Dec 14, 2022
Lori Haynes has been an autism and disability advocate for over
30 years. She is married to her wonderful husband Mike and they
care for their 28 year old son Jacob at home. Her son Jake was
diagnosed with severe nonverbal autism and intellectual disability
at the age of 2 ½ and she has worked tirelessly since then to
raise, not only awareness, but acceptance and understanding. She
started the first support group of it’s kind in northern Indiana
called Families of Autistic Children Together back in 1998. Lori
also assisted with organizing the “Hear Their Silence” rally that
took place on the National Mall in Washington D.C. in April of
2000. Lori worked with the Indiana Legislature to significantly
increase funding for what was then called the “Autism” Waiver
program after she discovered only 20 waivers were available in
total across the state. She collected 17,000 petition signatures so
other family’s would not have to be on a 10 year wait list as her
son was. Lori and her husband spent 8 years as parents, volunteer’s
and Area 5 management team members for Special Olympics Indiana.
Lori uses her experience and finds the funny out of the anxiety
while performing her stand up called RainMom
Comedy. Lori has been performing stand up since 2018 and finds that
comedy is a great gateway towards her goal to raise awareness,
understanding and acceptance of special kids who rock.
*****************************************
To purchase my book “Welcome to My Life – A Personal Parenting Journey Through Autism” click HERE or visit Amazon.com!
You can easily stay connected to the Living the Sky Life podcast and me in various ways. Please visit my website www.lauriehellmann.com for all the links.
I'd love to hear what you think, so if listening on the Apple platform, please leave a written review and rating of the podcast! If you are interested in being a guest on an episode of Living the Sky Life, please contact me!