Summary
Acclaimed journalist and author Ron Suskind will deliver the 2019 Cubberley Lecture at Stanford, sharing his personal experience of raising a child with autism and leading a conversation about how to support children with different learning needs and abilities.
Suskind is the author of six best-selling books, including a groundbreaking memoir, Life, Animated, which tells the story of his family’s journey with his son Owen, now 27, who was diagnosed with regressive autism at age 3. A documentary based on the book was nominated for an Academy Award in 2017 and won an Emmy Award for Best Documentary last year. Suskind also won a Pulitzer Prize in 1995 for a series of articles he wrote for the Wall Street Journal about an inner-city high school student in Washington, D.C., who aspired to attend an Ivy League university, which became the basis for his book A Hope in the Unseen.
Following his talk, Suskind will lead a panel discussion with five members of the Stanford community:
Heidi M. Feldman, MD, PhD, a professor of developmental and behavioral pediatrics at Stanford School of Medicine
Zina Jawadi, ’18, MS ’19, founder of the Stanford Disability Initiative and president of the Hearing Loss Association of America, California State Association
Bill Koski, Ph.D ’03, professor of clinical education at Stanford Graduate School of Education (GSE) and professor of law at Stanford Law School
Elizabeth Kozleski, dean’s scholar for teaching and learning at the GSE
Maricela Montoy-Wilson, ’08, MA ’09, principal at Aspire East Palo Alto Charter School