Contributor

Lou Melgarejo

Board of Directors, Chicagoland Chapter of Autism Speaks

Lou Melgarejo is a married father of three whose oldest daughter has Autism Spectrum Disorder. A television director by trade, he created Lou's Land, where he blogs and vlogs about a life touched by autism from the father’s perspective. In 2011, Lou was presented with the “Speak Out” Award by Autism Speaks for going above and beyond in raising awareness of autism to the public through the media for his wordless cry for autism healthcare reform “Fixing” Autism. On World Autism Awareness Day, April 2nd, 2013 Lou released an open letter to the CEOs of Comcast/NBC Universal (his employers) asking them to provide meaningful healthcare benefits to their 130,000+ employees. Comcast/NBCU added ABA coverage to their benefits package for 2014. Lou's essay for Huffington Post entitled "Autism, Sensativity and Hip-Hop Culture" helped result in rappers Drake and J-Cole apologizing to the autism community for and changing disparaging lyrics in their song "Jodeci Freestyle" aimed at autistic people. Lou sits on the Board of the Director of the Chicagoland Chapter of Autism Speaks and is the Chair of the Media and Communications Development Committee.



Please “like” Lou’s Land on Facebook and follow @lousland on Twitter.