Nancy Herndon Cale is Director of Counseling. Nancy monitors reports of vaccine reactions made to NVIC’s Vaccine Reaction Registry; responds to reports of parental harassment by government officials and physicians forcing vaccination; and answers questions from NVIC members seeking vaccine information not posted on NVIC’s website.
The mother of three children and grandmother of four, Nancy had a career as an Atlanta Realtor and was co-owner of Silver Ladle Catering. She has always been active in her community and church, including Community Services and Children's Ministries. In 1998 her grandson, Wynn, was diagnosed at the age of 3-1/2 with autism. Although she had never used a computer, she was determined to find help for Wynn. She obtained a hand-me-down Mac and logged on AOL for the first time.
In February of 1999, Nancy joined with Shelley Reynolds and Jeana Smith to change the face of autism through the Open Your Eyes Project organized by Unlocking Autism (UA), a non-profit she co-founded and for which she serves as Vice President. Today, Nancy is one of the most recognized members of the autism community on the Internet. Her desire and ability to connect families in need with information resources is part of her dedication to finding ways for children with developmental delays to unlock their potential and lead productive, fulfilling lives.
From her home office, Nancy fields hundreds of calls and emails from families in need around the world every month, including counseling parents who call and email NVIC, as well as those who call the Unlocking Autism National Hotline and the Autism Research Institute Resource Call Center. She also supervises the UA Parent to Parent Network and State Representative projects and is the Defeat Autism Now (DAN) Outreach Coordinator.