Medicaid Is Life for My Autistic Son
Medicaid is life for my mostly non-speaking autistic adult son. Cutting it would remove the very services that make his beautiful, interdependent life possible.
HCBS
My Autistic Son Needs Extensive Supports. And Yet, I Oppose Labels Like “Severe Autism.”
Recently my teen autistic son and I walked around a fancy shopping center, while his sibling was at a nearby appointment (public strolls are not always something he can do, but that day he was up for it). We ambled past the coin collector’s shop and the jodhpurs boutique, then popped into the housewares store—just
Autonomy First! Accessing Good Supports Without Sacrificing Your Independence
We’ve all heard or experienced horror stories about accessing services and supports. Often the idea of receiving services for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD), including autism, conjures up images of institutions—visions of Willowbrook. Or, ideas of what is “optimal” for us look like segregated lives, or “intentional” communities where the true intent is
How Does The HCBS Settings Rule Affect Housing and Day Program Rules and Rights?
Decades of research shows that people with disabilities living in the community make more choices for ourselves, have a better quality of life, are safer and more included in our communities, live longer, and maintain and develop more skills—and this is true regardless of how disabled a person is or how intense our needs are.