Autism Light: Ed Asner
Ed Asner is an actor who lives in Los Angeles, California. He is a parent and a grandparent of individuals with autism. Ed Asner is an Autism Light because of his advocacy on behalf of autism.
Family: Ed Asner has two generations of children with autism in his family.
- His son Charles Asner (b. 1987) has autism.
- His grandson Will through his son Matthew Asner has autism.
Emmy: Ed Asner won an Emmy for his famous role as Lou Grant in the Mary Tyler Moore Show. He also had a follow up to that show called Lou Grant. In his career as an actor he also served as President of the Screen Actors Guild. Note this funny clip from the beginnings of the Mary Tyler Moore Show.
Advocacy: Ed Asner has been an advocate for autism. He notes that autism is a pandemic and if the numbers keep growing it will be the norm to be on the Autism Spectrum and it will be abnormal to be outside of it (Source). Here are some ways he has done advocacy.
Autism Speaks Award: On July 19, 2010 Autism Speaks gave a luncheon in Los Angeles in honor of Ed Asner for all of his support over the years for Autism Speaks.
Media: Here are two parts of an interview Ed Asner did for the Faces of Autism documentary that is on YouTube.
For more information on Ed Asner visit these social media links.
Special thanks to Ed Asner for being an Autism Light in the unique ways his celebrity status provides him. Ed Asner is well deserving of being the first actor to represent parents and grandparents of those with autism on Autism Light.
Autism Light honors diverse heroes to the world of autism.
Autism Light #93.
Photo: The photo used in this post is in the Public Domain and was taken from Wikipedia Commons.