press release

OAR RELEASES ASPERGER DVD FOR COLLEGE PROFESSORS

Arlington, VA, April 18-- The Organization for Autism Research (OAR) released Understanding Asperger Syndrome: A Professor’s Guide, a 12-minute video for use by college students with Asperger Syndrome as a tool to educate their professors, teaching assistants, and others about the disorder.  OAR produced the DVD in cooperation with the Global Regional Asperger Syndrome Project (GRASP) and Pace University in New York thanks to a grant from the Schwallie Family Foundation.  The video is available now for viewing and download at no cost on OAR’s Web page, www.researchautism.org/resources/AspergerDVDSeries.asp.

“The idea behind this series,” said Peter Gerhardt, Ed.D., OAR’s president, “is to have adults with Asperger Syndrome in effect teach what it means to be an adult with the disorder.”

To that end, the video features two people with Asperger Syndrome, Michael John Carley from GRASP and Kiriana Cownesage, a doctoral student at NYU.  Dr. Gerhardt also appears providing information on “reasonable accommodations” in the college classroom.  In addition to being posted on OAR’s Web site, OAR will post it on YouTube.com and produce DVDs to be available upon request via the Web site by early June.

#####

ABOUT OAR: The Organization for Autism Research (OAR) is a national, nonprofit organization formed and led by relatives of children and adults with autism and Asperger Syndrome. OAR is dedicated to promoting research that can be applied to help families, educators, caregivers, and individuals with autism find much-needed answers to their immediate and urgent questions. Committed to the excellence in its services to the autism community, OAR funds applied research that will make a difference in individual lives; provides information that is timely, useful, and cost-efficient; and offers opportunities for the autism community to collaborate and make advances together.

Since 2001, OAR has awarded more than $1.4 million to fund 78 applied research studies and published four community-friendly resource guides in its Life Journey through Autism series.  In 2007, OAR introduced the Schwallie Family Scholarship Program offering college and vocational school scholarships to individuals with autism spectrum disorders and began work on the Understanding Asperger Syndrome Adult Initiative.

#####

Click here for Guidlines for College Success.