Carly of "Carly's Voice" is on ABC's 20/20 News Program this Friday @10pm

Many of you commented on how touched you were, by the story of Carly Fleischmann, I wrote about last month. Her wonderful story is part of an hour long 20/20 special about medical mysteries. This is a great opportunity to learn more about the world of Autism that is affecting so many of our children. I hope you will watch it!

Here is Carly's letter that she sent to me today, and asked me to pass on to my readers:

Hi. My name is Carly Fleischmann and this Friday August 7, 2009, you can see a small glimpse of how I live with autism on abc’s 20/20. But this is not the real story. The real story is that 20/20 is doing a story on autism. A lot of people in the media feel that autism is not a story that people want to hear about. But I was once told that ignorance is caused by not having knowledge on the subject. So if you think about it that way shouldn’t the media show more stories about autism? There are so many stories out there of people and families living with autism that really need to be told.



If this Friday we can show 20/20 that people will watch these stories, maybe they’ll want to put more of them on the air. If after watching 20/20 this Friday night, you feel you need to do something, email 20/20 at http://abcnews.go.com/2020 and tell them what you think of the story and that you would like to see more stories done.



I am asking for your help right now. I would like you to email this note to all your friends telling them to watch 20/20 this Friday at 10:00 EST. Also I would love it if you could post this note with my Carly 20/20 badge on your webpage, blog or even facebook page. If you have a twitter account you can even change your profile picture to my badge to show your support.



You can get your Carly badge at: http://carlysvoice.com/?page_id=183



I would like to throw out a challenge to Oprah, Ellen Degeneres, Barbra Walters, Larry King, 60 Minutes and any other talk show or news stations to start talking about autism.



Someone once said to me that if you bend one Popsicle stick it will break but if you try to bend a hundred Popsicle sticks together they won’t. Well I am only one Popsicle stick asking you to join me to become many.



Your autistic girl who tells it like it is,

Carly Fleischmann

I like Michael Jackson's Music, A Lot. But, I'm Not A Fan! I Am a Fan of Carly!!

I don't think I have ever been a fan of an individual person.

Oh, I've been a fan of the Angel's baseball team since I was a kid. And, as a teen I had a few crushes on some famous actresses. But to be a sold out fan of a single person, like all the millions of Michael Jackson fans out there who have felt such deep loss at his death, including some who have committed suicide over it. Well, I just don't get that and I have even met Michael Jackson. But, all of sudden that has changed. Meet Carly.

She is 13 years old and has been diagnosed with Autism. I didn't know Carly till just a few days ago when I noticed she was following me on Twitter. Now, I have over a hundred Aid Organizations and people interested in mission work in Africa following me, but this was the first 13 year old girl. I thought she had confused me with one of the Jonas Brothers or thought I was a long lost family member. Curious, I went to her Twitter page and then to her Blog, watched a video and then read some of her writings and finally started to cry.

Take a moment and watch this short video and read this article, courtesy of ABC News:

Autism Breakthrough: Girl's Writings Explain Her Behavior and Feelings

Doctors Amazed by Carly Fleischmann's Ability to Describe the Disorder From the Inside

By JOHN MCKENZIE – ABC NEWS

Feb. 19, 2008

Carly Fleischmann has severe autism and is unable to speak a word. But thanks to years of expensive and intensive therapy, this 13-year-old has made a remarkable breakthrough.Two years ago, working with pictures and symbols on a computer keyboard, she started typing and spelling out words. The computer became her voice.

"All of a sudden these words started to pour out of her, and it was an exciting moment because we didn't realize she had all these words," said speech pathologist Barbara Nash. "It was one of those moments in my career that I'll never forget."

Then Carly began opening up, describing what it was like to have autism and why she makes odd noises or why she hits herself.

"It feels like my legs are on fire and a million ants are crawling up my arms," Carly said through the computer. Carly writes about her frustrations with her siblings, how she understands their jokes and asks when can she go on a date.

"We were stunned," Carly's father Arthur Fleischmann said. "We realized inside was an articulate, intelligent, emotive person that we had never met. This was unbelievable because it opened up a whole new way of looking at her." This is what Carly wants people to know about autism.

"It is hard to be autistic because no one understands me. People look at me and assume I am dumb because I can't talk or I act differently than them. I think people get scared with things that look or seem different than them." "Laypeople would have assumed she was mentally retarded or cognitively impaired. Even professionals labelled her as moderately to severely cognitively impaired. In the old days you would say mentally retarded, which means low IQ and low promise and low potential," Arthur Fleischman said. Therapists say the key lesson from Carly's story is for families to never give up and to be ever creative in helping children with autism find their voice.

"If we had done what so many people told us to do years ago, we wouldn't have the child we have today. We would have written her off. We would have assumed the worst. We would have never seen how she could write these things, how articulate she is, how intelligent she is," the grateful father added.

"I asked Carly to come to my work to talk to speech pathologists and other therapists about autism," said Nash. "What would you like to tell them? She wrote, 'I would tell them never to give up on the children that they work with.' That kind of summed it up."

Carly had another message for people who don't understand autism.

"Autism is hard because you want to act one way, but you can't always do that. It's sad that sometimes people don't know that sometimes I can't stop myself and they get mad at me. If I could tell people one thing about autism it would be that I don't want to be this way. But I am, so don't be mad. Be understanding."

Carly, I know you're off at camp, so you won't see this right away. But, I just wanted you to know I'm a fan. For the first time in my life I'm a real fan. Why? I suppose I should mention I have a daughter who is mildly on the spectrum of autism, and you have given me a window into a difficult and painful time in her life, but that is not the reason. It is because you have spoken so honestly and eloquently, that you have broken down another barrier of judgement in my life. Hearing in your words, amidst all the noise of the external and behavioral aspects of Autism, the heart that lies within. Thank you, Carly. Keep being a voice!

Eaar

P.S. If you live in southern California and have a child with Autism or have a desire to help children and families with Autism, the church where I attend is beginning a ministry called "Connecting the Pieces" Click on the link and check it out.