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CBOE's Harkins Discusses Charity and Wall Street Rides Far

Traders Magazine Online News, September 19, 2017

John D'Antona Jr.

In this exclusive conversation with Traders Magazine, Bryan Harkins, co-founder of Wall Street Rides FAR, and head of U.S. Equities and Global FX at CBOE Holdings, took some time to speak with John D'Antona Jr about the upcoming charity event set to raise money for autism.

Why is the cause of autism research personally important to you?

"I’ve seen firsthand the impact that autism has on families, not only to the children and adults diagnosed as on the spectrum, but its impact on the broader family dynamic. When you have an autistic kid, your life revolves around enhancing his or her life and nothing seems to matter beyond that goal. Siblings and spouses often become secondary.

While I think most people have a general sense of this, unless you’ve seen it up close (with friends or family who are coping with the challenge), you can’t truly understand the dedication required. The kids require special schools, need special babysitters and services. The downtime that every parent gets to enjoy doesn’t exist for these parents. Their whole lives are centered on these children, at every moment.

As a parent myself, I can only imagine what that’s like, and I feel that it’s our duty in society to try and lessen that burden and make that difference. If you have a healthy kid, you’re blessed, but things might easily have gone the other way. It’s the luck of the draw, and we all need to recognize that.

Obviously, there are other afflictions that produce different challenges. And there are a lot of wonderful charities out there, almost an endless amount. They all exist for good reasons. Cancer receives a lot of funding and attention because it’s so prevalent in society. Everyone knows someone who has lost someone to cancer. Except for the rarest forms of cancer, there’s not really an issue in getting people to acknowledge the problem and to help.

CLICK HERE to Register or Donate http://wallstreetridesfar.org/register/

Autism is a growing problem, and a relatively recent problem. One in sixty-eight children born today in the United States is on the spectrum, and one of the most unfortunate aspects is that we don’t know why. That’s one reason we haven’t found a cure, and it’s a reason some treatments are hit-and-miss. The best way to attack this overarching problem is more scientific research. We need to understand the triggers. Genetic research could tell us what’s passing on the “autism gene”, so to speak, and with additional research, in our own lifetimes we could know more. Looking again at cancer, research has made a big difference, to the point that some types are highly curable if caught early. The commonality is that the answer lies in science, and the science needs money to make it happen."

What attracted you to the Autism Science Foundation (ASF) specifically?

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