TWAP021: All Autism Wedding Couple Anita Lesko and Abraham Nielson

All autistic wedding spreads love, awareness, and hope:

Today, I’m excited to bring you a story of two people just like you.

I’m with Anita Lesko and Abraham Nielson. Dr. Stephen Shore, who officiated their wedding, calls them the First Couple of Autism.

Anita was diagnosed with Aspergers in her 50s. Upon being diagnosed, she immediately started a support group for families with autism. She’s a Certified

Registered Nurse Anesthetist, maintaining a successful career in a stress and interaction filled environment.

Abraham Talmage Nielson works as an AutoCAD-3D draftsman at Butler & Associates Surveying & Mapping. He’s also studying cyber security.

Neither Anita nor Abraham ever had any “early childhood intervention.”

They want to spread a message that goes beyond their own relationship and wedding, a message of hope and opportunity for autistics worldwide.

What You’ll Learn:

How they met

How their relationship developed

How they got engaged

Adam and Anita share the strong points of their relationship

They discuss their physical relationship and whether sensory sensitivities have posed any problems – their answer may surprise you

How they have grown as individuals as a result of their relationship

Advice to parents of autistic  children

get kids out and doing things in the world, and interacting

counterbalance their natural strengths with areas of difficulty – communication

“You have to make mistakes and build on your weakness to build strength”

Don’t let your kid stay home on the computer morning, noon, and night

Instead of dragging your kids to too many psychologists, just get out in the world and do things.  Go to the museum, find different clubs, see what strikes your kids’ interests.

Once you find your kid’s interests, capitalize and expand upon that interest

Get kids into some kind of sport/s, and into air, nature, and sunshine

Don’t overly focus on autism – focus on building extracurricular activities

Advice for autistics who are wanting a life partner:

Focus first on friendships – people you can feel comfortable with and communicate with, b/c if you don’t have that, you won’t

Relax – focus on friendship, rather than on trying to force immediate romance.

Their goal of changing the world’s view of autism, and how they plan to accomplish that goal.

Links and Resources

All Autism Wedding: from the Love and Autism website.

Born With Aspergers: Anita’s site.

All Autistic Wedding: Anita and Adam’s official site.

People Magazine article:  Meet the First Couple to Have an All-Autism Wedding: ‘Autistic Children Can Grow Up and Have a Happy Life,’ Says the Bride

HooplaHa Video Clip

Autism in Love – ABC Writeup and Video Clip

Asperger’s Syndrome: When Life Hands You Lemons, Make Lemonade, by Anita Lesko.

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