Elizabeth Becker

Autism Light #13 is Elizabeth Becker.  
A Backlight Encore!

Original Post: August 11, 2011

Elizabeth (Liz) Becker is an author, speaker, teacher, and scientist from Wytheville, Virginia.  She is also the mother of four children, including Matt Johnson, a young adult with autism. Elizabeth Becker is an Autism Light for the way in which her blog, The World According to Matt, is raising autism awareness.

Elizabeth Becker with her son Matt

Liz Becker chronicles her son's amazing accomplishments in her exceptional website called World According to Matt.  The website gives personal glimpses into how Matt is living his life with autism to the fullest with the support of a loving mother and family. People who visit this site will find that it provides encouragement to many through Matt's stories from when he was growing up to this present life as a 27 year old, and there is a lot of diverse resources on the site for people to like. One will also find news, research, resources, and a free members social area. On September 30, 2012 her blog reached 2.5 million visitors and they are on their way toward 3 million. In 2012, her blog was on Babble.com's Top 30 Autism Blogs for Parents list.

Professional: Liz Becker is a biology teacher at Wytheville Community College in Virginia. She is also a research scientist who authored research on the courtship of male and female spiders. Her paper can be found online at this link. You can read about more of her achievements on her amazing biography on her website.

Here is a video of Liz Becker explaining her blog and her family's journey with autism on Autism Live.


Elizabeth Becker is an Autism Light because she is a strong advocate for autism and she takes time to publicly encourage parents. On her blog post written on Aug. 9, 2011, she says,

"So this week I have a request.  If you know a parent of an autistic child, (if you're reading this then you probably do) give them some praise and possibly a shoulder to cry on.  Let them know that you are aware that what they face is a life-long journey and that the stress can sometimes be overwhelming.  Help them stay on their road and focused toward the future."

Liz's son Matt was diagnosed with autism back in 1988, prior to the epidemic of autism cases being diagnosed. Liz's love for her son Matt reminds us of the following saying:  To the world you may be just one person, but to one person you may be the world. It's people like Elizabeth Becker that make autism's load lighter for so many people around the world thanks to the Internet.  She is currently finishing a book on communication with the non-verbal autistic child (Autism and the basics of non-verbal communciation) and if her website is any indication of her work the book should be a 'must read book' for the autism community.

Social Media: You can find Elizabeth Becker and "The World According to Matt" on the following social media.

• Facebook 
• Twitter 
• Pinterest

Special thanks to Elizabeth Becker for being a light for autism. Her writings are raising awareness for autism around the world. We look forward to hearing more about her autism awareness in the future.

Autism Light honors diverse heroes to the world of autism. 

Photo: Photo in this post used with permission of Elizabeth Becker.