Big Brothers and Big Sisters of America

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B i g B r o t h e r s B i g S i s t e r s

Changing Lives, One ‘Little,’ One ‘Big’ at a Time

Leah Martin Photography

By GEORGE O'BRIEN

A ngela Smith-LeClaire was relatively young (age 8) when she became involved with Big Brothers Big Sisters (BBBS) as what that organiza­ tion calls a ‘little.’

So the memories o ther time spent with Lisa, who spent five years as her ‘big,’ are scattered, somewhat selective, and certainly not as complete as she would like. She admits, with

some embarrassment in her voice, that she knows she and Lisa went to one of the organized events staged by Big Brothers Big Sisters of Franklin County years ago, but couldn’t say exactly when, where, or even what it was.

What she clearly remembers, though, and always will, are the dinners she shared at the home of Lisa and her husband, and the air of stability that warmed the room, something decidedly missing from her own home, where alcoholism was taking a heavy toll on day-to-day life.

What she remembers also is at some point making a kind of pledge — that one day she would seek to bring that same sense of stabil­ ity to a young girl who lacked it in her life. That day came a few months ago, not long after Smith-LeClaire and her husband, Anthony, purchased a home in Millers Falls.

Today, following a lengthy matching process, she is the ‘big’ for Abby, whose family life has been scarred by drug addiction. And one of the things they share is dinner in Angela’s home. They’ve also gone bowling, made Christmas cookies and tree ornaments, cooked a Thanksgiving turkey, and gone on lengthy walks with Angela’s dog, Cooper.

CiLet me put it this way: I’m not dose to getting married, but if I was, Macho would be

one of the groomsmen. ) )

And only three months into this relationship, she feels comfortable saying that it is more — in every sense of that word — than she imagined it could be all those years ago.

“Abby has brought so much joy into my life, and I get so excited being able to hang out with her, knowing that there’s so many things she hasn’t done so far in her life,” she said. “I want to bring some joy into her life, because she’s

already bringing a lot of happiness to me.” Scott Howard can relate. His story is somewhat different, but there are sev­

eral common threads between his, Angela’s, and that of almost everyone who becomes a ‘big.’

Now serving as associate dean of students at Amherst College, Howard was in another job and another life situation years ago, when he first started thinking about becoming a ‘big.’ He decided that he should wait until a time when he could better handle what he thought would be a huge time commitment

Now, five years into his relationship with Noel, or ‘Macho,’ as his good friends (including Howard) call him, he’s wondering why he waited so long. He could have had perhaps a few more years enjoying a friendship he described thusly: “Let me put it this way; I’m not close to getting married, but if I was, Macho would be one of the groomsmen.”

Like Howard, Brian Ortiz said he’s long thought of becoming a big brother, and the time became right this past fall, soon after he became residence director

C o n tin u e d on p a g e A 1 8

From left, David

Beturne, Danielle

Letourneau- Therrien, and

Renee Moss.

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Big Brothers Big Sisters Continued from page A 16

at Magna Hall at American International College. He said his own brother is 13 years older than he

is, and thus was not around when he was growing up. Ortiz said he had plenty of mentors, though, and has long desired to become one himself as a way of giving back. Today, he’s the ‘big’ to Desmond, and believes he’s getting at least as much out of this rela­ tionship as his ‘little.’

“It’s been a great experience for me, and I think

( ( I get to be with someone who brings a lot to my life, helps

me feel young and gives me a perspective on the world that I would never see otherwise. ) )

it’s been the same for him,” he explained. “I honestly didn’t think I’d be as involved in it as I am; I enjoy serving as a role model.”

The tireless work of generating these kinds of matches is what BBBS has been all about since 1904. It is an assignment replete with a host of challenges, from the increasingly daunting task of finding young men willing to be ‘bigs’ to raising the money needed to make and administer the matches.

The three area chapters have responded to those challenges with creativity and determination, and the fruits of their efforts can be seen in the photos that accompany this story. They depict bigs and

littles sharing time and enriching one another’s lives. And as you read how the three chapters make

it all happen, it will become clear why they were chosen as Difference Makers for 2016. But in a way, all those involved with this nonprofit are making a difference — from the corporations and schools that support the organization to the local offices that create the matches; from the mentors who provide stability to those being mentored, who provide their ‘big’ with friendship and so much more.

A n g ela S m ith - LeClaire fu lfille d a p rom ise she m ad e to h e r­ self years ag o by b eco m in g a b ig sister to A bby.

It's All Relative In many ways, Howard’s story represents about

the best kind of PR that BBBS could ever hope for. Indeed, he is a young male professional, the type

of individual that this organization has struggled to recruit in adequate numbers since day one; recruit­ ing women is also a challenge, but less so than men. Also, he throws a large bucket of cold water on the argument that young people don’t have time to be a mentor — for whatever reason — or often need to wait until a better, more stable time in their lives to

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David How ard, seen here w ith Noel, or 'M acho,' as his friends call him, wonders w hy he w aited so long to becom e a big brother.

take part. Not only that, when he talks about his experienc­

es with Macho, he says things like this: “I don’t feel like I’m doing service; I just feel like 1 have a friend who is a really good friend, with whom I do a lot of

things that my other friends don’t do. I get to be with someone who brings a lot to my life, helps me feel young, and gives me a perspective on the world that I would never see otherwise.”

And the story just keeps getting better from a PR perspective. Indeed, it drives home the point that poverty and struggling families are harsh realities in every community, even one named Paradise City, which both Howard and Macho call home.

“He and I live half a mile from each other, but it’s like our worlds couldn’t be more different,” Howard explained, adding that this experience opened his eyes to that other world as much as it has opened Macho’s — and both indi­ viduals are wiser and better for it.

But convincing more people like Howard to become ‘bigs,’ and per­ suading all young professionals that they5re not too busy to change a child’s life, are only a few of the myriad chal­ lenges that BBBS chapters around the world — and in the 413 area code, for that matter — face as they attempt to secure proper matches.

In rural Franklin County, statisti­ cally the most impoverished county in the Commonwealth, for example, basic transportation is an issue, said Danielle Letoumeau-Therrien, execu-

——"i tive director of that office, noting that, once outside Greenfield, mass transit is hit or miss at best. Meanwhile,

reliable Internet service, something most now take for granted in Greater Springfield, is a foreign con­ cept in places like Rowe, Heath, Charlemont, and Ashfield, a fact of life that often makes it difficult to

CC Over the past 15 or 20 years, we’ve lost access to people at many work­

places — companies that were run by someone who lived locally. You could say, 7 need to see the boss,’ and they’d

let you in. It’s different now, and I think the people who work in those places don’t have the time, like they did years ago, because the world is

crazy and life is busy. 55

communicate with ‘bigs’ and ‘littles’ alike. These two factors, among others, makes the pro­

cess of enrolling families and creating matches more I time-consuming and more complicated, because

BBBS has to go to those families, instead of the fami­ lies going to BBBS.

Still another obstacle is the loss of a number of manufacturers in the region, which moved south or offshore. These large employers were financial sup­ porters of BBBS, and their workforces were solid sources o f‘bigs.’

“Over the past 15 or 20 years, we’ve lost access to people at many workplaces — companies that were run by someone who lived locally. You could say, ‘I need to see the boss,’ and they’d let you in,” she said. “It’s different now, and I think the people who work in those places don’t have the time, like they did years ago, because the world is crazy and life is busy.”

Meanwhile in Hampshire County, as mentioned earlier, it’s often a challenge simply to convince

Wonderfully Well Deserved! Big Brothers-Big Sisters has been a longtime, upstanding agency that does more than match kids with

grown-up mentors. They help shape lives, improve the community and champion the potential of kids and teens who represent the future of our region.

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young professionals that there is a need for big brothers and big sisters on that side of the ‘Tofu Curtain,’ a region known for its colleges, arts, res­ taurants, and trendy downtowns, but where poverty and troubled young people can certainly be found, and without looking very hard.

“One of my challenges is making sure people understand what life feels like for those in our com­ munity who are living with a lot of invisibility,”

« A lot of families and kids are marginalized in their own

communities — they’re isolated and very invisible.JJ

Renee Moss, director of CHD/Big Brothers Big Sisters of Hampshire County, explained. “A lot of families and kids are marginalized in their own com­ munities — they’re isolated and very invisible. The reality is that places like Amherst and Northampton have these apartment complexes on the periphery of Main Street and what appear to visitors to be these hip, trendy downtowns.

“For our kids who live in Florence Heights in Northampton, most of them have never been to the city’s downtown,” she went on. “They have no sense of entitlement in their own community; in Amherst, 50% of the kids entering school have free or reduced lunches. The poverty is there, but the towns manage to keep it pretty invisible. Things are not what they seem.”

And in Hampden County, well, the overwhelming issue has been, and always will be, need and meet­ ing it, said David Beturne, executive director of that office, adding that it handles two of the state’s most

impoverished cities — Springfield and Holyoke — as well as two of its wealthier communities, Longmeadow and Wilbraham, and the need for ‘bigs’ exists at both ends of the spectrum.

That’s because the issues that create need for big brothers and big sisters, including everything from incarceration to opioid abuse; from bullying to alcohol­ ism, don’t discriminate along family-income levels, he told BusinessWest.

And his county, like the others, is dealing with the loss of some major employers over the past few decades, as well as an ongoing spate of mergers and acquisitions that have left fewer businesses in the hands of local ownership that lives in the communities being served by BBBS.

Thus, need has always exceeded not only the supply of ‘bigs’ in the pipeline, but the ability to simply make more matches because of budget and, therefore, staffing constraints.

“I can’t match any more kids than I’m currently matching at the pace I am, because my staff would kill me right now,” Beturne said, noting that, even if he could find an adequate number of willing ‘bigs,’ he simply doesn’t have the infrastructure to coordi­ nate matches.

“You can’t just say to someone like me, ‘go match 20 more kids than you’re already serving,” he went on. “Our product, the end product, is our match, but we’re not selling a product. Instead, we’re changing lives; that takes money, time, patience, and creating effective matches, not just more of them.”

Brian O rtiz says there are m any rewards th a t come w ith being a role model for Desmond.

On to Something Big Meeting need and overcoming this large assort­

ment of challenges requires persistence, imagina­ tion, and relationship-building skills — in equal quantities. And because they’ve been able to display those qualities on a consistent basis, and literally change lives in the process, the three chapters can definitely be considered Difference Makers.

The persistence is required because the need never stops. It is, as all three directors indicated, a

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Big B rothers Big Sisters has b een m ak in g fu lfillin g m atches since 1 9 0 4 .

constant, because there will always be young people who lack stability and a role model in their lives. And imagination is necessary for that same reason, but also because need doesn’t come in one flavor — and, as Bertune said, BBBS isn’t focused on simply making matches; it’s dedicated to making matches that work.

As for relationship building, it goes hand-in-hand with the first two components in the equation and goes a long way toward explaining how that mission

« / can’t match any more kids than I’m currently matching at the pace I am, because my staff would

kill me right now .}}

is accomplished. Examples of imaginative response

and relationship building can be found with each area office.

In Hampshire County, for example, there is an initiative that matches young people who have been adopted with students at UMass Amherst who were adopted, the only such program of its kind in the country, said Moss, adding that it was conceptualized out of both need and a valuable resource at UMass — the Rudd Adoption Research Program, which is affiliated with the Center for Research on Families.

“The Amherst schools had identi­ fied this as a need because a lot of their kids were adopted,” she explained. “They were seeing these students start to have a lot of issues once they reach middle school, and they reached out to see if there was something we could do to address that specific need.”

The initiative is simply one exam­ ple of how the Hampshire County BBBS works to tap what is easily that region’s best asset, its colleges — spe­ cifically, in this case, UMass, Amherst College, and Smith College.

“We don’t really have a corporate base, so probably 50% of our mentors

are college students,” Moss explained, adding that some take part in the traditional community-based model of service, while others are involved in site- based programs on the campuses.

“In Hampshire County, a lot of our ‘littles’ come from families where no one has ever graduated from high school, let alone gone on to college, and they’re

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JANUARY 25, 2016 A37vww.BusinessWest.com DiFFERENCEMAKERS Mike Balise C o n tin u e d fro m p a g e A 14

its in various types of need. Summing up the corporate response to such requests, he said there are many social-service agencies that, among their many other responsibilities, handle such matters, and Balise will step in only if such needs can’t be met through such channels.

“There are so many great services that will handle such requests,” he explained. “It takes time, there’s bureaucracy, and you have to go through paperwork, but there are agencies that meet these needs. If we believed the system provided for these people, we would tend to say ‘no.’

“But quite often, Mike would give a vehicle to a person who didn’t fall into any of those categories,” he went on. “It would be a mom whose husband died... she had four kids ... one of the kids has a job but now he’s going to lose his job because he has no transportation to it, that kind of thing. It was people like this, people who fell under the radar screen, that he sought to help — and he helped a lot of them.

“That’s what Mike was good at — finding people who really needed the help,” Jeb continued, adding that one of the causes he attached himself to years ago was autism.

This work has taken many forms, from working with his friend Doug Flutie to stage a free-throw-shooting competition at the Basketball Hall of Fame to raise money for Flutie’s founda­ tion, which assists those with the condi­ tion, to taking an autistic child to visit New England Patriots Head Coach Bill Belichick last fall.

But the main beneficiary (literally and figuratively) of his time, talents, and desire to help was Community Resources for People with Autism.

Founded in 1989 by a group of par­ ents with autistic children, this state- funded organization, as the name sug­ gests, is focused on providing resources to a host of constituencies. These range from individuals diagnosed with the condition to their families to the school systems tasked with providing them with an education.

The resources provided by the Easthampton-based agency, one of seven across the state with the same mission, vary as well, from information and refer­ rals to a resource library; from training and education to educational advocacy.

There is just one coat hanging in the hanging in the hallw ay at Hom er Street School, said Principal Kathleen Sullivan, because everyone who needs one has one.

It is with the last item on that list that Mike (whose family received vari­ ous forms of support from the agency), acting as part of that aforementioned team at Balise, decided to step in and fill another critical gap.

Indeed, educational advocacy, which involves guiding parents though the individualized education program (IEP) and special-education processes, is the only service not funded by the state. But it’s something many parents need, said Doody, adding that it is very difficult

CC That’s what Mike was good at — finding people who

really needed the help.

for them to articulate and then fight for all the services their child needs and is entitled to.

“It’s hard for a parent to know how the law works, let alone possess the negotiating skills needed, to advocate for their child in front of school offi­

cials,” she explained, adding that Nancy Farnsworth, the agency’s educational advocate, has both parts of the equation covered.

The rate for her services generally runs about $45 per hour, although there is a sliding scale, Doody went on, noting that families sometimes need help meet­ ing such costs. Various forms of sup­ port have been secured over the years, she explained, but, as with the coats at Homer Street School, there was a gap between need and the help available.

“Sometimes we woxdd try to divert some of our fund-raising toward that project and cobble money together somehow,” she told BusinessWest. “But it was always underfunded.”

It was roughly 16 months ago, or just after Mike was diagnosed with stomach cancer, that the Balise company was first approached by the agency about helping to close that gap.

The $20,000 the company eventually donated last fall — Mike presented the ceremonial check at one of the com­ pany’ s dealerships — will provide schol­ arships and assistance for roughly 10 to 15 families, said Doody, making this a substantial gift that will have a lasting

impact. The same can certainly

be said for Mike’s decision to name the agency his beneficiary of choice.

“We were surprised but very pleased that they chose Community Resources as the benefi­ ciary,” she said. “Knowing how many people he was connected to and the many ways he was involved in the community, this is a real honor, and I’m imagining that a lot of people will want to remember him with a gift.”

Doody placed herself in that category, noting that she dropped off a check in Mike’s name early this month.

She said it certainly isn’t known yet how her gift and all the others will be put to use by the agency to sup­ port its mission. But there is already some sentiment toward using at least a portion of those funds to expand the educational- advocacy program —

Farnsworth currently works part-time — and provide more help to those who need such services.

If that is what transpires, it will be just one example of how Mike and the Balise company will be closing gaps long after his passing.

Oothesing Thoughts Today, there is just one winter coat, a

large blue one with gold accents, hang­ ing in the main hallway at Homer Street School, just a few feet from a large collec­ tion of hats, mittens, and gloves.

And it’s been there for a while, said Sullivan, adding that this is because every student who needs a coat has one, a departure from years past

Mike Balise saw to it that this was the case, and he will continue to see to it, even though his fight with cancer has ended.

This is an example of how his work as Difference Maker continues to live on. And there are many more where that came from. Rj

George O'Brien can be reached a t obrien@ businesswest. com

BigBrothersBigSisters C o n tin u e d fro m p a g e A 2 1

growing up in the shadows of higher ed,” she explained. “So, once a week, the school bus drops them off on the cam­ pus, where they meet their big brother or big sister, use the facilities on campus — the basketball court or the pool, for example — and then they’ll get together as a group and have dinner in the dining halls.

“We’ve had kids say, ‘I’m going to college here because the food is great,”’

she went on. “That’s a very specialized program for us because we’re using a tre­ mendous resource that we have.”

Similarly, the Franklin County chapter has tapped into its respected private schools, Deerfield Academy and Northfield Mount Herman School in Gill, for mentors, said Letoumeau- Therrien.

A modified but still strenuous screen­ ing procedure is used in the matchmak­ ing process, she said, noting that these students, roughly halfway through their junior years when the matches start, are still teenagers for the most part.

The ‘bigs’ and Tittles’ meet on Friday

nights, use the facilities at the school, and eat in the dining commons, she explained, adding that the institutions have been involved for many years, and the ratio of men to women who take part is far better than that in the so-called real world.

And in Hampden County, that office has met that aforementioned enormous need through a host of partnerships, with large corporations like MassMutual and colleges such as Bay Path University. But even with those more traditional relationships, there are unique twists.

Indeed, MassMutual’s program, called Pathways, which involves employees

across a host of departments mentoring students from Putnam and Sci Tech high schools, has its own spinoff.

“Those high-school students receiving mentorship from a MassMutual employ­ ee are turning around and being mentors at STEM Academy,” he explained. “It’s a sort of third-generation thing going on, where high-school students are mentor­ ing fifth-graders, because that transition from middle school to high school is extremely difficult; it’s been identified as a case where it’s not a matter of ‘when you get to high school, are you dropping

C o n tin u e d on p a g e A 4 0

A40 JANUARY 25, 2016D1FFERENCEMAKERS WWW. BusinessWest.com

Carol Leary______ C o n tin u e d fro m p a g e A 2 9

“We’ve gotten to the point where we have too many who want to go — we just can’t accommodate everyone, because we can’t have 50 current or emerging lead­ ers out of the company at one time,” she explained. “So we’ve put it on each of our managers to identify one or two women in their business line who they believe should attend the conference and who will really benefit from what they see and hear.”

But these hard decisions comprise the only thing Hall doesn’t like about the women’s conference, except maybe find­ ing a parking space that morning. That, too, has become a challenge, but, for the region as a whole, also a great problem to have.

Because that means that 2,000 women — and some men as well — are not only hearing the keynoters such as Walters, Angelou, and others, but networking and learning through a host of seminars and breakout sessions.

“You always learn something,” said Hall, who has been attending the con­ ference for more than a dozen years. “Last year, I participated in the time- management workshop, and it changed the entire way I look at my schedule from Monday through Friday; the woman was fantastic.

“And there’s tons of networking,” she went on. “We use the conference here as a coaching and development tool for the more junior women on our team. There’s a lot of value in it, and for us, the fact that it’s five minutes away makes it so much easier than sending someone to Boston

or New Haven or anywhere else.” The conference is a college initia­

tive — indeed, its primary goal beyond the desire to help educate and empower women is to give the school valuable exposure — but it is also a community endeavor, and one of many examples of how Leary is of, not just in, the com­ munity.

Others include everything from her service to the Colony Club — she was the first woman to chair its board — to her

time on the boards of the Community Foundation, the Beveridge Foundation, WGBY, and United Bank, among oth­ ers. She was also the honorary chan- of Habitat for Humanity’s All Women build project in 2009.

And then, there was the support she and Noel gave to the museums and the current capital campaign called “Seuss & Springfield: Building a Better Quandrangle,” a gift that Springfield Museums President Kay Simpson described as not only generous, but a model to others who thought they might not be able to afford such philanthropy.

“One of the motivating factors for Carol and Noel,” she noted, “is that they

| wanted to demonstrate that, even if you don’t think you can make a substantial gift, with planning, you can do it.”

Leary said planning began years ago,

and was inspired by a desire to preserve and expand a treasure that many in this area simply don’t appreciate for its qual­ ity.

“We really believe in the museum — we absolutely adore it,” she said. “I said to my niece and nephew at the gala [where the gift was announced], ‘this is your inheritance; you might be in the will, but there isn’t going to be any money in it — it’s going right here, so you can bring your children and your

children’s children here decades from now.’

“Noel told the audience that night, ‘we have some big birthdays coming up, but forget Tiffany’s; we’re giving it to the museums,”’ she went on. “That’s how much we think of this region; there are so many gems, like the museums, the symphony, CityStage, and others that need support.”

And looking back on her time here, she said it has been her mission not only to be involved in the community herself, but to get the college immersed in it as well. She considers these efforts success­ ful and cites examples of involvement ranging from Habitat for Humanity to Big Brothers Big Sisters; from Link to Libraries to the college’s sponsorship of the recent Springfield Public Forum and partnerships that brought speak­

ers such as Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor and author Wes Moore.

“You can’t be an ivory tower,” she told BusinessWest. “We have to be part and parcel of the good, the bad, and the ugly of any community.”

As she talked about the importance of involvement in this community, Leary made it a point to talk about the region itself, which she has chosen to call home. She said it has attributes and selling points that are easier for people not from the 413 area code to appreciate.

And this is something she would like to see change.

“People underrate this area, and the negativity has to stop,” she said with twinges of anger and urgency in her voice. “The language and the perception has to start changing from all of us who have a voice; we have to talk more posi­ tively.”

A C lass A c t When asked how long she intended to

stay at the helm at Bay Path, Leary didn’t give anything approaching a specific answer other than a reference to wanting to see how Vision 2019 shakes out.

instead, she conveyed the senti­ ment that was implied in all those non­ responses to inquiries from executive search firms: she’s not at all ready to leave this job or this community.

As she said, one can have an impact here. One can make a difference.

Not everyone does so, but she has, and in a number of ways. 9

George O'Brien can be reached a t obrien@ businesswest.com

CiPeople underrate this area, and the negativity has to stop. The language and the perception has to start changing from all

of us who have a voice; we have to talk more positively.}}

Big Brothers Big Sisters C o n tin u e d fro m p a g e A 3 7

out,’ it’s ‘are you getting to high school.’ “So who better to share that experi­

ence and tell people what it’s like than someone who’s being mentored, and someone who’s also in high school?” he went on. “So that’s working out very well for us.”

CCfor kids who are going through a lot in their lives, having that stable environ­ ment is really important. } }

The fruits of all this persistence, imagination, and relationship building are the matches themselves, which are the real story at BBBS and the most vis­ ible manner in which it is making a dif­ ference. And our three stories are perfect examples.

T h e 'L i t t le ' T h in g s Macho is one of those young people

from Florence Heights who hadn’t seen downtown Northampton — until he

became matched with Dave Howard. And making that introduction, if you

will, is only one of the ways Howard says he’s been able to broaden the horizons of his mentee and take him well beyond his historic but impoverished neighborhood — literally and figuratively.

As he listed them, he started with hik­ ing and mountain climbing, two of his passions, as was explained to Macho by those who made the match between the two.

“So the first time I met him, he was trying to be cool, trying to impress me, trying to get me to think he was cool — and he is cool, so it worked,” Howard recalled. “So I said, what are you into?’ He said, ‘climbing mountains.’ When I asked him where he likes to go, I thought he was going to say, ‘something in the [Holyoke] range’ or ‘Mount Sugarloaf.’ Instead, he pointed to the snowbank at the end of his street and said, ‘I climb that mountain every day.’”

Their first official time out together was spent on the Mount Sugarloaf access road in South Deerfield, which was an eye-opening experience for Macho, to say the least.

“He didn’t know that kind of thing existed, let alone was right in our own backyards,” said Howard. “That was not a life experience that he had.”

C o n tin u e d on p a g e A 4 1

B ig B ro th e rs B ig S is ters h as b e e n c h a n g in g liv e s fo r a ll th o s e in v o lv e d in th e ir p ro g ra m s .

JANUARY 25, 2016 A41www.BusinessWest.coin DlPFERENCElffllRS John Robison_____ C o n tin u e d fro m p a g e A 35

that book that I understood how certain things that I did, like that, were different from what other people expected, and it’s because I was neurologically different. No matter how smart you are, you can’t possibly just figure that someone else sees the world differently than you do. So that book was life-changing.”

And as he talked about the process of discovering the cause of his “own differ­ ences,” as he called them, Robison used the words ‘empowering’ and ‘liberating’ to describe the phenomenon.

“If you’ve been told that you’re lazy, stupid, retarded, defective, or no good, for you to learn that you are touched by a form of autism, that’s ... an explanation, and that’s really good,” he said, adding that, with this explanation, he would learn the ways autistic people (including those with Asperger’s) were different, and “teach myself to behave more like people expected.”

This was a transformative change, he went on, adding that he became more accepted in the community and forged real friendships, and this helped inspire his gradual development as an advocate, work that could be summed up as efforts to provide others with those same feel­ ings of empowerment and liberation.

He said ‘gradual’ for a reason, because this work has certainly evolved over the years.

It began with speaking engagements to groups of young people at venues like Brightside for Families & Children and youth-detention facilities. The talks focused on autism, but also on Robison’s childhood, one marked by various forms of abuse.

“I realized that I could be speaking to young people about having a good life despite having that in your background, too,” he explained, adding that eventual­ ly he sought to reach a broader audience.

That led to Look Me in the Eye, an eventual bestseller published in 2006,

and later his other works, all of which are now sold around the world. He believes that, worldwide, sales of the three books have topped 1 million copies.

But the books and the speaking engagements are only a few manifesta­ tions of Robison’s advocacy for people on the spectrum.

There is also the training school he’s created at his business for young people with autism. Conducted in partnership with the Northeast Center for Youth and Families, the initiative has transformed three bays at the Page Boulevard facility into what amounts to an instructional classroom for young people with learn­ ing challenges.

It was created with the goal of steering

participants toward good-paying jobs in the auto-repair sector, and reflects Robison’s broader mission of transform­ ing how people with differences should be valued and treated by society, and seen as productive contributors to soci­ ety.

Other forms of service — and they often represent opportunities and appointments created through the expo­ sure generated by his books — include participation on several boards and com­ missions involved with autism treatment and policy.

Four years ago, Robison was asked by then-Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius to serve on the committee that produces the strate­ gic plan for autism for the U.S. govern­ ment; that appointment has since been renewed by current HHS Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell. He also serves on a panel that evaluates autism research for the U.S. Department of Defense as well as the steering committee for the World Health Organization develop­ ing ICF (International Classification of

Functioning, Disability, and Health) core sets for autism-spectrum disorder.

He also served a stint on a review board with the National Institutes of Health, tasked with determining how economic-stimulus money appropri­ ated in 2008 should be spent on autism research.

While doing all that, he also teaches a class in neurodiversity at the College of William 8c Mary, one of the first pro­ grams of its kind in the country.

Add all that up, and Robison has a lot of frequent-flyer miles. More impor­ tantly, he has an ever-more powerful voice — one he’s certainly not afraid to use — when it comes to the rights of all those within the autism spectrum, how

those rights are not being recognized or honored, and how all that has to stop somehow.

It all starts with recog­ nition of those rights, he said, adding quickly that discrimination against those in the autism spec­ trum is more difficult to recognize because most

people don’t see it as discrimination. As one example, he cited educational

testing, a realm where discrimination against some classes has been identi­ fied — because of which questions are asked and how — and, in many cases, addressed. Not so when it comes to those with autism.

“You could administer a math or reading test to someone like me, and because I can’t do math problems in the conventional way, I would fail that test,” he explained. “Yet, I could solve complex problems in math in real life, like doing wave-form mathematics in the creation of sound effects when I worked in elec­ tronics.

“If you were to test a person like me in a culturally appropriate way, I’d be a bright guy,” he went on. “But if you test­ ed me the way Amherst High School test­ ed me, I was a failure, and there are a lot of autistic people who are like me today. That testing sets us up for future failure, and it’s a form of discrimination.”

When asked if, how, and when various forms of discrimination, such as

those headlines involving mass shoot­ ings, might become a thing of the past, Robison said this constitutes a difficult task, because so many don’t even recog­ nize it as discrimination.

Progress will only come if adults within the spectrum take full ownership of their condition. And, by doing so, they would also stand up for their rights, as he does.

“We need adults with autism to own it and to say, “I’m autistic, and I’m going to fight for my equality,” he explained, add­ ing that is what the memnbers of various ethinic, racial, and religious groups have done throughout history.

“Autistic people need to do the same thing,” he went on. “They need to say, ‘I’m an autistic adult, and I’m here to say that we’re no killers, we’re not this, and we’re not that; we’re parts of your com­ munity everywhere.’”

Summing up what he’s been doing since his customer gave him that book all those years ago, he would say it comes down to getting other people on the spec­ trum to assume that ownership.

The Last Word As he talked with BusinessWest,

Robison had to stop at one point to take a call concerning flight options for an upcoming speaking engagement in Florida.

It’s fair to say he’s mastered the art and science of booking flights, finding deals, and filling a schedule in a manner that allows him to do all he needs to do.

And that’s only one example — the books on that shelf, as mentioned earlier, are another — of how his work is now truly global in scope.

He said that book he read long ago opened his eyes, empowered him, and liberated him. Helping others achieve all that and more has become a different kind of life’s work.

And another way to make a differ­ ence. ■

George O'Brien can be reached a t obrien@ businesswest.com

tC If you’ve been told that you’re lazy, stupid, retarded, defective, or no good, for you to learn

that you are touched by a form of autism, that’s ... an explanation, and that’s really good. »

Big Brothers Big Sisters C o n tin u e d fro m p a g e A 40

Generating new life experiences, for both the ‘big’ and ‘little,’ is just part of what the program is all about. There’s also that stability factor that Smith- LeClaire mentioned, as well as that role­ modeling work that Ortiz described.

Indeed, while Ortiz has taken Desmond to Interskate 91 and to see Goosebumps, and plans to take him to see The Force Awakens — he needs to see the first six Star Wars movies himself first so he can understand what’s going on — he’s also taken him to the art museum and the library, and lent a hand with homework.

“I think one of the biggest things is trying to be a good role model,” he said.

“I enjoy helping him with homework, and teaching him little things here and there about reading, writing, and math, and also class behavior, how to take notes, and things like that.”

And while that constitutes a learning experience for Desmond, it’s the same for Ortiz, who said he’s learned a lot about himself and the fine art of giving back through this process. In the mean­ time, he’s doing a lot of the things he didn’t get to do as a kid.

As for Smith-LeClaire, when asked if she thought she was providing Abby with that same calm, stable environment that Lisa gave her, she said simply, “I hope so.”

Elaborating, she said that Abby’s mother’s wish is that this experience with BBBS helps her child “act like a kid,” said Smith-LeClaire, adding that she sees a lot of herself in her mentee and can associate

with every experience and emotion she’s witnessed.

“In a lot of ways, I can relate to Abby because I grew up with an alcoholic par­ ent and a really unstable environment,” she noted. “I know what her personality is like, and I want her to be able to have fun with me, but also feel close enough to me to talk about things I can relate to and have a different perspective on than other people.

“For kids who are going through a lot in their lives, having that stable environ­ ment is really important,” she went on. “If I can help provide her with that, then I’m doing something very worthwhile.”

A World of Difference Continuing his unofficial role as

BBBS pitchperson, Howard said that, if the program were to “somehow evapo­ rate tomorrow,” he and Macho would

still be good friends and still hiking on Mount Sugarloaf together.

Perhaps there’s no better testimony to the power of these matches and what they bring to both parties involved. As Howard said, it’s not about service, it’s about making a friend — one who would be standing next to him the day he got married.

It’s also about bringing stability into fives where that precious commodity is in short supply— as Lisa brought to Ashley, and Ashley now brings to Abby 20 years later — and about opening eyes and experiencing different worlds.

That’s why all those involved with making matches like those described here are true Difference Makers. ■

George O'Brien can be reached a t obrien@ businesswest.com

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