Many of Dr. Patricia Wright’s greatest stories lie within the pages of her passport (just ask her about Alaska, India or China), but her most exciting pursuit is making the world a more inclusive place for autistic individuals and the communities that support them. Through Proof Positive, her bold vision is being realized.

Guided by her passion (and zest) for education and advocacy, she’s dedicated her career to ensuring individuals with autism have access to effective services and supports that lead to more joyful, meaningful lives.

Now she’s leading the charge to advance the science of positive psychology and skills of happiness as the Executive Director of Proof Positive, a national non-profit collaborating with schools, autism organizations and positive psychology leaders to integrate and expand wellbeing programming for autistic individuals and their communities.

Applauded as a global leader in autism advocacy, programming and interventions, Patricia brings a track record of success working in management at top autism organizations. She was pivotal in the design and transformation of a statewide system of support for children with autism for the state of Hawaii, and she also served in leadership roles for NEXT for AUTISM and as the National Director of Autism Services for Easterseals.

Additionally, Patricia has held advisory roles for a number of professional associations and advocacy groups, including the Organization for Autism Research’s Scientific Council, the Executive Committee for the Friends of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Board of Directors for the Association of Professional Behavior Analysts and the Autism Society Panel of Professional Advisors.

Patricia has advised and provided expert testimony at Congressional Hearings. She is also a frequent contributor in the media, raising awareness of early identification and developmental milestones and deepening the public’s understanding of disability equity, inclusion and access.

She holds a Ph.D. and Master of Public Health from the University of Hawaii. Her research focuses on the delivery of evidence-based interventions in community-based settings and healthcare access for people with disabilities.

Imagine a world where wellbeing wins for everyone, including individuals with autism. Katie Curran believes this is possible, and she loves making it happen. The engine that drives her purpose forward: the science of happiness.

Katie is the Chief Wellbeing Officer of Proof Positive, a non-profit organization dedicated to spreading the science and skills of happiness for individuals with autism, and their families, educators, and service providers.

Katie has more than 20 years of clinical experience working with autistic individuals. She’s widely recognized as a creative force when it comes to autism intervention, developing strategies and tools that fuse Positive Psychology with Applied Behavior Analysis to improve wellbeing.

Katie’s zest for her work makes her a sought after speaker and workshop leader. In her role as a Primary Instructor on UPenn’s Master Resilience Training team, she led interdisciplinary teams around the world to train educators, soldiers, athletes, and government officials on the skills of resilience and human flourishing.

Prior to Proof Positive, Katie held tenure at three of the world’s leading behavioral institutions (i.e., Sheppard Pratt Mental Health Institute, Kennedy Krieger Institute, and Princeton Child Development Institute).  Her sense of purpose was ignited when she realized that behavioral interventions, alone, were not enough to develop thriving lives for autistic individuals and their communities.  Early in her career, she recognized an opportunity to prioritize wellbeing as a pathway to improve learning trajectories and quality of life outcomes.

Always curious, she has authored articles on the topics of Goals Setting, Hope Theory, Character Strengths, and Learned Happiness. She serves as a global representative to the International Positive Education Network; held a seat on the MAPP Alumni Board at University of Pennsylvania and was a founding board member for the Global Autism Project.

Katie holds a Masters of Applied Positive Psychology (MAPP) from the University of Pennsylvania and earned her Bachelors of Psychology with honors from Towson University in 2004. With her love for lifelong learning, Katie is currently pursuing a Master of Science in Nonprofit Leadership at the University of Pennsylvania.

Katie lives in Princeton, NJ with her partner, Maria, and their two kids.  She is most grateful for the joy she finds getting lost in nature, playing (just about anything…as long as she is winning) with family and friends, and spoiling her dog, Georgie.

When Avery Bell is not enjoying fresh air and outdoor adventures, she’s bringing her kindness and innovation to help others practice happiness in any environment.

As the Associate Director of Operations and Community Connections at Proof Positive, Avery engages diverse teams of educators, caregivers and service providers to integrate positive psychology skills into the daily rhythms of life.  Always learning, Avery supports the organization’s social media, messaging, and collaborations to promote inclusion, equity, and sustainability.

Prior to Proof Positive, Avery fueled her passion for people and the planet as a youth development leader at Cheley Colorado Camps in the Rocky Mountains. At her alma mater, Colorado College, she engaged community members in various initiatives to enhance campus sustainability goals in her role as the Green Programs Intern at the Office of Sustainability.

Applying her innate passion for mental health and wellbeing, Avery has also worked to promote research and awareness on mental health and suicide at the James Kirk Bernard Foundation, where she coordinated social media, marketing, and fundraising events.

With a love for service, Avery enjoys volunteering for a variety of organizations, including Conservation Colorado and Ascendigo Autism Services. As a previous Division III student-athlete, Avery loves working as a team to achieve goals, and will apply this sense of teamwork and community involvement to optimize collaborations at Proof Positive.

She earned her Bachelors of Arts in Political Science and Environmental Issues from Colorado College.

Avery currently lives in Boston, Massachusetts but calls Basalt, Colorado home. Always looking for a new adventure Avery loves to hike and ski, learn a new crafting skill (currently, it’s printmaking!), and do all things music-related: concerts, playing, singing, and appreciating its beauty!

As Vice President of Implementation and Dissemination, Dr. Paige Raetz brings a wealth of expertise and a kind, engaging presence to the Proof Positive Autism Wellbeing Alliance.

Paige’s journey in autism services and support is marked by her significant contributions, especially her nine years of developing and refining services as the Director of Teen and Adult Services at Southwest Autism Research and Resource Center (SARRC). Prior to her time at SARRC, she pioneered services at Trumpet Behavioral Health and influenced practices on an international level as the Clinical and Research Director at Kinark Child and Family Services in Toronto, Canada.

Paige is a respected scholar and leader in her field. She has published extensively and served as a guest editor for notable journals. Her research and interest spans diverse areas, including autism, behavioral gerontology, verbal behavior, and organizational behavior management. Paige has contributed as an adjunct professor in the Psychology department at Arizona State University and serves on the Governor’s appointed committee on Behavior Analysis for the state of Arizona. She has also held leadership roles, including President of Advancing Futures for Adults with Autism and the Autism Provider Exchange.

With a strong commitment to fairness, Paige is inspired by the potential of positive psychology to transform autism services to benefit all. She collaborates with Autism Wellbeing Alliance members to implement the science and skills of happiness. Paige envisions a world where the skills of happiness and wellbeing are accessible to everyone, and is especially hopeful of its potential to benefit caregivers and support teams. Through her work, Paige uses a sense of gratitude to create an environment where everyone feels valued and supported. She employs her humor to strengthen her relationships with teams and fairness to build stronger connections between team members and those they support, enhancing retention and increasing satisfaction for all participants.

Outside of her professional life, Paige is a sports enthusiast. Whether on the basketball court cheering for her daughter or on the baseball field supporting her son, she loves being involved in sports. She also enjoys going to the gym and playing golf and pickleball. Her creative side shines through her love of photography, where she appreciates the beauty of taking and admiring photos, especially the vibrant murals around her city.

For Karra Lang, wellbeing wins for all. For her, that wellbeing must extend to all people, all animals, and all of nature, our planet.

Rooted by a lifelong love of animals, Karra has held a variety of roles in the pet care industry. Early on in her professional career, she began to identify issues with many of the traditional approaches to the wellbeing of pets through their daily care. Driven to help change pet care for the better, she became a certified Positive Reinforcement/Fear Free dog trainer with an interest in educating and influencing pet parents to see a new perspective.

Over time, Karra worked to extend her interest in animal and pet wellbeing to greater human wellbeing, from diet and exercise to communication and understanding. Believing in the possibility of a more holistic, resilience-centered approach, she has taken a particular interest in holistic health and wellness, beginning with proper nutrition. And the way to do that? Through education. Karra believes that spreading knowledge in a creative and honest way is the most important way to create positive change.

As the Administrative Coordinator at Proof Positive, Karra applies her appreciation of beauty and excellence to ensure efficient organizational operations and maintenance. She employs her kindness every day to support the team, and her humor to keep things light, navigating all of the many problem-solving and daily tasks necessary.

Outside of Proof Positive, you may find Karra spending time with her kiddo, cats (Scuba, Tyrion, and Mini Cat) and puppy (Hiccup), reading a new favorite book, or enjoying the creative storytelling narrative of video games in her home in Maryland.

For David Hawkins (he/they), the most vibrant learning environments are created through opportunities to celebrate stories from diverse, inclusive, and genuinely authentic perspectives.

David’s Love of Learning first began in their home state of Tennessee, where they grew up learning to harmonize with country music radio stations, singing and performing in local theater productions, and exploring the creek in the backyard with their siblings. They went on to earn a Bachelor of Science in Child Psychology and have since experienced a storied career spanning more than a decade in educational and non-profit settings in East Tennessee, Southern California, New York City, and David’s current community of Central New Jersey.

An experienced educator, David finds purpose in their chosen role of a trusted adult accompanying learners of all ages and abilities. They are passionate about empowering people with disabilities and their care providers to embrace an active role in contributing to their communities. Throughout their career, David has embraced zestful adventure, from co-learning about bioluminescence while encouraging elementary school students to chomp on mint candies, accompanying individuals with autism in developing their art showcases at the Guggenheim Museum and developing experiential learning opportunities for middle school students to expand their existing knowledge of autism and consider players of all abilities when designing board games. David also volunteers extensively with youth-centered organizations, including serving in leadership roles for the triennial National Youth Gathering of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and mentoring with the Center for Family Services based in New Jersey.

As Proof Positive’s Manager of Learning, David applies social intelligence and leadership through collaboration with team members and the broader Autism Wellbeing Alliance to advance the shared mission of spreading the science and skills of happiness. David cultivates and coordinates learning events for Proof Positive and develops wellbeing content for the autism community. They are committed to developing accessible and supportive learning experiences for each member of the autism community to learn about and incorporate the practices of wellbeing in their own lives and to advocate for the prioritization of wellbeing within the autism community.

David’s most prominent teachers and co-learners include their husband, Chris, their young daughter, and their family beagle, Bernice. David regularly shares short-form personal writings centered on gratitude inspired by new life, especially the power of making time to be in awe of every moment’s possibility to expand and become more welcoming of each individual’s story waiting to be embraced.

Mari-Luci Mesoamerican Indigenous woman, wife, mom, Autist, and board-certified behavior analyst with over 20 years experience working with Neurodivergent individuals and their families. A former special education teacher, behavior specialist, and inclusion coordinator of 17 years, Mari has a deep passion for advocacy work with both schools and clinics to develop trauma-responsive, neurodiversity responsive practices. Her work focuses on shifting language and systems used in practice to reframe and move away from unintentional ableist frameworks that are often rooted in traditional therapy and educational settings. Much of this work pulls from IRM (Indigenous Research Methods) and models of care rooted in Cultural Safety and Responsiveness. She recently opened her own trauma-responsive center, The Lighthouse Learning Center in Lubbock, TX with the goal of creating a model of true neurodiversity affirming and assent-based practices. Mari is also the co-founder of the The LEAP Institute, a non-profit with a mission to address the disparity of diverse practitioners in the ABA field.

Kara Hume, is an Associate Professor in the School of Education at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Hume has worked with and learned from autistic children and adults for almost 35 years in a variety of capacities, including a home program therapist, teacher, TEACCH trainer, CrossFit coach, and researcher. Her research focuses on increasing access for individuals with developmental disabilities to high quality community-based supports. For fun, Hume leads an inclusive and adaptive fitness class in the Chapel Hill community called Power Hour. She and colleagues were recently awarded an NIH R01 grant to study the impact of this inclusive exercise programming on the health and wellbeing of adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

During her years at UNC-Chapel Hill, Hume, in collaboration with a number of colleagues across departments and disciplines, has received over $21 million in funding as PI or Co-PI, published more than 80 manuscripts and book chapters, and has led two of the largest studies to date examining the efficacy of school-based interventions for students with developmental disabilities. The Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee has four times nominated or identified her work as a top-20 yearly scientific advance in ASD research.

Johanna “Joey” Murphy has an M.F.A. in Non-Fiction writing and a B.A. in Philosophy. Shortly after beginning her M.F.A., she was diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome, or ASD level one at the age of 42, her life began to make a lot more sense to her. She has taught Composition, Seminar in Composition: Engineering, Intro to Non-Fiction and Journalism, and Intro to Creative Writing at the University of Pittsburgh. Now in her 50s, she divides her time between writing, teaching and advocating for greater awareness of the needs of autistic people, especially older women on the autism spectrum as Director of Inclusion Programming for Evolve Coaching, a Pittsburgh-based organization that provides master’s level coaching and support for autistic college students and workforce candidates. She is also part of a working group at the Behavioral Health Center of Excellence and NEXT for Autism. She is the co-author of a chapter on working with autistic people entitled, “Cultural Humility: A Path to Equity,” for a textbook edited by the Autism Partnership Foundation that will be published by Springer. She has written about her own autism diagnosis later in life on publicsource.org, and in 2019 her Public Source piece “Women my age weren’t called ‘autistic’ growing up” earned a second-place SPJ Spotlight Award for health and medical reporting.

Robert Naseef, Ph.D. has a distinct voice as a psychologist, author, and father of an adult son with autism. He has spoken around the country and trained professionals internationally in treating autism and other developmental disorders and supporting families. He has a special interest in the psychology of men and fatherhood. He gave a TEDx talk entitled “How autism teaches us about being human.” Robert is also a member of the Panel of Professional Advisors of the Autism Society of America. He also serves on the Leadership Council of the AJ Drexel Autism Institute. Visit him on the web at https://drrobertnaseef.com/

Alexandra Newson PhD (she/her) is a neurodivergent and disabled researcher, advocate, and educator who received her doctorate in special education from the University of Oregon. Her current research interests include utilizing equitable neuroinclusive research methodologies to promote and empower disabled and neurodivergent educator and student lived experiences and perspectives. Her passion for this research stems from her experiences as a special educator to youth with co-occurring disabilities, mental health needs, and trauma histories. She has seen how the use of trauma-informed neurodiversity-affirming practices with neurodivergent and disabled individuals is more than just best practice, but a social justice issue. Her current projects focus on Autistic educator experiences of burnout and flourishing, supporting neurodivergent and disabled preservice educators, and training educators on ways to implement neurodiversity-affirming practices in K-12 settings. Before beginning her doctoral studies, Dr. Newson received a Master of Science at the University of Oregon in Special Education with K-12 licensure. Dr Newson has taught in private and public-school settings in the Pacific Northwest as a certified Special Educator and educational assistant. As an educator, advocate and researcher, Alex hopes to bridge the gap in current educational systems to better empower practitioners to disrupt their communities while holding systems accountable.

With over 25 years of experience working with children of all ages and abilities, while fostering community service and advocating for inclusion, this journey has always centered on creating a space where everyone can learn and grow. Building a community of service, giving back, and paying it forward is woven into every part of our work at ISPT.

Inclusion Sports Performance Training, LLC and our non-profit We Care Special Sports were both born from a lifelong dream, fueled by a deep passion and unwavering dedication to providing resources for all families.

Over the years, countless families, of both neurotypical and neurodivergent students, have left an indelible impact on me, and being a reliable resource for these families is central to the mission at Inclusion Sports Performance Training.

Years ago, a commitment was made to ensure parents would have a welcoming and inclusive place to bring their children—a place where possibilities are limitless. Today this promise continues to guide everything we do at Inclusion Sports Performance Training, by creating a space where all are welcome, and every child has the chance to thrive.

Zack Siddeek is an Autistic social worker and community organizer practicing in Seattle, Washington. He is passionate about increasing the representation of Autistic people in all matters and places that impact them and infusing disability justice principles wherever possible. He works as the Disability Systems Navigation Coordinator at the Arc of King County. He also organizes the Square Pegs, a series of 25 social and support groups for Autistic adults in Washington State. Additionally, Zack serves on the board of the Washington Initiative for Supportive Employment, a nationally renowned organization that promotes equitable employment for people with developmental disabilities through innovation, training, and technical assistance.

Dr Jodie Wilson (she/her) is a second-generation veterinarian from Queensland, Australia. She is a past President and media spokesperson of the Australian Veterinary Association QLD Division. In 2016, she found her veterinary home in emergency and critical care, joining the team at Animal Emergency Service Carrara. When her physical capabilities limited Jodie’s ability to continue in clinical practice, she made the transition from ECC medicine to her other passion – understanding human beings and how to help them thrive.

Jodie is a warrior, and her remarkable resilience, unique perspectives, and ability to innovate have shaped her award-winning veterinary career. As a diagnosed autistic and ADHD individual, with a late life acquired physical disability, she knows what overcoming challenge to succeed really looks like. She is a dedicated disruptive influence, constantly curious about the world, and how to make it a place where people can flourish as their whole authentic selves.

Jodie is an experienced life coach, specialising in managing change and life transitions. She has a Master of Applied Positive Psychology degree from the University of Melbourne’s Centre for Wellbeing Science and is currently undertaking research at the intersection of Autism and Wellbeing at the La Trobe University’s Olga Tennison Autism Research Centre. Jodie finds the intersectionality of the world exciting. She is an accomplished activist, advocate, speaker, and writer across a number of intersecting domains, including positive psychology, veterinary mental health, neurodiversity, LGBQTIA+ issues, disability, and parenting.

Jodie’s passion belongs to the people who make up her communities, and her mission is to move the individuals she works with from surviving, to thriving. Jodie is especially passionate about coaching neurodivergent teens and young adults, and those living with disability, to journey with them with courage and without shame, towards their best selves. Her practice is evidence-informed, guided by lived experience, and sensitive to context.