Steven Birk, Queen’s University

When I first found out I had been chosen for an interview for a summer position with ASD-CARC, I all of a sudden realized I didn't really know anything about autism. The position I had applied for was a computing one, but for curiosity sake I asked my girlfriend (who has taken a few psychology courses at Queen’s) to give me a simplified explanation of what autism was. So she briefly explained to me what the professors had said, and what she had read about it, but for the most part I remained in the dark on the subject.

It was at this interview that I met Dr. Jeanette Holden. She spoke about the goals of ASD-CARC with such enthusiasm that I could immediate tell that the position would be a challenging and exciting one. As it turns out, knowledge about autism was not a prerequisite for the job and I was lucky enough to get the position.

On my first day I met many of the individuals involved with ASDCARC at the Ongwanada research center. It was immediately apparent that their enthusiasm matched that of Dr. Holden.

My job for the summer was to be a part of the team which maintains and develops the ASD-CARC website. The goal of this website is to act as a portal for researchers and families to interact and communicate. Due to the large scale of the website, my first task was to find my way around and to learn the tools my team used to maintain and make changes to the website. This at first seemed like a daunting task, but with the support of my team members I learned how to proceed, and I became more and more proficient at locating where things were, and understanding the underlying components that made up the website. I then began to make my own contributions, small at first, but as my confidence grew, I was able to take on more challenging tasks and make a greater impact.
 
Throughout the summer, my job involved interacting with researchers as well as families who are part of the ASD-CARC community. It was through my interaction with this community that I began learning about autism. In fact, for the first time in my life I met individuals with autism.

These interactions were humbling as I realized I was part of something big, very big. It became clear early on that people are involved with ASD-CARC not just because it is their job, but because it is something they are passionate about. I began to realize how important the website was in order to bring together families from across Canada, and perhaps eventually even the world, to aid in the research process. By being around such dedicated people, I couldn't help but push myself to do the best I could when contributing to this community.

Throughout the summer I learned a great deal of computing skills, and about working as part of a team, but I also learned a lot about the individuals and families involved with the ongoing process of autism research. This welcoming community made my job with ASD-CARC an extremely rewarding and enjoyable one.