Spectrum Perspectives

Nadine & Nassan-Helping Inner City Autism Families in Newark, NJ

Nadine’s son Nassan is a 6’ 6” 18 year old with Autism. As a parent she couldn’t find any kind of program or support group. So Nadine began the non-profit “Nassan’s Place”, to help Autism families in inner cities of New Jersey. Through education, basketball camps, activities, respite, sensory friendly movie days, holiday celebrations, swim programs, Summer camp, barbeques. She makes sure that siblings are included in many of the activities. Her goal is to make sure that when there is no school there is a place for these kids to go. She has helped families that have become homeless and provided food and shelter for them. She also does a Women’s empowerment luncheon and a pampering days for moms and dads. to learn more, visit www.Nassansplace.org

Pat MIller-Beloved Bath employs people with Autism

Pat and her business partner Pam started “Beloved Bath”, a for-profit business that employs people with Autism making candles, soaps, bath salts and body butters. They started the business for their own autistic sons and others, knowing that there is a very high unemployment rate for these individuals. We discuss his development and the relationship between her autistic son and his two brothers and how she and Pam started Beloved Bath. All products are available on-line. Visit their website www.BelovedBath.com. To see the video tour of the space watch the video version on YouTube at Robbie's World channel. 

Jonah Zamiles- Book Store employs people with Autism

Jonah talks about raising his son Daniel and about how he became a stay at home Dad after being an attorney. Later he and his wife decided to open a book store as a place of employment for their son and others with Autism.

Suzi Suares-Liquid Church Special Needs Ministry- Part 2

Suzi continues talking about the Special Needs program at Liquid church where they serve 150-200 kids with Special Needs. We talk about how they prepare ahead of time to create a comfortable environment for the children before they begin to come to Sunday School. Liquid church has campuses at 7 locations throughout New Jersey in Parsippany, Sayreville, Mountainside, Garwood, Somerville and two new locations in Wayne and Princeton. Covid has presented some challenges trying to find buddies to help right now but they are still pressing on helping families of Special Needs

Suzi Suares-Liquid Church Special Needs Ministry-Part 1

Suzi is the mom of a son with Autism and Epilepsy who began a dynamic ministry for Special Needs kids at Liquid Church in New Jersey. They offer Sunday School classes and get thousands of volunteers to be their buddies for life. They offer Parent Night Out every month as respite to families, and Parents Day Out on Black Friday so parents can shop hassle free. In February they host the “Night To Shine”, a prom for Special Needs kids and adults sponsored by the Tim Tebow Foundation. It’s open to the community where they host 1,000 guests, with 1,000 buddies and other volunteers.

Assemblywoman Michele Matsikoudis-Sponsors Emma's Law and Billy Cray's Law

Michele is an Assemblywoman from District 21 in New Jersey. She is a prime sponsor for Emma's Law (to add GPS and video cameras to school busses) and a 3rd prime sponsor for Billy Cray's Law (to add video cameras to group homes). Listen to find out why she cares so much about helping the Special Needs Community, especially those with Autism. This interview is a follow up to the interviews with Jennifer Love (Emma's mom) and Martha Earl Cray (Billy Cray's mom).

Jennifer Love-Disabled daughter's school bus disappears for hours

Jennifer’s daughter has autism and epilepsy, and at 11 years old was diagnosed with Lennox Gastaut Syndrome. Some of her seizures were uncontrollable crying episodes. Emma is completely non-verbal and during the pandemic she didn’t understand virtual school and cried because she saw her friends and couldn’t understand why she couldn’t see them in person. Emma goes to a school an hour away from her house and Jenn had multiple battles with the different transportation companies. When a new company took over the route and sent a new driver, they got “lost” for 5 hours. The state police found them in Camden. Now Jenn is pushing for legislation to make sure that all busses have a GPS, a communication device (a phone) and cameras on all vehicles transporting Special Needs kids.

Aileen Rivera-Son beat up in group home- Part 2

After both of their sons were abused and beaten in group homes, Aileen and Martha Earl Cray (our previous interview) worked together and were instrumental in getting Stephen Komnino’s Law” passed. The law states that caregivers must report any injuries or abuse in group homes and must pass background tests and be drug tested regularly. Now they are working on getting “Billy Cray’ Law” passed in the senate. This law will allow video cameras in group homes if the members so choose. Cindy shares her own experience with requesting video cameras in her son Robbie’s group home to monitor him to make sure he didn’t have a seizure in his sleep, but she was denied by the state stating that it was an “invasion of his privacy”. Yet in the end, Robbie actually did die of a seizure in his bed. They discuss how a choice of video cameras should be allowed to save the lives of those in group homes. To see photos, visit our YouTube channel "Robbie's World" to watch the video version.

Aileen Rivera-Son beat up in group home- Part 1

When Aileen’s 36 year old son Daniel was very young, her insurance was running out, so her Doctor recommended giving him all his shots at once. He got a fever, became sick, and she began to see changes in his behavior and he was diagnosed with Autism. When he turned 21 they placed him in a group home where he was abused and restrained for hours, and staff would try to cover it up. They removed him from that home and put him another home where they beat him up and punched him in the face giving him two black eyes and fractured teeth! So they removed him and put him into a supervised apartment where a caregiver smacked him. When his father arrived and confronted the caregiver he became verbally abusive, but Daniel’s dad recorded the altercation. Daniel now resides in his own apartment where Aileen has a caregiver of her choosing care for him, all under “Self Directed Care” through the State of NJ.

Martha Cray-Son found dead in group home, Billy Cray's Law- Part 2

In part 2 Martha recounts the day that 2 police officers showed up at her door to tell her that her son Billy was found dead on the floor of his closet in his group home. He was taken for an autopsy done by a medical examiner employed by the day program, without his parents’ knowledge or consent, where they determined his death was from “natural causes”. Now she coaches other parents to make sure that it’s written into their child’s IHP that in case of a death that they should be notified immediately. She is now pushing for legislation known as “Billy Cray’s Law” that will allow video cameras in group homes. Some are fighting against it, but parents believe it will save many lives.