BusinessReport.com

Shelley Hendrix Reynolds has been followed out of grocery stores and subjected to unsolicited parenting advice from fellow shoppers who witnessed outbursts from Liam, her 11-year-old autistic son.

But that’s exactly the kind of opportunity she takes to educate others about Autism Spectrum Disorders, a task she’s taken on since February 1999 when she and Jeana Smith established Unlocking Autism, a grassroots organization with a mission to bring the issues into national dialogue and educate and assist parents and the public about the disease.

“I’m glad he’s given me the inspiration that he has and that he inspires other people. Hopefully the world will end up being a better place because of him and everything he’s had to go through.”

With Liam and her 9-year-old daughter Mairin by her side, and through the support of friends and family, Reynolds has already made great strides in alleviating the frightening unknowns that come with the diagnosis. There’s now a hotline that fields roughly 2,200 calls a month and counselors in every state to aid parents. (No, the hotline doesn’t ring directly to her cell phone.) She’s testified before Congress and garnered endless streams of media coverage. She was named Person of the Year in 2005 by Spectrum Publications and chosen as one of the Top 10 Faces of Autism in 2006.

And she does it all with laughter, grace, humility and increasing amounts of sleep. After years of morningtime, lunchtime, breaktime and bedtime activism (and six years with Business Report), she’s fused her passion with her profession and is now the national director of state advocacy with Autism Speaks. She’s spearheading the organization of grassroots units in all 50 states for the nation’s leading nonprofit devoted to autism.

“I’ve learned that when you do find out what your passion is, if you jump into it, it’s the most incredible feeling there is on the planet. Everybody should have that opportunity to experience it.”

If you could have dinner with any three living people, who would they be?

“Arianna Huffington, because she is fearless and an amazing role model for women; Bono, because of his benevolence; Vince Vaughn, because he makes me laugh my head off.”