Autism Activists Advocates in Action

March 2013

Here you can see Stephen and I in Albany, New York back in March 2013. Albany is the New York State capital. Seat of New York State Government! Heads of agencies, clients/consumers and their families made the bus ride up to Albany on a very rainy day!

That day we made a stand. Every time a legislator/representative would come out our representative made our presence know. No we did not get to meet with Gov. Cuomo that day but there is strength in numbers. We could not be ignored!!

The Young Man in the red coat read a heart rending letter he had written pleading with the legislators not to cut the budget. He said he wanted to be useful. He wanted to work. He did not want to sit in front of a TV all day! The lady in blue was so taken with his letter she made copies and to it back to the other legislators in Albany.

Stephen advocating in Albany, New York March 2013

Super Siblings! Power Autism Activist Advocates in Albany ~~ March 2013

Protesting, Marching and Demonstrating March 2013 in front of Governor Cuomo’s New York City office!! 1500 Strong! We are the 6%!

Me at the Paid Family Leave Rally January 2016!! I carried a photo of Stephen in my pocket to give me strength. I was personally invited to attend the rally by the Governor’s Office. Speakers included Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Vice President Joe Biden both lost relatives to cancer in 2015. Gov. Cuomo read the New York Times article about Stephen and me.

Result: New York State will have Paid Family Leave starting Jan. 2018!! Apathy does nothing. We must engage with our government.

Action gets results! Faith Without Works is dead!

James 2:14-26

New King James Version (NKJV)

Faith Without Works Is Dead

¹⁴What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? ¹⁵If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, ¹⁶and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? ¹⁷Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

¹⁸But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your^[a] works, and I will show you my faith by my^[b]works. ¹⁹You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble! ²⁰But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead?^[c] ²¹Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? ²²Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect? ²³And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.”^[d] And he was called the friend of God. ²⁴You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only.

²⁵Likewise, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way?

²⁶For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

Lately many on WordPress have taken to bashing Facebook. Of course it’s your choice whether to join or not join as the case may be however I have found Facebook to be helpful to me in certain cases.

My main purpose in using Facebook is connecting with friends, family, former and current co-workers. I have found school classmates from 45/50 years ago! Facebook is the easiest way to set up meetings, get-togethers, parties, etc….. There is no way in the world you can know everyone’s phone number or email nor do you have the time to make that many phone calls. Also it is a way to share important news via Facebook Messenger. That’s how I found out one of my former co-workers had died a few months ago. If another co-worker had not let us know on her page I would not have been able to attend the viewing/funeral. Despite it being a sad affair because the woman who died was only 54 I did get to see co-workers I had not seen in nearly 20 years. Basically you really only see people at weddings or funerals. Lately for me mostly the latter. Many of my friends have gotten married, moved outside or New York City or live too far away for immediate contact. Also my museum and my Union DC 37 has their own individual pages that distributes relevant news to Union Members. It is also a place to ask questions and voice concerns. Yes we do have union meetings but the museum has three separate locations and various shifts and those of us not in the Main Building cannot attend the Union Meetings.

Also you have a better chance of contacting me via Facebook rather than calling or emailing me. I work long strange hours however I check Facebook every day. I also check my email every day so either are good in my case.

In terms of business, marketing and promotional use I use Facebook now to showcase my photography blog Roaming Urban Gypsy.

https://roamingurbangypsy.com/

Black Genealogy Page

One Mothers Day several years ago I posted my Maternal Grandmother Hattie Finney Banks photo on the Black Genealogy Page. Now this page is not just for African-Americans. Many whites go to the page in search of their Black ancestors. One such white lady saw my Grandmother’s photo and contacted me. She was actually searching for her Black son who had died but who had left behind a daughter. Her goal was to find family connections for the little girl.

This woman had information on my grandparents and Great-grandparents including death certificates and newspaper articles that I would have never found on my own. She still lives in the West Virginia town where most of my maternal family members including my mother were born. Turns out we were not related but we became friends and I’m always happy to hear from her on Facebook.

Autism Activism

In May of 2015 the New York Times published an article about me and my brother Stephen. I posted the article on Facebook and it went Viral! My friends, family and co-workers share it on their pages and everywhere. The result: Jan. 2016 while at work I received a phone call from Gov. Cuomo’s office personally inviting me to a Paid Family Leave Rally in the city. Next year starting Jan. 2018 the state of New York will have Paid Family Leave for all it’s residents!! Booyah!! I’m not going to reprint all the past links but if you search between May 2015 and Jan. 2016 you’ll see all the work I put in along with my team to help achieve this goal.

Now if I had published the same New York Times article on WordPress which I did eventually I would not have gotten the same result mostly because most of my Subscribers/Followers on WordPress are from countries outside the U.S.A. and this news would not affect them or have any meaning. Even those U.S. Followers/Subscribers most of them are not from New York again my news would have not meaning so there would be no reason to share.

Also every last U.S. elected official has a Facebook page. This is how you contact them. That’s how I communicated with the representative for Stephen’s district. Many times this is easier than all the phone calls I’ve been making.

Conclusion

Facebook has many benefits if you use it in the right way. Activism and Advocacy takes place on Facebook. This is how Activists like myself find out at demonstrations, rallies, marches, etc… For those of you who are anti-Facebook we are not going back into time. Whether you are selling books, artwork, photography or establishing coalitions for positive change Facebook will continue to be a tool for effective communication.

Last but not Least you don’t have to Friend everyone who contacts you. Plus if the person becomes a problem just UnFriend or Block them! Don’t like the racism, discrimination in certain FB Groups. Leave! Problem solved. Folks the FB Genie has been out of the bottle for years and there is no going backwards in time.