Joy Smith

Autism Light #168 is Joy Smith.

Joy Smith with her son Adrian

Joy Smith is from Missouri. She is the mother of four children, including a son Adrian who has autism and a daughter Sanura who has Asperger's Syndrome. Since 2006 Joy has been a blogger for her blog called Joy's Autism Blog. Joy Smith is an Autism Light because of how her blog has brought encouragement, hope, education, and joy to others in the autism community.

Joy Smith describes herself on her Twitter profile like this:  I'm a wife, mother of 4, child of God, autism advocate, blogger, homemaker, in support of large families, breastfeeding, and natural childbirth. You can follow her on Twitter at https://twitter.com/#!/joysautismblog.

Joy Smith writes on her blog, "When I started this blog back in 2006 it was going to be just about autism but over time it's become more of a family journal."  For the year 2011 Joy Smith had 135,861 visitors to her blog, making hers truly one of the top autism blogs. If you want to gauge the influence of Joy's Autism Blog try this experiment. Go to Google search engine and simply type the words "Autism Blog". In your results Joy's Autism Blog should come up on the first page. You can find her blog at www.joysautismblog.com.

Joy's Four Children at an Art Museum

Autism Light asked Joy Smith what her two favorite posts have been and she mentioned these two, which you can read by clicking on the links.

• My Thoughts on the Value of Autism Awareness Month 
• Autism: A Blessing 

You may also find one of her early posts called What Do I Want for Adrian to be very touching. 

Joy also has posts featured on Autism Speaks blog. You can read about Joy Smith on her "About Me" section of her blog.  Joy Smith explained why she is a blogger in this way to Autism Light.

I firmly believe that sharing our autism experiences in some way, whether that is through a blog, giving talks, taking part in support groups, or just telling friends and families about autism is the very best way to get people with autism the respect and treatment they deserve. That's what I'm trying to do with my blog (Joy Smith). 

Contact: If you could like to contact Joy Smith you can leave a comment on one of her blog posts or you can email her at Joy@Joysautismblog.com. Joy Smith indicates on her blog that she is able to talk to others in the autism community and offer any support she can.

Social Media: You can follow Joy's Autism Blog on the following social media areas.

• Twitter - @joysautismblog
• Facebook
• YouTube

Special thanks to Joy Smith for leading the way as a blogger for autism. Joy's Autism Blog is truly an inspiration to many around the world who have the opportunity to follow the joys and challenges of Joy Smith's family.

Autism Light honors diverse heroes to the world of autism.

Photo: The photos in this post were used with permission of Joy Smith.