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2021 Advocacy Highlights… our Advocacy Team pursued policy solutions throughout this year that protect the rights of and enhance the services and supports for people with autism and their families. Today, we celebrate the policy milestones and accomplishments that your support helped us achieve in 2021.   Supporting the Community During COVID-19 As the country continued to grapple with … families. As a result of Congress hearing from our Volunteer Advocacy Ambassadors, community supporters, other disability groups and grassroots advocates from across the country, the American Rescue Plan was passed and signed into law in early …

Spanish resources help bilingual families in the autism community overcome language barriers … appointment, Berlina Felipe did her research. She had a year during that wait, reading about what to expect and how to plan supports for her son, Alex. “When he did get diagnosed at age 4, even though I was already prepared, it was still hard,” … Both of Jair’s grandmothers, who took care of him when he was young, attended the Spanish classes as well to learn how to support him. “Years later, my mom told us she is so glad that we got all the early intervention,” Gaby said. “And that we … their classes and resources in Spanish. Based on participant feedback, they also sometimes separate dads and moms into two groups to encourage each group to talk more openly. Alex’s family made sure to learn from his providers and school contacts …

Transition from school-based services to HCBS Waiver adult services… my local County Boards of Developmental Disabilities (CBDD) office based on life skills. I was assigned a services and support specialist who attended my IEP meetings to help with transition planning. By the middle of my senior year, my family … was vocational focused. It included time in a classroom learning office tasks and participating in leisure activities with support, and time volunteering at a local community center which ran a food bank, preschool, and fitness center with a kids’ … to note that the Department of Developmental Disabilities at the state level has announced that they formed a work group to focus on redesigning these waivers in the future .) Waivers can pay for things such as adult day programs; …