The Spectrum as Light: Championing Autistic People

Kit Trapasso – Bio TBA

Rutledge Hammes earned his Master of Fine Arts from Old Dominion University and studied with several New York Times bestselling authors, Pulitzer Prize finalists and National Book Award winners. He has published over 30 short stories, essays and poems, a Kindle Book Award winning novel, and has been a contributing writer in several other books. He is a South Carolina Arts Fellow and a Pushcart nominee. He taught at Old Dominion University, worked in special education for two years, and has been a public school teacher for the 15 years since, working primarily with gifted and talented students, many of whom are on the Spectrum. He is presently the director of the most awarded Creative Writing program in the nation. An autistic person himself, he is the proud father of an autistic son. And today, he runs workshops for parents of autistic children and gives talks to help teachers better understanding autism and its vital role in our world. He is currently working on a book on context, high-masking autism and the secret history of autism disguised as our heroes.