Welcoming Author Jesse Saperstein in Hudson Valley
Constructive Partnerships Unlimited’s Hudson Valley affiliate welcomed author and advocate Jesse A. Saperstein for an engaging book talk and signing at our Day Hab program location in Brewster, New York on January 30.
Close to 25 staff and persons supported were able to experience the talk in person while even more tuned into the livestream and asked poignant questions. Jesse read from his best-selling works Getting a Life with Asperger’s: Lessons Learned on the Bumpy Road to Adulthood and his first book Atypical, Life With Asperger’s in 20 1/3 Chapters and took time to share his experiences hiking the Appalachian Trail (a more than seven month journey), navigating the dating world, and learning from his mistakes—a lesson everyone can relate to.
It was encouraging to hear Jesse also discuss his frustrations (“With all the stimuli like Facebook and YouTube it’s hard to find the energy to read books. I think there’s a little bit of autism in all of us…”) and how he stays motivated in the face of obstacles: “My thoughts are, is there anything I can do to show you that I’m not a liability, and how can we fix this? Another way I deal with being told no is by continuing to embrace challenges.”
More inspiring quotes from Jesse include:
“Your weakness can turn into a strength.”
“Not everything is in your control, you just have to take them one increment at a time.”
“When you walk on egg shells—afraid to make any mistakes—you create much more problems”
“You have to have a tropical rainstorm before you get the rainbows.”
And the most universal:
“We all have disabilities or abilities regardless of a diagnosis.”
We look forward to welcoming additional authors for more book talks in the future!
