[00:00:01] Speaker A: Welcome to Shining Inspiring Voices of Autism with show host Jennifer Dainsler. My name is Jack. I am in the autism spectrum and have Tourette's syndrome. Thank you for taking the time to learn more about the world of autism. If you enjoy what you hear today, don't forget to subscribe to this podcast.
[00:00:17] Speaker B: Hey, everyone, this is Jennifer Dantzler, and I'm the executive director and founder of inspirend, a nonprofit whose mission is to create truly inclusive communities through education and engagement. The goal of this podcast is to shine a light on real people and their stories in hopes of inspiring others who are on this journey of autism. Either themselves, their child, their loved one, their co worker. I truly believe ignorance is not bliss, and we cannot be inclusive communities if we do not understand the people in the community. With autism now affecting 1 in 31 people, we need to get louder about this topic. We recognize that autism is a spectrum. There are a lot of people with a lot of different needs, a lot of resources available or none available. And we know that in every episode, we can't meet everyone's needs for their specific interest.
However, we hope that in each episode, you do gleam some kind of insight as to how you can help your child or yourself be a better advocate. And as we go through our podcast, our goal really is to address the entire spectrum, the various needs, the various environments that we're going to be in. And we hope that there's something in every episode for each one of you. So let's get started.
Okay, everyone, today I'm here with a very special guest, my friend, Brennan. I've known Brennan now for over three decades. Yes, I know you all don't understand that because I actually just turned 27 last week.
Just kidding.
But we are here with my very special friend Brennan, who's here to talk to. He's a self advocate, and he's on the autism spectrum. And so he's here to share a little bit about his journey, what he's doing now for a living, and kind of where he wants to go in the future. So thank you for being here, Brennan.
[00:01:55] Speaker A: Thanks for having me.
[00:01:56] Speaker B: Absolutely. Okay, let's start a little bit for the listeners with how old you are, what you do for a living, and what your diagnosis is.
[00:02:04] Speaker A: Well, first of all, I'm 32 years old. I'm on the autism spectrum, and what I do for a living is I am a registered behavior technician where I work with other children, young adults, a lot of, like, various ages, others that have autism spectrum disorder, just like myself.
[00:02:20] Speaker B: Okay, and where do you live. Do you drive? What's your personal life like?
[00:02:24] Speaker A: I do drive. I live in my own apartment in the Kingwood area.
[00:02:27] Speaker B: Okay, wonderful. Very cool. Let's go back now. So that was sort of helped set the stage for what you're doing now. Let's try to go back to when you were first diagnosed.
I know you were diagnosed young. I think around the age of three.
[00:02:40] Speaker A: Three years old? Yes.
[00:02:41] Speaker B: Okay. What have you been told by your family as to what were some of the signs you were exhibiting that caused for the facilitating the getting of the diagnosis?
[00:02:50] Speaker A: Well, first off, my recollections from when I was first diagnosed. Like, maybe not the day I was diagnosed, but early days of intervention. I have a lot more recollections of it than most people might think.
[00:03:01] Speaker B: Wonderful. Let's hear them.
[00:03:03] Speaker A: Okay. So I remember just like, you know, always wanting to be in my own world. I always wanted to play with toy cars and, you know, not really do anything else. Like mom wanted me to do something different, I would want no part of it. Same with dad. And yes, even you, Ms. Jen.
[00:03:17] Speaker B: Yes, I was one of Brennan's very first early therapists back in the day.
Okay. And so you talk a little bit about being in your own world. Did you struggle with inappropriate behavior?
[00:03:28] Speaker A: I think I did a lot of screaming and, you know, refusing, like refusal, non compliance, if that makes sense.
[00:03:34] Speaker B: It does, it does. And then let's talk a little bit about your communication. I remember you're obviously limited in your communication, but do you remember having moments where you wanted to say something but you couldn't or you didn't know what to say or how to say it?
[00:03:48] Speaker A: You know, I didn't really have that filter to know when it was and was not appropriate to asked certain questions. So I spoke my mind really more often than, you know, I should have.
[00:03:59] Speaker B: But I do remember back in the early, early days, even just communicating your wants and needs was a struggle for you. You were. And that's where I think some of the tantrum came in. Right. Where you weren't there. It wasn't instinctive for you to use your words versus your screams. Right?
[00:04:13] Speaker A: Yeah. Using words was something else. Speak in my mind was not the issue as much as using actual words.
[00:04:19] Speaker B: Okay. Okay, thank you for that insight. What do you remember being your biggest challenges in your early years? Like maybe like elementary school?
[00:04:28] Speaker A: This really didn't apply until much later, but academics were a little bit challenging for me. Like some of the material was stuff that was beyond my knowledge of comprehension. How'd that make you feel like a low watt bulb.
[00:04:40] Speaker B: Low watt bulb. Okay. Love that analogy. Wow, that's one. That's, that's an incredible analogy, Brennan, because, you know, I think some of our parents, some of our listeners, you know, struggle with. You always want to push your child to be the best they can be, and you don't want to lower the bar. But in the same token, I think sometimes we maybe push them a little too hard, and then it can hurt self esteem, it can hurt confidence. What do you remember thinking during those times that academics were hard?
[00:05:09] Speaker A: I just remember needing a lot of help with just about everything.
I think the one thing that I was good at early on was the math, but that really changed when they started introducing the letters into the math equations. Like, if you get a question like Z to the cube, power, square root of x, I wouldn't know what to tell you on that.
[00:05:29] Speaker B: Many of us would not know what to say on that. But, yes, I hear you on that one. I also remember, though, back in, I believe it was kindergarten, but you were a good reader. Like, you could decode really well. You didn't always comprehend what you're reading, but you could decode. And, and I don't know if you remember this, I've told you the story before, but you could read all the Crayola colors. And so I remember we helped the teacher facilitate where you'd have other children coming up to you and asking you what color was this? Because not many people, you know, kindergarteners, can read mandarin orange or some of these other kind of crazy colors. My piece of advice for parents and teachers out there is find that thing that that child might be really good at and turn that into a strength for other kids to see.
[00:06:15] Speaker A: Yeah, everybody has, you know, their own interest and, you know, something that they're exceptionally good at is even though it might look like in the classroom, their skill sets might be very limited, they have their own thing that they're, you know, really, really good at.
[00:06:29] Speaker B: Tell me a little bit about your educational journey, meaning where were you in elementary school? Where were you in, in middle school and where were you in high school?
[00:06:38] Speaker A: When I moved on into high school, I moved into the public school setting where I took part in a lot of extracurriculars, like the sports activities. I was with the training staff for the football team, the assistant managers for the basketball team, where I was, like, helping them do video for their games, helping them with the score book for their games. Keeping stats, keeping stats is something that. And you may have a lot of good recollections of that from a few years back, but stats, especially basketball, something I'm really good at.
[00:07:09] Speaker B: Yeah. Yes, I do remember that. So elementary school, you were in private school with a support person part of the time or all of the time?
[00:07:17] Speaker A: Most of the time. I think it was supposed to be like, you know, an everyday kind of thing.
[00:07:22] Speaker B: And they were there primarily to help with the academics or the social skills or both.
[00:07:28] Speaker A: A little bit of both.
[00:07:29] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:07:29] Speaker A: I mean, they tried to, you know, be their support as much as they can, but I think now that I think of it, I didn't really think much of it at the time or even up until this point was that they faded back as much as they could trying to promote that independence, which is part of what I do with the clients I work with to this day.
[00:07:46] Speaker B: So you just touched on something so very important about that independence. It's a little bit counterintuitive because one of the things we do when we do want to train support personnel or paraprofessionals is the goal was actually to work yourself out of a job with this particular child. Meaning fade back so they don't need you. You know, I'll often have paraprofessionals look at me funny, say, I don't really understand that. And I say, don't worry, there's another kid coming up behind who needs your help. But I know we worked very hard with the staff at your private school and your support person to. Yes, because it's unlikely that a six year old is going to come up to you and start engaging in social conversation. If you have this adult sitting right next to you. Right. Most likely for those of you out there that are support personnel or for parents, that independence, we can't push that enough in every aspect of learning. Because then our kids get prompt, dependent, and they always need that adult there, even when they become an adult.
[00:08:41] Speaker A: Absolutely.
[00:08:42] Speaker B: And so then you were in private school for elementary and middle, right?
[00:08:46] Speaker A: Yes, that's correct.
[00:08:48] Speaker B: And I do remember times talking to your mom. So she's gotten to middle school where that's when the academics started getting a little harder.
[00:08:54] Speaker A: Yes. About middle school to high school is when things got really, really, really challenging for me.
[00:09:01] Speaker B: And I think that's when you as a family decided there's more to life than just academics. Right. And the private school didn't have as many opportunities for social and like you said, being the manager of the basketball team and the sports teams and all the extracurricular. So how did you feel when you moved to public high school?
[00:09:19] Speaker A: I mean, I knew it would be like turn the page, you know, I knew it was going to be a little different. I know there was going to be more opportunities that I was going to look forward to.
And you know, it turns out there were a lot of really good opportunities which I tried out for the first time nearly two decades ago.
[00:09:36] Speaker B: Do you remember back to that time? What do you think was the best thing that your family did to support you during that transition?
[00:09:45] Speaker A: Be alongside me and help me with my homework. I never always had the best attitude going into homework because I just remember either not wanting to do it all or and sometimes if I got homework over the weekend, I wouldn't start my homework until about 8pm on Sunday.
[00:10:01] Speaker B: Not atypical for a teenager. Yes, that was a little harder for you. So, you know, I think again for parents listening, what I hear Brennan saying is that he got to this place where the academics were getting to be a lot and there's more to life than just academics. But I also want to remind the listeners that academics were not Brennan's strength. He is currently a registered behavior technician working full time, living on his own, driving, leading a rich life. So whether or not you can do algebra does not necessarily mean you're going to be successful or not in life. That's not the indicator. Right?
[00:10:36] Speaker A: Exactly.
[00:10:37] Speaker B: You went to high school at public school and tell me about life after high school.
[00:10:42] Speaker A: So I took some classes at Lone Star Community College in Kingwood to start off with and then I eventually worked my way up into a part time job at a fitness center at the Lone Star College in Kingwood. Went away from that and really focused on my next career, which was what I do now.
[00:11:00] Speaker B: So you're a registered behavior technician? Yes, for a local ABA company. What did it take for you to become an rbt?
[00:11:07] Speaker A: I had to do a lot of training. Like there's a lot of like training I had to do in the classroom before I was allowed to work with the clients.
And then once I work with the clients, I had to do a lot of studying, you know, a lot of cross training with different clients. And then that led to learning different skill sets and then that applied for the RBT exam. It's an 85 question exam. I can't explain to you how I pulled it off, but I passed the exam on the first try.
[00:11:33] Speaker B: Shout out to you, Brennan. I think statistically actually that number is pretty low as far as first time passers. So that's an incredible, incredible feat for you. So did you have any accommodations for.
[00:11:44] Speaker A: The test, the one that stands out the most was the extra time because it was an 85 question exam.
[00:11:50] Speaker B: Right. If you are listening and you're going to take the RBT exam or other exams for that matter, there are accommodations and supports in college, in exams for many things. Nowadays for the ged, you can get accommodations, and those accommodations are not listed on your diploma. Those accommodations are not listed on his RBT license. So if you need those accommodations, don't be afraid to get them because they don't make any less the achievement that you had. Right. And I believe you had a coach at the time that was helping support and advise on some of those accommodations and what could be good for you.
[00:12:26] Speaker A: I sure did.
[00:12:27] Speaker B: So actually, let's talk a little bit about that right now. So now you're working as an RBT and you're living on your own, and do you get any kind of coaching or support now?
[00:12:38] Speaker A: I do. I still do a little bit of that today. It's more so, like, out in the community, out in my place, at my apartment, like, helping me keep the apartment clean, doing like a cleaning schedule, like finding time for cleaning exercise, doing other stuff like bill pay, managing money, expanding food repertoire.
[00:12:59] Speaker B: Right. I remember the one day I was walking by, you're trying to drink a smoothie. So you're working on expanding your food repertoire a little bit, right?
[00:13:06] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:13:07] Speaker B: Which, again, a lot of people need in the world, not just people on the spectrum.
[00:13:11] Speaker A: That was a big problem way back in the day.
[00:13:13] Speaker B: Right. I remember goldfish and pizza, if I remember correctly.
[00:13:17] Speaker A: Very little outside of that I can recall, to be honest with you.
[00:13:20] Speaker B: Right. So I think the point to that, for our listeners, we all need to be lifelong learners. And what you're getting, Brennan, through that coaching is just a little bit of that extra assist to try to help you be as successful in life as possible.
Is this something you want to be doing? Do you enjoy getting the coaching or is this something your family said you need to be doing? Like, why are you doing it?
[00:13:40] Speaker A: I'm doing it because I feel like it's something that's strictly necessary for me to, you know, keep myself accountable, like holding myself accountable with me and me alone, living by myself, that's hard for me to do because I don't do a good job of that. Other people do much better job with that for me. So if they say, like, why is this not clean? Why is that not done?
[00:14:00] Speaker B: Mm.
[00:14:00] Speaker A: I'd be like, yeah, I could save it for later, Right?
[00:14:03] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:14:04] Speaker A: That accountability, I don't get that luxury when other people are breathing down my neck.
[00:14:07] Speaker B: There you go. It is that. That's why they say, right. If you start working out immediately, get an exercise partner or something. That accountability piece. For a lot of us, it's really hard to do for ourselves. Of course, our very first episode was with your mom and then a most recent episode is with your sister.
[00:14:22] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:14:23] Speaker B: Let's talk a little bit about your family. How would you say, say your family has supported you the most over the years?
[00:14:30] Speaker A: The schoolwork, the, the homework, helping me through the biggest of the big challenges with academics. Because.
Because my parents knowledge of all my schoolwork that I had, whether it was like difficult math or history or science, their knowledge, not a knock on any of them whatsoever. But their knowledge only goes so far to that. So they had to really think outside the box and find some outside sour could help me with the after school tutoring. Like they had to find a friend of theirs that was really good at math, who helped me a lot with my math classes later in high school and a class or two in college.
[00:15:11] Speaker B: There's an expression, right? It takes a village. And I think your parents have done and your sister have done a phenomenal job with building that village for you, right? Absolutely. And I think we've talked about, on other episodes about how autism can be isolating and how families can slowly retreat, but really to be successful, it's about continuing to build that village around you and not being afraid to do that or to ask for help. Right?
[00:15:37] Speaker A: That's right.
[00:15:37] Speaker B: Yeah. Let's talk about you and your sister for a minute. How would you describe that relationship?
[00:15:42] Speaker A: It has ups and downs in the early years.
It's been really, really good for a very long time. That's just a normal brother, sister relationship. But as we both became adults, we learned to, if I may say, bury the hatchet.
[00:15:57] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Okay. So you're both in the ABA field, right? Both changing lives.
[00:16:04] Speaker A: Yes, I am rbt and my sister is actually a BCBA at the same clinic that I'm at.
[00:16:10] Speaker B: Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful. Why are you an rbt? Why are you doing what you do?
[00:16:16] Speaker A: Well, I have an autism diagnosis. You know, I was given the opportunity a few years back, almost a decade ago to do my first ever public speaking, to kind of share my diagnosis, my story. And I got an opportunity to apply for a job in a registered behavior technician. And so I applied for the job, did some trainings and disclaimer. First day, I nearly crashed out on the job and almost quit, fought through. And I have not looked back ever since.
[00:16:43] Speaker B: What excites you the most about your job?
[00:16:46] Speaker A: Just the number of opportunities I have, because if I work with one individual doing whatever it is that they need on their treatment plan, that's a lot as it is. But I know that in my job, that's just the tip of the iceberg.
[00:17:01] Speaker B: So you're there because you really want to make a difference.
I'm going to interject here. I do remember a time early on in your career, and I think this still happens, where you'll be sitting there with the other rbts and the BCBA in a staff meeting, and you might be discussing a client's behavior.
And then you will sometimes kind of interject with your perspective, and you will say, well, maybe they're thinking about it from this way, or maybe they're frustrated because of this certain situation. And I think the other staff really appreciate your insight because I think you do have a perspective that not everyone has.
[00:17:35] Speaker A: It's a very rare perspective because I'm really, if you think about the only one that's been on both ends of aba.
[00:17:41] Speaker B: There you go. That's exactly right.
So actually, you just opened up that can of worms. Let's talk a little bit about aba, because there's a lot of great research out there about the success of aba, but there's also a little bit of noise out there right now about the negative effects of aba. So let's talk a little bit about the ABA you received.
How do you think your ABA early intervention helped you?
[00:18:06] Speaker A: It did not look like it a lot at times because I was just not in the mood and didn't want to do it, but it wound up working out for the better.
[00:18:14] Speaker B: Talk a little bit more about that. What do you mean by that?
[00:18:16] Speaker A: When you first start off in your journey, whether it's you on the autism spectrum, where you have a child that has. That has an autism diagnosis, or nephew or niece that might be on the autism spectrum. Things are going to be rough before they get smooth.
[00:18:31] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:18:32] Speaker A: And that's how it's gonna start. That's how it was for me.
[00:18:35] Speaker B: Okay. Do you have any bad recollections or any negative feelings about aba?
[00:18:41] Speaker A: To be honest with you, I don't have any, because I really don't think that there are any.
[00:18:45] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:18:46] Speaker A: In fact, I know there are none.
[00:18:47] Speaker B: Okay. I'm going to again, interject a little bit there. You know, a lot of what, I obviously completely agree with you because that's what I do for my career. And I think the problem is There is bad ABA out there, but it doesn't mean you throw out the whole industry. There's good and bad neurology. Doesn't mean you throw out neurology. Right.
[00:19:07] Speaker A: There is a right way and a wrong way to do it. If you do it the right way, your clients are going to make a lot of progress. But if you do it the wrong way, then you might as well just be driving your car that it's not four wheel drive and you're trying helplessly to get out of the pit of mud. You're spinning your tires but going nowhere.
[00:19:24] Speaker B: Great analogy. Love it. Outside of work, what do you enjoy doing?
[00:19:27] Speaker A: Going to sports games, whether it's football, basketball, baseball. In my relaxing time, I like to sit by the pool. I do swim sometimes.
[00:19:37] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:19:37] Speaker A: And sometimes I'll just sit on the lounge chair and do a crossword puzzle, word search, sudoku.
[00:19:42] Speaker B: What about friends and making friends? Is that easy or hard?
[00:19:46] Speaker A: Was not easy for me and I still have some challenges with that to this day.
[00:19:50] Speaker B: Okay, why is it hard? What makes it hard?
[00:19:53] Speaker A: Still has some social deficits. I still get a little bit shy and unfamiliar settings. I get shy around unfamiliar people.
[00:20:01] Speaker B: What's something that we could do then as a truly, if we're trying to be a truly, like inclusive community and supportive community, is there anything other people in the community could do to help make that a little easier?
[00:20:14] Speaker A: You know, just have a great understanding of what the autism spectrum is, because it really is not the same. It's not going to be one size fits all for every single person.
You could have an individual that's got a higher skill set capability like myself, who's gone on to graduate in high school, get a job, get a driver's license, live on my own and be independent. And you might also have others that for years don't have any verbal language and they rely on an AAC device or an iPad app to help them communicate.
[00:20:49] Speaker B: There's that expression, if you've met one person with autism, you've met one person with autism, right? Because everyone is so different. And so, you know, I think you hit the nail on the head when you said, just start to learn more about autism. Like that's part of the goal of this podcast, right? Is to just sort of help voices shine through so that we can start to understand because ignorance is not bliss. What would you say right now is your biggest struggle in life?
[00:21:14] Speaker A: You know, staying fit and staying healthy. That was not a problem when I was younger, but I've gotten older. It's been harder for me to stay in shape.
I guess I could say I am a shape, just not the right one.
[00:21:28] Speaker B: You are a shape and not the right one. That's funny. That's good. Yes. And I know that's part of what you do in coaching, right? I know there was one time you attempted boxing to see if you like that. How'd that go?
[00:21:37] Speaker A: That went very, very well. I have not done it since, but it was something that I did enjoy doing.
[00:21:44] Speaker B: Well, I'm sure Cortez would be more than happy to do that again with you if you wanted to do it.
What's something that you really enjoy doing.
[00:21:51] Speaker A: In life is that my work, you know, makes a difference because I enjoy going to my place of work and, you know, seeing all these faces, like, seeing the littles wanting to climb on top of me because they have such a positive relationship with me and other clients in their own ways, knowing that I'm a great person and someone they can really look up to.
[00:22:10] Speaker B: Part of your goal is you've also been mentors to other individuals, like adolescents. Right. Who are maybe in public school and have a little bit more skill set, and you've helped mentor and coach and be a peer model for them. And you've also had a couple speaking engagements, for sure. Do you want to do more speaking engagements, Bren?
[00:22:29] Speaker A: That would be great. I definitely would enjoy doing that.
[00:22:33] Speaker B: So, yeah. So for any of you listeners out there that have your own podcast or have a platform, Brennan's passion is helping advocate and bring awareness to autism. So you can reach out to
[email protected] and I can get you in contact with Brennan, because I think you would agree that Brennan has a whole lot of insight that we all need to learn from, and he needs to help bring some understanding to the world. Right. What is something that you wish the world truly knew about autism?
[00:23:04] Speaker A: Only the stuff that's factually correct.
[00:23:06] Speaker B: Okay, say more about that.
[00:23:08] Speaker A: Any of this speculation about the negatives about autism. Like, I've heard all kinds of, like, conflicting stories about how, like, I know this is kind of going on. Like, you know, a hot button topic. Like, people have said in the past, like, vaccines cause autism. There has never been anything verified that confirms that.
[00:23:28] Speaker B: So what you're saying is, don't believe everything you read.
[00:23:31] Speaker A: Don't believe everything you read because a lot of the time, the people who write negative stuff about aba, they know very little or nothing about it and are not qualified to do that.
[00:23:44] Speaker B: If there's a parent listening whose child was just diagnosed, what would you say.
[00:23:48] Speaker A: To that parent, early intervention is the key. So if you got your child diagnosed at 2 years old or 3 years old at most, I would say the future is very, very bright. The time to start is not when you feel like it. It's now. The earlier the intervention, the better of a chance to success you got, because it's not going to be an overnight transformation. It's going to take, to be honest with you, it's going to take years. And they started ABA with me over three decades ago. And as much as I've overcome to get to where I'm at, there are still things that give me problems today that I need to work on.
[00:24:26] Speaker B: And so you value and want those supports to work on those things, literally, as a lifelong learner.
[00:24:32] Speaker A: Exactly. Right.
[00:24:33] Speaker B: Okay. So, yeah. So for our parents out there, you know, time is not on our side. Time is not our friend. And so I know, you know, for those who are just dealing with a new diagnosis, you're going through a struggle, you're going through maybe a grieving period. As Brennan said, time is of the essence. And so just, just get started in some form. Right.
[00:24:54] Speaker A: And a big reason why time is of the essence is one big thing that I've learned about the field of autism is that if you need a Medicaid waiver, which is ideal for an autism diagnosis, there is an exorbitantly long wait time to get one. The wait list is 16 years.
[00:25:12] Speaker B: Yes. I'm so glad you brought that up because I do want to mention that on almost every podcast, if I can, in the state of Texas, when you turn 18 and you have a diagnosis of autism, you're eligible for the Medicaid waiver program, which is different than Medicaid. And as Brennan just said, the challenge is there's a 16 year plus waitlist. Recently I've heard more like 17 years waitlist. You know, it still disheartens me and pains me when I have a parent that I meet for the first time whose child is 16 and they were never told about it. And so they just are now getting their child on the wait list. And I think, you know, the other thing I'll hear from parents, especially of newly diagnosed 3 year olds, is, well, hopefully we won't need it. And so I say, great, get on the wait list. Anyway, if they call you when your child comes off the list at 18 or 19 and you don't need it, you drop the mic, you drop the phone, you have a party and you celebrate. But if you do need it, it's There. Yeah. So I really appreciate you bringing that up because it's something that every parent needs to know and it's still not widely talked about enough yet. So within the state of Texas, you could just Google Medicaid waiver, and then there's a center that is within your county. So, like in Harris county, it's the Harris center. Within Montgomery county, it's called Tri county. And you would just look up and say service center in my county for Medicaid waiver. So thank you for bringing that up, Brennan. Well, I do appreciate you being here, and we can always have you back on to continue this conversation at a later date. But, Brennan, I want. I want to thank you for being here and starting to shed some light on your success. You have done incredible things and you have worked really hard. And to your point, you continue to work hard, and that's something that I incredibly admire about you.
And you're always raising the bar for yourself and the people in your life are raising the bar for you. And I think that's amazing.
[00:27:01] Speaker A: Yes. And one additional thing I would like to add is, like, everybody gets there in their own way with supports, but those supports are limited as it is. And I realized that while a lot of needs have been met for myself, the same can't be said for others that are newly diagnosed is where they need to get to the best place possible. Where I feel like I'm already at the best place possible for myself. They need to get to that place, too. But it's not going to be an easy journey.
[00:27:30] Speaker B: Very well said. It's not necessarily going to be an easy journey, but it's a necessary journey. Right.
[00:27:36] Speaker A: And I feel like that, you know, out of all the career paths I could have chose, this is the place I need to be. It's more along the lines of I didn't really find this career path. I feel like this career path found me.
[00:27:49] Speaker B: Wow. Well, that's a great place to end. Again, if you want Brennan on your platform for helping shine a light on autism, please reach out to InfoPirend and we'll be happy to get you connected. Thank you for being here, Brennan.
[00:28:02] Speaker A: Thank you for having me.
[00:28:03] Speaker B: If you need help or resources, whether you're a parent, someone on the spectrum, a business or a community organization who want to know more or need help or want to share resources, please reach out to
[email protected] Inspire ND invites you.
[00:28:20] Speaker A: To taste of the town Lake Houston, Thursday, September 11th from 5 to 8pm at the humble Civic Center. Taste of The Town is the largest food and beverage festival in the Lake Houston area, showcasing menu items from area restaurants, bakeries, caterers and breweries. It is guaranteed to be the Food Adventures paradise and one of the biggest places social events of the year. It all benefits Inspire. ND's mission to create truly inclusive communities through education and engagement. Tickets are available now by visiting tot2025eventbrite.com that's tot2025eventbrite.Com or inspirend.org thanks for joining us on Shining Through Inspiring Voices of Autumn. If you enjoy this episode, be sure to subscribe, leave a review and share it with others who want to celebrate neurodiversity. Until next time, keep Shining.
