Autism Action NY 2016
Advisory Board, ID Card, Housing, Technology, and Communication
CLICK TO READ COMPLETE PROPOSAL
Prepared by: Kupferstein, Henny, & Botta-Zalucki, Rebecca, February 2016
We are proposing that the four new Autism Action bills that are packaged with A.5141, be revised to represent the broadest range of autistic people in the state.
- The NY State Autism Spectrum Disorder Advisory Board (A.8635) shall consist of autistic professionals who are credentialed and/or have lived experience to best inform and impact legislation.
- The Autism ID Card (A00249C/S02565-C) shall have pre-formatted text built into the bill, in order to standardize the language as preferred by autistic people, or have three cards in-line with each DSM level for autism.
- The Home Loan Program (A. 8696) shall include the option for autistic adults to obtain a state-funded loan even when on a fixed income. Additionally, a new HOFA grant must be written to bring the monthly costs into the range of a fixed income.
- The Communication & Technology Bill of Rights (A.8708) shall include oversight from learning-disabled people to assure ease of access to state and local agency information.
- Communication Support (A.5141) shall be implemented by ACCES-VR in order to support people who are in the loan program to achieve financial independence through career training.
Autism Action NY plan for 2016 needs to include autistic individuals. This will ensure that autistic individuals with appropriate credentials will have a voice when serving the needs of people by borrowing from the peer-support model, a highly effective service delivery model. In addition, we identify the funding streams already in place which can be applied to the proposed services and systems of reform.
Henny Kupferstein 