My Main Influences

Posted on June 5, 2026

If I were to describe one person or persons who were and still are the most influential people in my life, they would be Nina Wall and Dennis O’Brien. They got me going in the world of autism. I first met both of them at an adult autism support group meeting many years ago because I had invited Nina as a guest speaker, and she invited Dennis to join the meeting also. That is where a wonderful relationship started. Back then, Nina was the Director of the Office of Autism Resources and Special Populations, and Dennis was the former Speaker of the Pennsylvania House. Both of them have continued to come to our meetings over the years for updates on autism. I believe that if my mind serves me well, Dennis has a relative on the autism spectrum, and Nina has two sons, one of whom is also on the spectrum. Over the past decade or so, both Nina and Dennis have become close friends of mine. We do keep in touch from time to time, especially on all of my birthdays, I will hear from both of them. I keep talking about a turning point in my autism career, and how it got started. In 2017, I got a call from Dennis about an award in his name that he was giving me. At first, I thought he was joking, but he was not. So, in late April of 2017, I rode by train from Harrisburg down to Philadelphia, where my eldest sister Sue (who has since passed away over 3 years ago as I am writing this piece) met me at the Philadelphia 30th Street train station. We were picked up by Nina and taken to the Philadelphia Education Building, where an autism fair was underway when we all arrived. During this fair, there was an award ceremony to take place where several awards were given out, and mine was one of the awards.

What made this award more special is that both Dennis and Nina gave such glowing remarks about the Spectrum Friends support group, as well as about me. It made it more special having my eldest sister, Sue, there to see this happening for me. This will be a moment in time that I shall never forget. As I am writing this piece, both Nina and Dennis have moved on with their lives. Dennis has retired from his job with the Philadelphia Behavioral Health, and Nina Wall has retired from her job as the Director of the Bureau of Autism Resources and Special Populations and has started her second career with the Woods System of Care as the Vice President of Autism Clinical Strategy, Excellence, and Training. Just this past April, she had gotten in touch with me about doing a small part of a video for the Woods organization for Autism acceptance month, which I said yes to immediately. They recorded my part for the video, which included one other person, whom I know as an autism colleague, Kate Hooven, who is a justice coordinator for ASERT. I also want to mention that a couple of years later, Dennis invited me back down to Philadelphia to watch another well-deserved person, who also works in the autism field, get Dennis’s Autism advocacy award.

What is nice about the two of them is that they both care about me. Not just because I am autistic, they care about me as a fellow human being who has feelings. They both saw something about me that I did not see in myself. I am still trying to live up to high standards, working in both the fields of autism and disability, which is not easy. I put a lot on my shoulders to try to do a good job. Their friendship means a lot to me. I have many friends who have meant a lot to me, so it was hard to choose just one special person in my life to write about. I could have written about a couple of very close friends that I have known and have been friends with since our college days together. I do not know how lucky I am to know both Nina and Dennis. I do not know if it was meant to be or the stars aligned just right for our friendships, but all I know is that this will be a lasting friendship with autism working colleagues. I am proud to have them in my corner on my continued autism journey.