Jennifer Byde Myers is a writer, editor, and a lover of social media. She became a special needs advocate after her first child was born. His mild cerebral palsy and later, his autism diagnosis spurred her to write her blog www.jennyalice.com, where she chronicles her family's journey from diagnosis to daily living with her son's special needs, and continues to share stories about parenting, and life in the Bay Area.

Jennifer helped create The Thinking Person's Guide to Autism (TPGA) in 2010. It has become a successful blog with information by and for autistics, parents of children with autism, and the professionals who serve the community. The book companion book was released in 2011.

In 2011 Jennifer founded the Myers-Rosa Foundation with her business partner Shannon Des Roches Rosa, allowing the work of TPGA to reach a larger audience with the benefits of non-profit status. www.myersrosa.blogspot.com

Her writing has been featured at Salon.com, Parents.com, Care.com, Dadelion Magazine, and in several books including My Baby Rides the Short Bus. Jennifer has been interviewed on NPR, most recently on Forum with Michael Krasny, and is a Parenting.com Must-Read Mom.

She lives on the San Francisco peninsula with her supportive husband, two wily children, and a dog named Gus. Follow her on Twitter at @jennyalice.

In 2011 Jennifer founded the Myers-Rosa Foundation with her business partner Shannon Des Roches Rosa, allowing the work of TPGA to reach a larger audience with the benefits of non-profit status. www.myersrosa.blogspot.com

Liane Kupferberg Carter is a nationally known writer, journalist and advocate for the autism community. Her work has been published in the New York Times, Washington Post, New York Magazine, Market Watch, Chicago Tribune, Next Avenue, Longreads, and numerous literary journals, blogs and book anthologies. For more information, visit www.lianekcarter.com

"KETCHUP IS MY FAVORITE VEGETABLE: A Family Grows Up With Autism" is a

*2017 American Society of Journalists and Authors Outstanding Book*

*2017 Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Awards Finalist*

I’m the mother of THREE terrific sons. The oldest, Matthew, is a young adult with autism. I’m an optimistic mother/autism advocate/writer, and parents like me because I tell them it gets easier and I mean it. I write an autism blog for the San Francisco Chronicle that is very popular.

I’ve contributed to several anthologies, including Voices of Autism, A Cup of Comfort for Parents of Children with Special Needs, Writin’ on Empty, Gravity Pulls You In, Writin’ on Empty, Easy to Love, Hard to Raise and the incredible Thinking Person’s Guide to Autism. My essays have appeared in many places, including The New York Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Contra Costa Times, Literary Mama, the East Bay Monthly, The Autism Advocate, on NPR and CNN.COM.

Emily Willingham is author of PHALLACY: LIFE LESSONS FROM THE ANIMAL PENIS (Avery, 2020) and THE TAILORED BRAIN (Basic Books, 2021). Her writing has been published online at the New York Times, Scientific American, Forbes, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Wall Street Journal, Discover, NOVA, Science, and others. She is also co-author with Tara Haelle of the award-winning book, The Informed Parent (Perigee Books/Penguin), and the author of The Complete IG to College Biology.

Her writing focuses on the intersection where society, science, and biases meet. She specializes in examining social perspectives on mental health, sexuality and gender, and parenting, with close attention to unconscious motivations and a practical perspective.

Willingham is the 2014 recipient of the John Maddox Prize for standing up for science, a joint initiative of Nature and the Kohn Foundation, that rewards an individual who has faced difficulty and hostility in the course of promoting sound, evidence-based science on a matter of public interest. She also served on the board of the National Association of Science Writers, for which she chaired the Fairness Committee and co-chaired the membership committee. She is a recipient of an Association of Health Care Journalists fellowship award.

Willingham earned her bachelor's degree in English and her PhD in biological sciences at The University of Texas at Austin and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in urology at the University of California-San Francisco. She has taught students of all ages, primarily as a university instructor in scientific writing and biology, focusing on physiology, anatomy, developmental biology, genetics, and general science.

She has been struck by lightning once personally, on a ridge in Yellowstone N.P., and also has once been a car that was struck by lightning and in an airplane that was zapped. In other words, do not stand too near her.

Willingham keeps busy with her family, including an awkwardly comical rescue dog and a trio of sons whom she encourages to keeping asking "Why?" unless she's typing. When she's not answering their questions or her own, she's reading, hiking, eating, drinking, and generally being merry and likely argumentative. You can find her on Twitter @ejwillingham, possibly too often, and read more about her on Wikipedia.

Susan Walton is a different kind of autism mom. She and her family tried the diets, the therapy, and even some of the voodoo, but came to know that this stuff alone wasn't going to take her family where they wanted to go. Cherry picking the parts that were helpful but then striking out for new territory, she dedicated herself to finding fun and adventure not just for her own family, but for a thousand families in the San Francisco Bay Area who are part of the group she founded. Jump on board for the ride! Whether these families are swinging from a zipline, surfing in the ocean, or hiding behind a couch, this is a group of families that have fun and want to spread the word: Life is not over after diagnosis! The adventure is just beginning.

Shannon Des Roches Rosa's writing and interviews are featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Redbook, Parents Magazine, PBS Parents, SF Weekly, SF Gate, AOL News, Shot of Prevention, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. She writes about autism, parenting, evidence-based approaches, iPads, vaccines, and geekery at www.Squidalicious.com, as BlogHer.com's contributing editor for parenting kids with special needs, and as a co-founder and editor of The Thinking Person's Guide to Autism. She is one of CafeMom's autism experts, and is one of Babble.com's Top 25 Autism Bloggers. Shannon's radio interviews on autism, parenting, and blogging include KQED Forum, KCUR Central Standard, and News Talk KIRO. She has been a speaker at several conferences, including BlogHer and UCSF Developmental Disabilities. She has edited several anthologies and contributed stories to numerous books, including the award-winning My Baby Rides the Short Bus. Shannon and her son Leo were featured in Apple's iPad: Year One video, which was introduced by Steve Jobs at Apple's iPad2 Keynote in San Francisco. She, her handsome husband, and their three capricious children live near San Francisco.