Biography
Andrew Bennett worked in the field of applied behavior analysis as a Registered Behavior Technician for almost six years, including three years at the University of Houston-Clear Lake where he has been working on the brand-new grant-funded project ABA Academy for Problem Behavior. He has worked with teachers in public school special education classrooms to develop ABA-based solutions for challenging behavior. He was also part of the LoneStar LEND program and served as a co-facilitator of the abuse and assault prevention and education group Sphere of Safety at Lee College. Andrew has also been a traveler and volunteer with the nonprofit organization Global Autism Project which supports and trains staff in ABA centers around the world and fundraises to keep the centers running. He is currently part of the Partner Relief Committee that is at the frontline of fundraising efforts for partner centers at risk of closing due to COVID-19 financial impacts. Mr. Bennett is about to start a position as a Leadership Coach, giving leadership coaching and professional development to staff at an ABA company under the guidance of Global Autism Project staff.
Andrew has served as a restaurant critic ghostwriter with Big Boy Dining Out in Indialantic, FL, has achieved Yelp Elite status for three years running, and would like to find a new restaurant publication to write for. Andrew was recommended to the independent Houston publication Houston Food Finder, though they did not have any openings at the time and are now closing permanently. Andrew is also developing a Zoom cooking class project where he cooks dishes live from his own kitchen.
Andrew also wrote music reviews for Lady Obscure Music Magazine and eventually morphed His style into a storytelling format, where he wrote an original story to go along with the music that was being reviewed. Mr. Bennett has four stories unpublished anywhere, as well as one already published on Lady Obscure and many sets of poems. Andrew would like for these to be read live, perhaps officially published, at some point.
Andrew Bennett is also an aspiring motivational speaker who has appeared at several events in the Houston area to speak about autism and self-advocacy, in-person and virtually, even internationally. He appeared at UHCL in 2014 at a movie showing of “Stand Clear of the Closing Doors” to tell his life experience with autism. Mr.Bennett was asked to perform to an audience of Czech professionals and parents in Prague, where he gave an original lecture called “A World Without Borders” about the different levels of “autism awareness” and how only when we reach the highest level, are individuals with autism truly integrated and respected in society. Andrew has more recently given a total of one private and three public performances of his newest original lecture “Autism is a Universal Language.” Its theme, drawn from his own experience with Global Autism Project and a quest to learn multiple languages, is that autism is comparable to a foreign language from the perspective of the neurotypical world, but one that is not altogether impenetrable, and in fact can be learned like any other language, especially because it shares universal traits no matter where you are from or what your mother tongue is. Like the health benefits of learning other languages, there are immeasurable benefits to us as a species to learn the language of autism.
