A Hopeful Leader in the Autism Community

Posted on August 22, 2025

This article was written about me by a friend, Jennifer Jordan, who runs a monthly autism and disability pod-cafe. Jennifer wrote this piece a few weeks after the Knoebels event which I was supposed to have my photo inducted on a wall of important adult autism self-advocates. Unfortunately, my photo could not be able to be printed up in time, but it will be on the wall for all future Autism Awareness Day events at Knoebels, as originally promised. Luckily, I was still given the honor to give a speech for the event to talk about my journey and thank everyone for allowing me to be a part of this.

“Imagine you’ve been told you’ll be honored: your photo will be added to a wall of important people in your field. You get your portrait taken. You invite friends. You prepare a speech and then — there is no wall. This happened to Thomas recently at an amusement park in south central Pennsylvania on its Autism Awareness Day. Thomas was cool as a cucumber. He still stepped up to the bandshell and spoke about his experience as an autism self-advocate; his friends cheered. I was among them. “As you can see,” Thomas said about the wall, waving his arm to the side, “It’s not here.” I was blown away by Thomas’s graciousness. It showed his character, why he’s a leader, a community builder. Thomas always tells people how much he appreciates them. His wit delivered in a gravelly voice, made for radio voice, always brings me joy. Thomas has overcome other disappointments before this experience. And, frankly, he’s received so many honors that one less didn’t shake him.

Thomas’s journey as an autism advocate began late in life. After a lot of confusion about why he wasn’t fitting into his family, he was diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome, a subtype of autism, at age 44. “At first, I wasn’t sure what it was all about, ” he recalled. What helped the most was finding a community. He joined a support group near Harrisburg called Spectrum Friends. It started with just three people, but Thomas began inviting guest speakers. “I was nervous, ” he said, “Looking back, I wonder — how did I get myself into this?” As she was pulling my leg, the leader of Spectrum Friends, I can tell you the group has grown to 20 people, and some of my guest speakers have been representatives from the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services and leaders from statewide advocacy groups. I have also been a guest speaker for the SAU 1 Housing myth-busting project, where I spoke about my experiences with low-income housing.” When Jennifer Jordan ran a project called All-Abilities Media, he appeared on a podcast to speak about employment. “Here I am going to use some of my Knoebels acceptance speech. In 2017, my greatest honor was the Dennis O’Brien Autism Advocacy award, named after Dennis, who was a former Pennsylvania Speaker of the House. The award recognizes individuals who’ve made a real impact in the autism community. “When he called to tell me, I thought he was pulling my leg. “Lo and behold–not so. In 2021, I was nominated by a friend for the American Public Health Association. These two awards helped to turn my life around.”

Here are a couple of nice quotes from two people I know personally. The first is a volunteer and a board member of the Mechanicsburg Museum, and she states, “He has a friendly face,” and it’s always a friendly face.” The second person is the national Civil War Museum’s Sales and Marketing Director. He is a longtime volunteer at the museum “we hope for many years'” with him. Jennifer writes in the end of the article, “What gives Thomas Hope:”

1. He allows researchers to interview him and is hopeful that this will benefit younger people to get diagnosed and seek support earlier. “That they will know what’s going on with themselves.”
2. He participates in a Catholic church. “It means a lot to me that I’m attached to a faith,” he said.
3. A song that gives him hope, in keeping with his affection for railroading, is from The Polar Express by Josh Groban…

“Trains move quickly to their journey’s end. Destinations are
where we begin again. Ships go sailing far across the sea,
trusting starlight to get where they need to be…”