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Yvona Fast is an author, freelance writer, food columnist, editor, researcher and speaker. Her first book is a career guide for individuals with Asperger Syndrome or Non-Verbal Learning disability. She is currently working on her second book, My Nine Lives, a memoir she's writing with her mother, a Holocaust survivor. An excerpt, Escape from the Ghetto, won honorable mention in the North Country Public Radio writing contest. Her weekly column, North Country Kitchen, offers a medley of nutritional information, historical facts, and easy, seasonal recipes that help the reader prepare wholesome family meals and achieve a healthy lifestyle.
Friday, May 28, 2010 And the Oil Keeps Pouring Forth" (9 comments)
No more offshore drilling. We need to detach ourselves from our dependence on oil before we completely ruin our planet.
Saturday, April 10, 2010 Autism: A Wide Spectrum (2 comments)
Autism is a spectrum. Everyone is different, but everyone is challenged when trying to function in the Neurotypical world.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010 What's in a Label? (3 comments)
Labels can be bad. They stigmatize; they can put people in boxes - and people don't fit in boxes. But labels can also bring freedom, community and understanding.
The new edition of the DSM will lump ADHD with disruptive behavior disorders and Asperger's Syndrome with the Autism Spectrum. Our society doesn't accept people who don't fit in. Eliminating labels will worsen how they're perceived by others in society.
Friday, January 22, 2010 Free Speech is for Those who Have Money (2 comments)
The recent Supreme Court decision protects the free speech of those with money, but the rest of us may not be heard.
Sunday, December 20, 2009 Shattered Hopes (2 comments)
I was hopeful for changes in our health care system when Obama won the election. Now my hopes are shattered; the current health care bill is a farce with little substance left. I agree with Dr. Howard Dean, it needs to be scrapped and we need to start over.
Sunday, November 9, 2008 Come together to renew the promise (1 comments)
The election is over. We need to come together and set aside differences.
Thursday, September 25, 2008 Borrowed Money (1 comments)
We live on borrowed money. Our government lives on deficits. Greed drives our economy. We need to go back to living within our means.
Tuesday, February 5, 2008 Political Super Bowl (1 comments)
The political horse race is here. We need to reform the system and set limits on funds and time. We need a popular vote. We need to make sure all votes are verifiable and can count. We need to do away with special status early voting states.
Thursday, January 24, 2008 Be Patriotic: Go Shopping!
Our economy stands on its head. In order to move the economy continually forward, we have to buy and spend. But this goes against resource conservation, re-using, and re-cycling. We need to create an economy based on need and not on consumerism's "shop till you drop" mentality.
Monday, December 24, 2007 Who Kidnapped My Child? (1 comments)
After just two weeks of outcry from parents of disabled kids and advocacy groups, the NYU Child Study Center agreed to remove the provocative 'ransom notes' ads that depicted kids with the 6 disorders as captives of an evil Mafia.
Tuesday, December 4, 2007 Where Would Jesus Shop? (2 comments)
Do we really need to buy just for the sake of buying? This seems to me a strange ritual to celebrate the birth of someone who came into a broken, politically oppressed world as an outcast.
Saturday, December 1, 2007 Embracing the Face of Autism: Are we Ready? (3 comments)
Children with autism grow up and become adults with autism. Are we as a society ready to embrace them?
Friday, March 23, 2007 Privatizing Hospitals is a Bad Idea
If NY State can't allocate our tax dollars for research and development, education and health care, where are our tax dollars going? Should hospitals, educational institutions and research facilities operate primarily to make a profit, or to carry out their mission of patient care, education, and research? Does our health care system exist to provide care for our citizens, or to make money for insurance companies?
Wednesday, March 7, 2007 Victory for the Middle Class (1 comments)
The US House of Representatives approved the Employee Free Choice Act, an important step towards strengthening America's middle class.
Monday, February 12, 2007 Autism Lite?
People with nonverbal learning disability use language to compensate for weaknesses in other areas of communication that we take for granted, like facial expressions, gestures, and body language. They also have problems with motor clumsiness, organizational and executive abilities, and visual processing.
