Community Conversation: A Conversation with Kuri Yasuno, author of “Autism with a Side of Sushi”

An immigrant from Japan at five years old, Kuri Yasuno arrived on Long Island, NY with her older brother and parents. After graduating Georgetown University, Kuri followed her love of creativity and worked in Marketing and Website Production at the Discovery Health Channel and the National Geographic Channel. With the birth of her children, Kuri switched gears to be a stay at home mom, caring for her now, two teenage boys. When her older son was diagnosed with being on the autism spectrum, Kuri took her creative spirit and her positive mindset to focus on his education and social skills development. Kuri is writing this book to share her experiences as a mom of a special-needs child with humorous anecdotes and honest introspection. Her hope is for her story to inspire awareness, understanding, inclusion and especially kindness.

Shanna Sorrells, Senior Manager of Access and Inclusion at Imagination Stage, is an Imagination Stage Deaf Access Company alum. She also currently serves as a member of the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington's Disabilities Inclusion Committee. Most recently she was Director of Inclusion and Disability Programming at the Edlavitch DCJCC. Prior, she spent almost ten years teaching ASL and theatre in middle school, high school, and college classrooms, while working intermittently as a Teaching Artist for Imagination Stage.  Shanna has a master's degree in Theatre Education from the University of Northern Colorado as well as a B.A. in Education and Child Study from Smith College. Shanna envisions a world in which accessibility is the norm, built into our everyday lives, and is not a mere afterthought.