Good Autism Housing Takes Good Legislation: H.3364

Today at the Massachusetts State House there was a hearing on bill H. 3364, “An Act to promote housing creation for persons with disabilities.” The hearing room was full — although some of the audience were there for a different bill — and I was heartened by the size of the group. We were all parents but most also had a title and an autism organization they were representing. I was just me. The Autism Commission and Asperger’s Association of New England were represented, as was Autism Housing Pathways. Former State Rep Barbara L’Italien was there, and she is now (thankfully) running for Senator! Leslie Long and Russ Kenn were there from Autism Speaks. Leslie presented Autism Speaks’ recent research and housing survey of people with autism and their families and all issues pertaining to housing, including their perceptions of what is out there, how to obtain funding, how to get help and support, etc. Something like “10,000 responses, including close to 400 from individuals on the spectrum,” were gathered, according to AS. A pretty impressive sample.  Even though I’ve said before that I don’t like the negative, autism-is-like-prison rhetoric AS sometimes uses to gain the attention of the media and donors, and I do wish that they would put even more of the millions they are already putting directly into family supports, I think it is clear that AS definitely is doing some very strong advocacy on behalf of autisti...
Source: Susan's Blog - Category: Autism Authors: Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: blogs