Transitioning Primer: Work, Housing, Social Lives, Sex 

As parents and professionals, we are often hyper focused on work-preparedness. "Will my child/student be able to support themselves financially?" We may forget that independent/fulfilling adulthood also includes other factors, like housing, socializing, and safe sex. Michael John Carley will provide strategies for supporting people in all areas.  

As the Founder, and first Executive Director of GRASP, the largest organization in the world comprised of adults on the autism spectrum, Michael John Carley has contractually spoken at almost 150 conferences, hospitals, universities, and health care organizations, including trainings at numerous school districts and Fortune 1000 companies. As the Executive Director of ASTEP (now “Integrate”), he also spoke at conferences focusing on Human Resources, Corporate Diversity & Inclusion, and he conducted numerous webinars for more Fortune 1000 companies.

 Halftime, he is the Consultant for Disability Inclusive Culture for New York University’s (NYU) Office of Global Inclusion, Diversity and Strategic Innovation. As a K-12 school consultant, he has consulted in mostly urban districts both rich and poor. He has consulted in several districts in the Milwaukee area, on the MHA reservation in North Dakota, and consulted on the side for the New York City Department of Education for over ten years. His responsibilities therein are vast: Trainings for school personnel from aides to principals, classroom assessments of teachers, students, and collective groups, he has held weekly individual one-on-one sessions and groups, and he has also conducted building-wide morale repair jobs (that sometimes have nothing to do with autism) in economically-challenged schools.

 As a peer mentor, he currently works with individuals one day per week.

 He has appeared in the media widely, most notably in the New York Times, Washington Post, NY Newsday, the London Times, HuffPost Live, NEWSWEEK OnAir, ABCNews, BBC News, FOX News Network, the Chronicle of Philanthropy, the Chronicle of Higher Education, Psychology Today, Exceptional Parent Magazine, and on radio with Terry Gross’ Fresh Air, and The Infinite Mind. NPR News also aired a 12-minute story that featured he and GRASP. Carley was also featured in a myriad of local news outlets, and was featured in the documentaries, “On the Spectrum,” and “Off the Rails.”

 He was one of two people on the spectrum to address Congress in their first-ever hearings on autism, he has addressed the United Nations, participated in a TED Talk, and his articles have been published in magazines such as Autism Spectrum News, Autism Spectrum Quarterly, and Autism/Asperger Digest. He has a column with Huffington Post (“Autism Without Fear”) that ran for four years (and 30+ columns) in the Huffington Post, and several more in the literary magazine, Sinkhole. His first two books, Asperger’s From the Inside Out: A Supportive and Practical Guide for Anyone with Asperger’s Syndrome (Penguin/Perigee, April, 2008) and Unemployed on the Autism Spectrum (Jessica Kingsley, February, 2016) were both released to humbling advance reviews. Next up is “The Book of Happy, Positive, and Confident Sex for Adults on the Autism Spectrum…and Beyond! which Foreword writer, Dr. Michelle Ballan, refers to as “Carley’s most passionate book to date.”

 He was the inaugural FAR Fund Fellow in 2003; and he has since received NYFAC’s Ben Kramer Award (2008), the BCID Award for Service (2009), Columbia University’s Herbert M. Cohen Lecture (2011), and Eden II’s Peter McGowan & John Potterfield Achievement Award (2011). He also proudly sits on the Board of Directors of NEXT for Autism, the organization behind HBO’s Night of Too Many Stars, and he reviews for the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders. He also sits on the Advisory Boards of GallopNYC, and C.H.A.S.E.

 Until 2001, Mr. Carley was the United Nations Representative of Veterans for Peace, Inc. In that time, he was known primarily for his work in Bosnia, and in Iraq as the Project Director of the internationally acclaimed Iraq Water Project. Prior to 2001 he was also a playwright who enjoyed 15 productions and 10 readings of his plays in New York. He received his Bachelor of Arts from Hampshire College and his Master’s degree from Columbia University. He is also a proud grad of the alternative high school, School One, in his hometown of Providence, RI. 

Along with his (then) 4-year old son, he was diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome in November of 2000. Re-evaluated under DSM-5 in 2014 he was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder. He lives with his wife, former-New York Times and (NPR affiliate) New York Public Radio anchor, Kathryn Herzog and they have two fabulous sons.

This presentation includes a 15 minute break. 

 Additional Information: 

• Certificates are available upon request. 
• When paying, if you do not have a paypal account, please use "checkout as guest." 
• Parent/Self-Advocate Scholarships are available upon request. Please contact Debra for more information. 
• Once you have registered, you will receive an email with the zoom link. Please double-check your email address when registering. 

 

Register Now!