Featured Volunteer: Steve White
If you visit the Autism Speaks Los Angeles office on a Monday afternoon you will have the honor of meeting Steve White, who began volunteering for Cure Autism Now in December, 1998, after his sister heard CAN's radio PSA, seeking volunteers. When Steve started there were only five staff members; he began filing, creating parent packets, press kits, sponsorship packets and photocopying. Every Monday for the
past nine and a half years, Steve has come in ready for anything, showing his great disposition. He is a very special part of our family and inspires people to push beyond their comfort zones.
When asked what motivates him to continue volunteering year after year, he replied, “I have a personal stake, because I have autism and we are trying to find a cure.”
Steve was diagnosed at the age of three in the early 1960's, but did not know he had autism until his mother told him, at the age of twenty. As he explains, “Back then they blamed the mothers, and my mother insisted that I attend regular schools, which I did.” Steve's father, a lawyer from Los Angeles, took a job overseas and moved the family to Geneva, then London, where Steve graduated high school and college, earning his BA in Political Science. Steve returned to the United States in 1986 for economic reasons and to be closer to his sister, also in Los Angeles. Since then, his other sister has also returned and he sees them both regularly. Steve now lives alone and works full time as a Supervisor for Mann's Movie Theater.
Steve's hobbies include reading, collecting maps, and reading National Geographic, to which his father purchased him a subscription, for his 10th birthday. Steve explains that in the last ten to twenty years he has become more talkative and that he encourages other young people who have autism to do the same.
When asked about the importance of volunteerism, Steve says, “No matter what organization you volunteer for, a school, church, synagogue or library, you learn a lot from your experience as a volunteer and it enriches your life.”
Do you know an Autism Speaks volunteer whose work should be recognized? Please send us suggestions of volunteers to feature on the site by emailing us here.
When asked what motivates him to continue volunteering year after year, he replied, “I have a personal stake, because I have autism and we are trying to find a cure.”
Steve was diagnosed at the age of three in the early 1960's, but did not know he had autism until his mother told him, at the age of twenty. As he explains, “Back then they blamed the mothers, and my mother insisted that I attend regular schools, which I did.” Steve's father, a lawyer from Los Angeles, took a job overseas and moved the family to Geneva, then London, where Steve graduated high school and college, earning his BA in Political Science. Steve returned to the United States in 1986 for economic reasons and to be closer to his sister, also in Los Angeles. Since then, his other sister has also returned and he sees them both regularly. Steve now lives alone and works full time as a Supervisor for Mann's Movie Theater.
Steve's hobbies include reading, collecting maps, and reading National Geographic, to which his father purchased him a subscription, for his 10th birthday. Steve explains that in the last ten to twenty years he has become more talkative and that he encourages other young people who have autism to do the same.
When asked about the importance of volunteerism, Steve says, “No matter what organization you volunteer for, a school, church, synagogue or library, you learn a lot from your experience as a volunteer and it enriches your life.”
Do you know an Autism Speaks volunteer whose work should be recognized? Please send us suggestions of volunteers to feature on the site by emailing us here.
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