Dear Arnie,

I hope you don't mind me calling you Arnie, but I feel like we have a lot in common. My family also immigrated from Europe to follow the American Dream, and a couple of years ago I had the pleasure of meeting one of your wife's relatives --...

This morning, the headline of my San Diego Union Tribune read: Case stirs military recruiting questions - Autistic man in brig, facing court-martial. I read this after helping my son - who is non-verbal and severely impacted by autism - get on his special education bus for the ride to...

When my parents moved to America from France in the early 1950's, maman was eight months pregnant. She left behind her large, boisterous and close-knit family in France and followed papa because he wanted to start a new life in the New World. In those days, French people didn't just...

Recently I traveled to Mexico (see Autism and Hope, South of the Border) and came back really sick, so sick that I visited my medical clinic three times in two weeks. Last Friday, I actually got to see my regular doctor, but that was before we knew the swine...

Autism knows no geographical boundaries, so in honor of World Autism Awareness Day, I decide to head south of the border instead of attending awareness events in the United States. When I arrive in Puerto Vallarta, Bryan McAllister is waiting for me at the airport. I have come to spend...

Wednesday morning - Everyone is still asleep in this tiny room in Imperial Beach where we have evacuated from our home in San Diego, but I want to know what is going on. I turn on the TV without the sound and see the same images of fire and brimstone...

Tuesday morning: Here in San Diego, life continues to be surreal. We're hunkered down in my niece's tiny one bedroom apartment as parts of the county continue to burn. We are the lucky ones. We sit in comfort, eating chocolate, eyes glued to the TV, each with our own laptop,...

Sunday - It is amazing how little you care about stuff when you have flames licking at your heels. I flew back from a speaking engagement in New York on Sunday night and from the airplane, I could see three little fires out in the wilderness. Leaving the airport and...