Laura Shumaker (www.laurashumaker.com) is the author of A Regular Guy: Growing up with Autism, and a columnist for www.5minutesforspecialneeds.com. Her essays have appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle, the Contra Costa Times, the East Bay Monthly, The Autism Advocate, on cnn.com and NPR Perspectives. Laura speaks regularly for schools and disability groups and lives in Lafayette, California with her husband, Peter, and her three sons. Email Laura at lshumaker@pacbell.net.