Kamloops’ Verhoeff earns Jim and Ginette Munson Autism Leadership Award, will shape national strategy

Former Canadian senator Jim Munson read My Place Outside Silence during a parliamentary reception in the Sir John A. McDonald Building.

“As I find my place within, I am alive with courage,” Munson said, relaying the poem’s closing words to a captivated audience. “Silence is not an option.”

Trapped in his mind until he was 19, Verhoeff found his voice two years ago, finally able to express himself using Spelling to Communicate and rapid prompting methods.

Since then, he has used his voice to advocate for the non-speaking-autistic community.

Those efforts, along with his work in education, publishing accomplishments, appearances on national television, perseverance while being underestimated and role in founding the Spellingway Communication Society are among reasons why Verhoeff earned the Munson Award.

Verhoeff was nominated by Tammy Koester, one of his elementary school teachers.

Sandra Verhoeff said she was told less than three years ago her son has no cognitive connections.

She has watched him dismantle that prognosis with the help of communication regulation practitioners, including Madison Imber of Mentoring Minds, who joined the Verhoeffs in Ottawa, and Brittney Ritchie.

“In the last two years, he’s been able to achieve so many things that people don’t get to do in a lifetime,” Ritchie said.

In addition to the award nod, Luke and his friend Damon Kirsebom were introduced as the first non-speakers on the National Autism Network Autistic Advisory Council.

With lived experience, they will help shape national autism strategy.

“I am still an anxious introvert, but I’m proud to be an advocate,” said Verhoeff, who was diagnosed with mild-to-moderate autism and global developmental delay at three years old.

Verhoeff appeared last year on Season 1 of The Assembly, a CBC show that features neurodivergent interviewers posing questions to celebrities.

He will reprise his role in Season 2.

“I was his mom and caregiver, and now I’m his biggest fan and personal assistant,” Sandra Verhoeff said. “I’m amazed and thrilled with that, but along with that comes a lot of emotions.

“Part of me feels like I just got him and now I have to let him go.”

VERHOEFF POEMS

A Nonspeaker’s Build

Together we built, brick by brick

The weight of it heavy

Resting on our chest

The world opened, letter by letter

The importance palpable

Beating from the heart

We built a skyscraper from nothing

Yet there was always something inside

Impossible to ignore us now

I scream from the highest floor

I am here, and I will be heard.

My Place Outside Silence

The world spins slowly

As I find my place within

Reaching

Expanding

Challenging the status quo

My flame burns bright

Some shield themselves in fright

Others in ignorance

Ableism

Ego or spite

As I find my place within

I am alive with courage

Silence is not an option

by Marty Hastings

Kamloops’ Verhoeff earns Jim and Ginette Munson Autism Leadership Award, will shape national strategy

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