Theresa Wrangham
Theresa became a parent advocate as a result of her youngest daughter's life-threatening asthma, as well as her oldest daughter's diagnosis of an Autism Spectrum Disorder. She views health holistically and brings an experienced parent's perspective on raising healthy children affected by asthma and ASD to her advocacy work.
In 2001, Theresa co-founded the Autism Society of Boulder County (ASBC) in Colorado and served five terms as its president and seven years on their board. She also served on the Board of Directors for the Autism Society of Colorado and Board of Directors for SafeMinds.
As a former member of the Boulder Valley School District Special Education Advisory Committee and Boulder Valley School District Design Advisory Committee for the 18-21 Education Facility, Theresa has worked for better special-ed services and facilities in her community. In an effort to raise awareness of biomedical underpinnings of autism and all treatments available, Theresa co-authored the publishing Colorado’s first autism specific resource guide in Colorado. While serving on ASBC’s board, she also coordinated an annual conference, monthly free lectures, spearheaded Colorado’s consensus statement supporting the Combating Autism Act. Additionally, in 2005 she worked with her local disability services agency, Imagine!, to establish a parent-directed treatment program for individuals with autism who not eligible for state disability (DDS) services. This program has paid for over $1 million in treatments and changed the lives of over 200 families. Theresa was also invited to collaborate with Google to create Project Spectrum, a program designed to assist the autism community to identify possible career paths and to give educators classroom tools, and assist parents in obtaining special education services for their children.
In 2006, the Boulder County Business Report recognized Theresa as a Health Care Hero and in 2012 she received the Chairman's Award from the US Autism & Asperger's Association. Theresa wrote and regularly published the ASBC and SafeMinds eNewsletters, currently writes for the National Vaccine Information Center’s newsletter, and has had articles featured in Mothering Magazine, The Autism File, Age of Autism and Pathways. She has also been featured in local, national and international television, radio and print news reports.
Theresa currently serves on the advisory board for the US Autism Association and serves as their conference moderator, and for over a decade has served as a consumer peer reviewer for the Cochrane Collaboration.
