Remembering Sandy

Parenting Autistic Children With Love & Acceptance are devastated by the news that Sandy Kinnamon, who had been missing since Sunday, was found deceased earlier today near her home in Allen, TX.  Sandy was formerly a part of the PACLA team, an advocate, an ally to the autistic community, a friend, and most importantly, a loving mom to her beautiful daughters.  Sandy helped to build the PACLA community by advocating for autism acceptance.  In her words and in her actions, she was helping to make a better world for autistic people.  We have lost a dear friend who was known for her compassion, dedication to her daughters, her sense of humor and generosity.  We are overwhelmed with grief for our friend, who has touched so many lives in the autism community.  While this is an incredibly sad day for us at PACLA, we find comfort in knowing how much she meant to so many.   We were all privileged to know Sandy and call her our friend.  
Please share your stories about Sandy at her memorial page:

https://www.facebook.com/RememberingSandyKinnamon/?fref=ts

Image is of Sandy, beautiful and smiling at the camera

Introducing: The Little Free Neurodiversity Library!

We are so excited about another neurodiversity lending library!  The Little Free Neurodiversity Library serves the community of Omaha, NE and is run by the awesome and multi talented Erin Human.

 

Image is a blue little free library box with a gray roof filled with multi-colored books.  The letters underneath are LFNL.

 

1.Can you introduce and tell us a little about yourself?

Hello, I’m Erin, cartoonist, blogger, book lover. I’m married with two kids and a cocker spaniel and we live in Omaha. Originally my husband and I are both from the East Coast but we moved to Nebraska in 2006.

2. How are you connected to autism & the neurodiversity movement?

I am autistic and have neurodivergent family members. Since I realized I was autistic I’ve made lots of autistic and otherwise neurodivergent friends too!

3. What thing or things motivated you to want to start a library in your community?

I opened a Little Free Library in 2014 when a PR company reached out to me to promote their campaign on my blog. I love reading and I love sharing books! After following the Ed Wiley Autism Acceptance Library for a while and seeing the idea of a neurodiversity library begin to catch on, it suddenly occurred to me that I could combine the two and make a Little Free Neurodiversity Library.

4. What goals do you have for your library?

The main goal of my library is to educate my community about neurodiversity, autism acceptance, and disability rights. I’d like help some high quality but lesser-known books about neurodiversity and disability, and their authors and editors, to reach a wider audience. And if somehow this could bring together people with a shared interest in neurodversity, even better!

5. How can people support this project?

One way people can support LFNL is to purchase something from my Amazon wish list: http://www.amazon.com/registry/giftlist/LCLMTFOOIKSE

Another thing people can do is to purchase something from my Redbubble store where I sell LFNL shirts, totes, stickers, and more – all of the proceeds from Little Free Library designs will go directly toward purchasing items for the library.  And of course, Liking and sharing the Facebook page is much appreciated!

6. How will you run the library? (space, dates, etc.)

The Little Free Neurodiversity Library is run through my official Little Free Library, Charter #11920. The updated catalog can be viewed at http://lfnl.libib.com and anyone who wants to borrow a book can email me at littleneurodiversitylibrary@gmail.com to arrange a pickup.

7. What has the response been from your community and others?

The response has been great so far from the neurodiversity community and from other local Little Free Library stewards. And also I’ve had tremendous support from the neurodiversity librarians who came before me. I’ve already received three wonderful donations of books and a DVD. The LFNL is still very new so I’m working on getting the word out to the Omaha community; I’ve got a small but growing catalog so I would love to start lending out these wonderful books!

8. Is there anything else you’d like us to know or want to share?

I’d just like to encourage people to email me if they have any questions about the library, neurodiversity, what books I recommend – or if they want to start a neurodiversity library of their own. I’m happy to help when I can!

To learn more about Erin’s Little Free Neurodiversity Library, check them out on Facebook and also, check out Erin’s blog too!

Here’s another article about the LFNL: BookRiot