My Dream

Last year I attended the Annual Law Summit presented by Autism Speaks. It was my first time in the nation’s capital. There was one place I knew I had to go while I was there... the Lincoln Memorial.

Not only did I want to go because of what Lincoln had accomplished or because of his ties to my home state. I wanted to stand in the place where the greatest speech on equality was ever given. Not just to honor the work and legacy of Dr. King but to invigorate my own personal battle for equality within our healthcare system and to end clear discrimination that autistic people face when it comes to health insurance coverage. 

J. Cole's Sincere Apology to Autism Community

My dad always used to tell me that a real man admits his mistakes, and then does something to rectify them.

J. Cole has done exactly that.

30 Lessons Learned

I thought I would take a moment and share with you some of the important lessons I have learned raising an autistic child. You may want to tuck these away in the ole memory banks so that you can call on them when need be. Here are 30 in no particular order…

Guess what?

One of the things that I truly appreciate about Bianca is the level of our communication. I understand her like no other person. I know what she means when she furrows a brow just so, squeals a certain way or pulls my hand in a certain direction… and of course when she just plain asks for stuff.

 Her speech is coming along pretty well. More and more she asks for specific things or uses words to describe her environment. Just the other night while at a party she told me “Back home” when she clearly had enough of the environment and all that was going on. That certainly makes things easier and has led to a lot less meltdowns over time, but despite all the advancements her level of communication is still quite different and definitely well behind that of a NT 7 year old.

I don’t know why this particular thing I am about to share is such a source of pride and joy for me. It seems so incredibly silly… ridiculous really. But maybe that is exactly the reason why. It is just fun.

An Open Letter to Comcast CEO Brian Roberts and NBCU CEO Steve Burke

Dear Mr. Roberts and Mr. Burke,

My name is Lou Melgarejo and I am a Comcast/NBCU employee. I have what I consider to be my dream job. I am a married father of three. I am first and foremost a family man. My oldest daughter is a beautiful, energetic, happy and incredibly intelligent 7 year old girl named Bianca. Bianca happens to be autistic.

The current autism diagnosis rate according to the CDC is 1 in 88 while a recent study suggests that the number could be even higher at 1 in 50 or 2% of school aged children being autistic. Our daughter Bianca is one of those 88, but we like to refer to her as being "1 in a million".