I'm Rob Fried, host of Band Central Radio on WPKN 89.5FM in Connecticut. Band Central Radio aims to entertain and educate you about music and causes that enrich your life. Today you will meet Tommy Weeks, saxophonist extraordinaire from The Funky Dawgs and nonprofit leader Tracy Flood from CLASP. Our community benefits hugely from the contributions of people with special and differing abilities, and we have a responsibility to help people with special abilities get an education, learn skills, pursue happiness and integrate with society. Throughout history, vast contributions to humanity have been made by people who overcame a “disability.” We talk and write about these people decades and millennia later – Van Gogh, Beethoven and someday Greta Thunberg. The following quote from Temple Grandin from her book, The Way I See It: A Personal Look at Autism & Asperger's somewhat humorously points to the vital contributions of people on the Autism spectrum; “What would happen if the autism gene was eliminated from the gene pool? You would have a bunch of people standing around in a cave, chatting and socializing and not getting anything done.” In today's episode we discuss this, along with the musical and professional journey's of Tommy and Tracy. Enjoy!