Autism Vox

The Whole Rest of the World Has to Change

by Kristina Chew, PhD on May 9th, 2007

Words to remember from New Jersey state Supreme Court Justice Helen Hoens, whose autistic son Charlie is 22 years old:

“Shortly before he passed away, my father said: ‘There’s nothing wrong with Charlie. The whole rest of the world has to change,’” she recalled.

Hoens’s words are quoted in a May 9th article in the Star-Ledger about the opening of a new public school for autistic students in central and northern New Jersey, the Morris-Union Jointure Commission’s Developmental Learning Center in Warren Township. For more on the opening of the school which has space for some 300 students, see also today’s Courier-News Post. The school houses extensive facilities—-”two pools, classrooms, a gymnasium and green design elements such as geothermal heating, an environmentally conscious layout, energy-efficient lighting and more,” plus “Main Street,” which contains a grocery store, bank, barber shop and apartment. The hope is that students at the school can be educated in academic as well as daily living skills, and that learn to use these in the real world.

Hoens notes that her father would be “proud” of the new school: “‘When we open ourselves up and invite the world in, maybe, maybe we’ll start to change the world.’”

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POSTED IN: Disability Rights, Education, New Jersey