|
Autism Society Advisory Panel Member with Autism Meets President Obama
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
By: Amanda Glensky
Sondra Williams meets her hero at the 20th Anniversary of the ADA
A dream came true this week for Sondra Williams, a member of the Autism Society’s Panel of People on the Spectrum of Autism. On Monday, the 20th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, she stood with one of her heroes, President Barack Obama, and shook his hand – twice.
“I still think it’s like a dream that’s not really happening,” said Williams, a woman with autism who serves as an adviser to the Autism Society. “The only higher person than him is God – that’s the only higher person I haven’t met yet.”
Williams, who lives in Columbus, Ohio, is a married mother of four children, all of whom have been diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome, and a grandmother of two. She is a self-published author and recently took up dance lessons. One of the characteristics Williams respects about the President is the resilience he showed during the presidential campaign. “He didn’t let the water ripple under his feet; he just stood there strong,” she said. “To me, I think he really represents the people … he didn’t come from a lot of money and wealth.”
Williams’ invitation to the White House’s 20th came at the opening keynote at the Autism Society’s 41st annual conference in Dallas earlier this month, during which Williams, from her seat in the audience, gathered her courage and addressed speaker Kareem Dale, Special Assistant to the President for Disability Policy.
“If you ever see President Obama, would you please tell him I’m one of his biggest fans and would like to meet him one day?” she asked before returning to her seat.
Dale’s response was unexpected: “Want to come meet him later this month?”
Looking back on that moment, Williams said she thought Dale was joking. “I didn’t mean for him to truly have me see him; I just wanted him to give him the message,” she said.
She got the confirmation about four days before Monday’s event that she was due to meet the President privately – one of only 12 people invited to do so. Friends in her hometown of Columbus, Ohio, helped her prepare for the big day, such as helping her choose the right new dress. “Normally, I need lots more time,” she said. “That was fast for me, but I still did it.”
Waiting to meet with the President in the West Wing of the White House, Williams was “very, very, very excited and anxious, and trying to figure out what was going to happen,” she said. Then, she was escorted into a room where she got to meet the musicians and actors participating in the ceremony, including Patti Labelle, someone she had always liked on television and soon learned she liked in person. “She’s just caring and affectionate to all kinds of people,” Williams said.
While she waited, Williams thought about her meeting with the President from a sensory perspective, wondering what he would smell like, if he would have a nice voice and if he was very tall.
He was very tall, smelled nice, and was soft-spoken and calming, she reported later. “He was just okay with everybody that was in his space.”
When they met in the West Wing’s Map Room, Williams got to tell Obama that she supported him and the two posed for a photo. Williams would have liked to speak with him in more detail about the various barriers and challenges people with autism face, but there was not enough time, she said.
She also brought the President a letter she wrote to him, a book she authored called Reflections of Self, and another book written by a friend. “I just wanted to meet him and give him gifts, so that when he looks at my book he will remember my story and know who I am,” she said.
Later, Obama shook her hand again while walking to the podium during the public event. “Hi, again,” Williams remembers him saying.
What resonated with her were Obama’s remarks about his father-in-law who had multiple sclerosis. He got up to work each day to provide for his family and attended every dance recital and sports game, Williams said.
One of the most exciting parts of the day for her was witnessing the President sign an executive order to increase federal employment of individuals with disabilities. Williams said she would like to see the ADA protections expanded to those with social and behavioral disabilities – those who are many times “locked out of the loop,” she said. “As autistics, we don’t always look disabled.”
“There’s still too many people being institutionalized and held there against their will,” she added.
Meeting the President was one of Sondra’s biggest dreams. If she could share one lesson from the experience Monday, she said, it would be from the President’s famous campaign chant: “Yes, I can.”
|
