Ollibean Think Tank

Ollibean Think Tank2012-06-27T10:32:21+00:00

Being Where I Can Simply Be

After a three-day conference, I needed to sleep. I needed to sleep because I was dreamy, trying to keep the feeling of being in a place where I can be myself and also be a little bit like a star. Also, building community.

  • “I can’t speak for my friends, but labels hinder my life. I reject labels. I am just me.” Amy Sequenzia

Amy Sequenzia: “Just Me”

Amy Sequenzia writes about rejecting society's many labels. Perceptions such as “super spectacular” autistic and “low-functioning” are equally harmful .

  • woman reading a book in lounge chair with ocean in background

Ollibean Mama Spotlight

Connect and learn with other parents like Tonya who presume competence and celebrate their children for being exactly who they are. #allofakind

  • Photograph of lower part of jeans and multicolored plaid sneakers. The sneakers have mud on them and the person wearing them is standing on damp earth . There is green moss and foliage on the right side of the image and Ollibean logo in white. Ollibean logo is a circle composed of various shapes and sizes of equal signs and the word Ollibean.

Walk In My Shoes

I want you to walk in my shoes
Not because I want you to feel what it means
To be disabled
But because I want you to understand
How it feels to be excluded

I would like to see you

Autistic Man, Jesse Saperstein Free Falls to End Bullying

Best-selling author, autism advocate and motivational speaker Jesse A. Saperstein is spreading an Anti-Bullying movement across America with his “Free-Falling to End Bullying in 2012” YouTube video hoping to put an end to torment in and out of the classroom.

Sesame Street, This is an Autistic Speaking

Sesame Street knew nobody was missing, or lacking, anything. I was perfect! Everyone is perfect! But in real life, as I grew older, doctors and teachers convinced everyone that I was too broken to be worthy of any effort toward education and a future. Nobody saw me the way I was seen by my friends at Sesame Street.

It is About Respect

Respect for one another is one basic quality if we want to have meaningful conversations and relationships with other human beings. The ableism that disabled people experience is a form of disrespect.

  • Ollibean Think Tank Amy Sequenzia Advocacy on turquoise and green background

Amy Sequenzia : Friendship and Respect

It is a mistaken idea that we, autistics, lack empathy. It is also a myth that we are not social. My friends and I, we understand and respect differences. And we understand that we all have a lot to contribute, in a diversity of manners.

Don’t Call Me Inspirational

"Disability is not something terrible that needs to be fixed, cured, or made to go away forever. It is a natural part of reality. We ask for acceptance as equal members of society." From the PSA "Your Daily Dosage of Inspiration" by Cheryl Green and Caitlin Wood.

  • flowers, green leaves, red geranium, blue bells, hyacinth, ivy

A Sensory Garden for Zoë and Oliver

One of Ollibean's contributors, the lovely and amazing, Julie Lohoefener of Bloom Garden Shop, let's us in on some great tips on creating a non-toxic Sensory Garden with your kids.

The Presumption of Competence

Presumption of competence is more than an abstract idea. It has real and concrete effects. Here is one: it is better than a makeover.

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