Taylor Crowe gets national platforms to share message of autism

Taylor Crowe is taking his message of autism to even bigger stages next month.

Crowe, 28, a Cape Girardeau native and a graduate of one of the best art schools in the country, has told his success story to thousands of people already.

On April 2, he will be a small part of an HBO documentary on autism narrated by Kate Winslet. Less than two weeks later, he will speak at a national autism fundraising dinner where he'll be introduced by National Basketball Association commissioner David Stern. Then he's off to California for another speaking engagement.

David Crowe, Taylor's father, said Taylor enjoys talking about autism issues and sharing that there is hope for families who are struggling to get their small children to communicate. Taylor was once the same way. He stopped speaking at age 2 and threw tantrums as a 3-year-old when he lost the ability to talk. Through a lot of hard work, Taylor learned to talk and how to develop his talent in art.

Taylor has already written his six-minute speech for the "Autism Speaks" conference April 14. The conference is being sponsored by the NBA.

Taylor will, among other things, talk about his first childhood memory, when he had the cognitive ability to know something was wrong, but was not able to communicate it. At the end of the speech, Taylor will introduce former NBA great Bill Bradley, who is David Crowe's cousin.

The HBO documentary is called "A Mother's Courage: Talking Back to Autism." It focuses primarily on a mother's quest to get answers about her child's autism. The film features several families dealing with autism, including Taylor, who represents a success story in terms of his ability to adapt socially. The show will air at 5 p.m. April 2, which is also Autism Awareness Day. April is autism awareness month. Taylor will also speak this month at the California State University Fullerton's annual educator's conference on inclusion; he'll also speak to an autism group on April 23 at Arkansas State University.

In past years, Taylor has spoken to audiences in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Texas, Canada, Arkansas and Missouri.

David Crowe attributes Taylor's social success to a "circle of friends" who helped him be comfortable in social situations. Many therapists and educators contributed to Taylor's success, David Crowe said.

bmiller@semissourian.com

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