'A voice for people who didn't have one': Mercyhurst's autism center named for Brad McGarry

Brad McGarry, a psychology professor at Mercyhurst University, didn't plan to dedicate his professional life to students on the autism spectrum.

In a way, that process was set in motion when his son, Connor, was born in 2002 and, moments later, had a grand mal seizure.

Connor was born with Angelman Syndrome, a rare genetic disorder that causes developmental disabilities. It's often associated with seizure activity, tightness in the muscles, an inability to speak and trouble with walking and balance.

One of Connor's doctors spelled out the condition for McGarry.

"The doctor said to us, 'I really don't know what is going to become of Connor. Most likely I can tell you Connor is not going to walk, he is not going to talk and he is not going to have purposeful interaction.'"

It was a crushing blow for McGarry and his family.

But it also felt to Brad McGarry like he had been given a mission.

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Cracking the code

"He had given me the four-digit code that I needed for Connor: Walk, talk, interact and have purpose," McGarry said. Cracking the code, in his mind, was finding a way to address each of those challenges.

In a 2015 Ted Talk, McGarry remembered that first nine-day hospital stay as a turning point in Connor's life and his own career.

"It was an introduction into the world of disabilities and what would become my life's work, he said.

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A highlight of that life's work might have come last week when former Gov. Tom Ridge joined McGarry at Mercyhurst for the announcement that the university will establish the Brad McGarry Center for Neurodiversity.

The center will expand on the work of the Autism Initiative at Mercyhurst, or A.I.M., which McGarry has led since 2014. During that time, A.I.M. has grown its enrollment from four students to 80 as McGarry has become one of the nation's best-known advocates for college students on the autism spectrum.

According to Mercyhurst, McGarry became a resource for many other institutions across the country. He's testified before Congress and has served as a source for The Chronicle of Higher Education, National Catholic Reporter, C-SPAN, and Forbes.

A focus on jobs

McGarry soon realized that Mercyhurst's work should not end with educating students who have autism. It needed to help them find meaningful employment at a time when the employment rate for graduates with autism hovered around 15%.

McGarry set out to change that, establishing a new focus on building a career path for students by working to break stereotypes and build awareness of people with high-functioning autism. Along the way, he forged relationships and commitments from major employers, including Erie Insurance, Wells Fargo and PriceWaterhouse.

And he's made progress. At last count, 60% of Mercyhurst graduates in the program had found productive employment.

McGarry and his wife were equally successful in turning things around for their son, Connor.

McGarry said he made a decision early on that he would accept his son's condition, but he would not let it define him. He and his wife found new learning programs, took him to physical and occupational therapy, brought home a seizure dog that could signal his seizures and worked for years to help him learn to grasp and pick things up.

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Those efforts have led to the life with purpose that McGarry dreamed of for his son. He's ridden a bicycle, hiked in the Grand Canyon and played on swing sets that his father feared might be forever out of his reach.

"Breaking Connor's code became a passion, an obsession," he said. "If they said Connor couldn't do it, and we felt he wanted to, we found a way to make it happen."

But how did helping Connor, who is not on the autism spectrum, lead to helping students who are?

"I was also teaching myself how to break the code for others, others whose diagnosis and so-called disabilities would limit the opportunities and expectations for what they could achieve in life," McGarry said.

"If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, you treat it like a duck," he said. "I figured if I could help Connor as a parent, I could use some of those same strategies" to help students on the spectrum.

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McGarry, 47, reflected with pride last week before the ceremony at Mercyhurst and the announcement of a $1 million fundraising effort to endow the center.

"It's a huge honor and very humbling," he said. "I know how many people at Mercyhurst it took to make this program a success. I really appreciate that they are giving me that honor."

Mercyhurst President Kathleen Getz believes the recognition is well-deserved.

“In many ways, Brad was given a unique opportunity to affect people’s lives and he has done it with extraordinary generosity of spirit,” Getz said. "He possesses a profound gift to make whoever is in his presence feel valued and dignified."

A new challenge

The recognition takes on a special meaning for McGarry, who in 2021 was diagnosed with ALS, or Lou Gehrig's Disease, a progressive neurodegenerative disease that attacks motor neurons in the brain and spinal cord. The disease, which leads to eventual paralysis, is considered incurable.

McGarry, who uses a wheelchair, said he's in the process of wrapping up his work at Mercyhurst.

"I want to be connected," he said. "I will make contributions as much as I can for as long as I can."

McGarry will miss that work. He will especially miss seeing the graduates of the program who came back to visit.

"They have a great independent life and they have suitable employment," he said. Satisfaction comes from knowing that "We (started) with a scared little 18-year-old that the world had counted them out."

Despite all the challenges he and his wife and their family have faced, McGarry said he's not inclined to feel angry.

"Even with Connor, I never took it as not fair or something bad that had been done to me," he said. "I took it that God was giving that to us for a reason and that we were to be a voice for people who didn't have one."

Jim Martin can be reached at jmartin@timesnews.com.

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Neurodiversity center honors Mercyhurst's autism leader Brad McGarry