Karen is the mother and guardian of Eric, the Big Dude. He is a 52 year old gentleman who is nonverbal, profoundly autistic, and 6 feet, 5 inches tall. He was diagnosed as autistic in 1977.

Karen has been a registered nurse for over 50 years. She has worked in many areas of nursing, including hospital administration, clinical practice, and higher education.
Her undergraduate and graduate programs in nursing emphasized the role of the nurse as a patient advocate. Her doctoral program included an emphasis on leadership in organizations. Those skills have helped her advocate for Eric,
related to his diagnosis and education as a child and a teen and, in his adult years, for his quality residential care.

Since 1990, Karen also used her advocacy skills and nursing knowledge as a volunteer panel member for the Human Rights Authority of the Illinois Guardianship and Advocacy Commission. Panel members investigate potential violations of the rights of elderly, disabled, and mentally ill persons by schools,
health care organizations, other service organizations, and jails/prisons. She has provided expert testimony on the needs of developmentally disabled persons and the financial implications of quality care in Illinois to committees of the Illinois General Assembly, hearings by legislators and state agencies, and in
federal court as a member of a class action lawsuit against the Illinois Department of Human Services.

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