Autism: Incapacity or Distinction? | The Touro Faculty and College System

In recent years, awareness of autism has increased and a neurodiversity movement has emerged that accepts autism and other differences as part of the natural variation in the human genome. The panel of leading scholars and advocates will draw on their personal and professional experiences in the areas of awareness, acceptance, and inclusion of autism and will examine efforts to advance neurodiversity.

Take part in Touro Talks and the Jewish Law Institute at the Touro Law Center and have a comprehensive virtual conversation with experts from around the world.

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SPEAKER:

Dr. Alan Kadish
The President of Touro College and the University System is a noted educator, researcher, and administrator who trains the next generation of community, business, and healthcare leaders

Samuel J. Levine
Professor of Law and Director, Jewish Legal Institute, Touro Law Center, prolific writer, author of What Yosef on the Spectrum? Understand Joseph through the Torah, Midrash, and classical Jewish sources

John Elder Robison
Neurodiversity Scientist, College of William & Mary; New York Times bestselling author of Look Me in the Eye: My Life with Asperger’s
John Elder Robison is an autistic adult who grew up without a diagnosis. At the age of 20 he worked for Pink Floyd’s sound company and KISS, for whom he designed fire-breathing special effects guitars. John designed power systems for our country’s final underground nuclear tests, which led him to start a company that restored classic cars when he developed a second career in performance photography. He is a Neurodiversity Scholar at the College of William & Mary and an advisor to the Neurodiversity Institute at Landmark College.

Shira Ruderman
Executive Director of the Ruderman Family Foundation
Shira has focused on the rights and inclusion of disabilities, US-Israel relations, and strategic philanthropy for the past 20 years as an executive and serial hit in the social justice world. As Executive Director of the Ruderman Family Foundation, she has invested in human capital within the foundation and its ecosystem, fueling the building blocks of the transformations she is aiming for, such as establishing disability rights as an area of ​​social impact.

MODERATOR:

Professor Thane Rosenbaum
Rosenbaum, essayist, author, law professor and legal commentator at CBS News Radio, also serves as a Distinguished University Professor at Touro College, where he leads the Forum on Life, Culture and Society