Climtate Change and Autism: School Addresses Both
Alternate version cross-posted at DK GreenRoots.
In Sayerville, NJ, the doors of the Center for Lifelong Learning recently opened. It's a school that can serve up to 175 students with autism and related disorders, providing education and training for many life skills which are taken for granted by neurotypicals.
Here's the kicker.
The facility, designed by USA Architects, is one of the first public school buildings in the state to be built according to Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards, and could become the first to be certified LEED Platinum. This is due largely to its all-natural building materials and its use of green power.
About 94 percent of the materials used to build the facility are recyclable, and all the materials were purchased within a 500-mile radius, many of which were harvested specifically for the project, according to MRESC Superintendent Mark Finkelstein. There are also geothermal wells under the building that catch nearly 75 percent of the rainfall to be recycled and reused.
In terms of subject matter that personally drives me, environmental issues and autism are at the top of my list and I'm personally invested in each. Both fall squarely under the classification of crisis in virtually every sense of the word. If you are a regular visitor to this site, you probably need no convincing of the very real environmental crisis at hand. As for autism, latest figures show 1 in 91 to 1 in 100 American children ages 3-17 have been diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder, the collective cost is $60 billion per year, the estimated collective cost ten years from now is $200 - $400 billion, and the current yearly cost for each directly affected family is $6,200.
This is why I am heartened by the school's dual-solution approach, which has the opportunity to be felt for multiple generations. It serves numerous school districts in and around Jersey's Middlesex County, providing standard educational fare along with life-skills that are commonly taken for granted. There is a nature trail, an aquatic center for water therapy, a greenhouse for vegetables and herbs and needed therapies on-site.
Meanwhile, another set of valuable lessons are built in, both literally and figuratively, as the center was recently named to the EPA's first ever Green Power Partnership list of top 20 green schools for K-12, noting 100% usage of green power.
“Our green powered schools are giving kids a brighter future in more ways than one. They’re leading the way in protecting our health and environment, and moving the country into the clean energy economy of the 21st century,” EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson said in a statement. “This is a great lesson on how we reduce harmful pollution in our skies and get America running on clean energy.”
That which a child is exposed to on a daily basis becomes their norm, for better or worse. This is an opportunity for the former.
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Some random yet notable autism stories....
Leaves of change: Blind, autistic woman rakes yards to help pay for dental work
(Heather) Stone, 33, is blind and autistic, and in recent weeks has used leaf raking as a way to earn enough money to go somewhere she absolutely despises: the dentist.
Stone hasn't seen a dentist in more than a decade. Twelve years ago, the last time she sat in a dentist's chair, a team of medical professionals physically restrained Stone in order to perform the necessary care, disregarding her cries for help when the numbing agent wasn't strong enough. Stone felt everything, and afterward, vowed never to return.
Since then, Stone has gone to great lengths to care for her teeth, brushing three times daily for exactly two minutes and swishing with anti-plaque and anti-cavity mouthwash for exactly a minute and 30 seconds each day. (She counts the length of time in her head.)
Still, today, Stone has nine cavities and five teeth that need pulling. The dental visit will require hospitalization - a visit that will cost $12,000.
That's a problem for someone who's poor and on Medicaid. Many dentists don't accept the government health insurance.
Illusions are the stock and trade of magicians but researchers at the Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix, Ariz., want to know why people like Shore, who fall along the autism spectrum, are not so easily fooled.
Shore has lived his entire life with autism, a neurological disorder often marked by joint-attention deficits, or difficulty reading social signals; the same kind that a magician deliberately uses to throw attention away from the deception.
"Someone on the autism spectrum is looking exactly where the magician doesn't want him to look," Shore said.
Stephen Wiltshire Draws NYC
