I'm sure that all of us are familiar with the term "advocate," which many people in my social network use as titles for themselves and which appears on their social networking profiles. A number even include this title in their screennames. But many of you reading this may not be as familiar with the term and title of "self-advocate." What is that? I have been aware of this term and title for many years and its is usually used in the general disability community. This term was coined because, by its very nature, have a disability (s) means that one will find oneself in situations where one will need to advocate for one's needs and seek accommodations and understanding for them in order to live in society and with one's family. So, an advocate is one who speaks on behalf of others who do not have a voice to speak up for themselves, and a self-advocate is one who has special needs or disabilities that may need accommodation or understanding and who needs to speak up in his or her own behalf, to make this happen. Self-advocacy as a concept or title did not exist decades ago, when many people with disabilities were insitutionalized or where many with special needs were segregated in special education classes and then sent to live at home with their families, or worse. Out of sight, out of mind. But the concept of self-advocacy has changed that.
Currently, many in the autism community are stirred up because of scheduled hearings this upcoming Thursday that are to focus on autism. I learned about thse pending hearings last Thursday, on Thanksgiving Day when I was scrolling on Facebook. Since then, I found the webpage for how people can find their US Representatives and contact them. Initially, no autistic persons were invited and there was much uproar over this. The disability community has a slogan, "Nothing About Us Without Us." This means that no one should be making any decisions for a self-advocate that does not take into consideration what the person thinks or wants. I have been spending much time sharing the link to the House of Representatives webpage that links to their websites and their information, including their contact information. I have been sharing with people the link to my Change.org petition and asking people to share with their Representatives this petition and its mission, to obtain funds for underserved low-income children and all adults with suspected or diagnosed Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs). I have granted that research has it role, in learning better ways to diagnose autism than we have at present, and to improve the quality of services. But I have been stressing that people ask their Representatives to examine my petition and its mission and to consider mentioning my petition and its mission at the hearing.
I do have fear about the outcome of these pending autism hearings this Thursday. I was delighted to learn from a Facebook post from a ASD self-advocacy group, that the CEO of that nonprofit in question, had been invited to the hearing. Also, the President of another ASD self-advocacy nonprofit also has been invited to the pending Thursday autism hearings. Since then, I have been scrambling to get the attention of the "big voices" in the autism community to examine my petition and to consider mentioning it at the hearings this upcoming Thursday. This unfortunately has not happened and my petition is unlikely to be mentioned at all by the "big voices" in the autism community who have been invited to the pending autism hearing. I know that other nonprofits, which favor research and "finding cures" for autism, are also being invited and have an equal right to their say at these pending hearings. My fear is that whatever happens this upcoming Thursday, at 2:00 PM, that the funds that are written in my petition letter may be allocated to things other than the badly needed services for those children of low-income families, and all adults with ASDs, that are not available now to these underserved persons. I fear that my petition's mission and goal may be hindered and that too many funds will go to research.
As far as my petition goes, yesterday several people in the autism community have taken it upon themselves to try to convince me what is wrong with my petition. One person has told me that it is "poorly written." When I challenged him to tell me what he meant by ths statement, he declared that my petition calls for people with "suspected ASDs" to have access to services and that this provision would open wide the door to many to "abuse the system." In vain, I sought to share with this person how the very process of seeking an ASD diagnosis is tedious, requiring much paperwork and "jumping through hoops" that should discourage most persons who would "abuse the system." I apparently wasted my time as others joined this person in ranting about scammers "abusing the system" and that "petitions are useless." I agreed that there is potential for abuse in making services available to those awaiting a diagnosis of ASD, just as there is with any good thing. I declared: "Every person with a diagnosed ASD at one time had a suspected ASD." All to no avail. At this time, I an unable to have any illusions that most peope in thi community appreciate, much less enthusiastically support, my efforts to try to obtain funds for the many underserved low-income children and all adults, with suspected or diagnosed ASDs. After this Thursday, I may be forced to re-think my entire petition and may need to make more painful revisions and do more research. As a Christian, I realize that whatever happens is in God's hands and that I have no control over the response of others whom I have been trying to appeal to.
This brings me to my point of why people with "suspected ASDs" even though there is a chance of abuse of such a provision, should be covered in services for those with ASDs. For if one has challenges in relating to other people and in thinking as they do but has no diagnosis to "label" these challenges, how can he or she speak up effectively? How can one with a condition that is there but is not confirmed with an official diagnosis, have the confidence to tell people what he or she needs if there is no system by which to identify it? In the free world, we live in cultures where documentation is respected and which bolsters credibility. And as I pointed out to the people in the autism group who were trying to discredit my petition, all of those who have an officially disagnosed ASD, at one point had a "suspected ASD." This obviously holds true of every person, whatever his or her age. So withholding services from those who "just have suspected ASDs" does not make sense. If those who are lucky enough to have a correct diagnosis were treated in this way when their conditions were "just suspected," they would never have been diagnosed. This has always been my problem and challenge. I cannot tell you of the countless times and situations where a correct diagnosis would have probably gotten me understanding and opportunties and accommodations! This holds true not only in my childhood but also in my adulthood, and in my family and my community. But so far, when questions have been asked of my family about me or to me, there was no good explanation for my challenges. "Oh that is just the way she is," has always been a typical "apology" for me. At times, I cannot help but feel a pang of jealousy for those in the autism community who have the validation and understanding of an official diagnosis.
I would like to make an appeal to those of you who are reading this. I realize that a number of you may already be familiar with what I am about to ask and forgive me for what will be to you a repeat appeal. I would like my readers who live in the US to contact your Representatives, if at all able and this is very urgent as the autism hearings are this upcoming Thursday at 2:00 PM. I appeal to you to share with your Representative the importance of these hearings and to consider attending. I'm asking you to share with your Representative my petition with the link http://tiny.cc/mrsahw, and ask your Representative to examine this petition and to consider mentioning the petition and its mission at the hearing. Your letter need not be long and should be respectful, concise and to the point. You can find your Representative here: http://www.house.gov/representatives/find. You letter can be composed much like this sample letter:
Dear-----------------------------,
I am a concerned citizen and (you can fill in about your situation in relation to autism or your desire to show your support). I have learned about the pending autism hearings this Thursday at 2:00 PM. I understand that among the topics to be discussed, what will be covered is where autism funds should be allocated. Research has its role and some funds should go for it. But my primary concern is that most funds be allocated to services for underserved persons. These include those with suspected or diagnosed ASDs who come from low income families who cannot pay for services, or who are adults. There is a Change.org petition at http://tiny.cc/mrsahw and I invite you to examine it and its mission and goal. I ask you that, if you are able to, to attend the autism House hearings this Thursday, and to mention this Change.org petition, its mission and its goal at the hearings. If you are unable to attend the hearings, please examine the petition and send it to other House Members who may be able to attend the hearings. Your service and support mean very much to me and to all persons with ASDs.
Thank you very much for your service to our country
Most Respectfully,
(Your Name)
You can search for your Representative by zip code. Like me, you may get more than one Representative and you will be asked to either search by using a map of your area or by supplying the last four digits of your zip code. I did not have the option of emailing my Representative but my letter to him had to be faxed. In that case, I do not know what to tell you. But most of you should be able to find the option to email your Representatives. If you truly do not have time or do not feel that you are able to compose a concise, to-the-point letter to your Representative, I hope that you will share this with others or show your support in other ways. This is a very urgent matter which can affect the futures of many people, including future generations.
Showing posts with label the US Congress. Show all posts
Showing posts with label the US Congress. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
Friday, November 23, 2012
An Open Letter To the Autism Community
This open note is addressed to all of you who have loved ones who have suspected or diagnosed Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs). This holds true whether you are a parent, grandparent, sibling, aunt, uncle, spouse, former spouse, or are in any other way related to a person with suspected or diagnosed autism. I'm writing this to all those among you who have suspected or diagnosed ASDs. I'm writing this to all of you who work with those with ASDs, whether you are paid or not. I'm writing this to those among you who are friends of those with suspected or diagnosed ASDs. I'm writing this to all of you who advocate for those with ASDs, including individuals, groups and organizations. And, finally, this letter is addressed to anyone anywhere who wants to learn more about and support those of us who are touched in any way by autism.
Many of you are in my social networks in one or both of my accounts on Facebook. A growing number of you are being added to my one or more of my three Twitter accounts. I belong to many of your groups. A number of you do not use social networks, as far as I know, but I have met you in person because of my daughter who is diagnosed with an ASD. A number of you have dealt with me over the phone because I'm seeking an ASD screening for myself and I know I will, God willing, be meeting more of you in the future when I'm able to access this screening. I know that many of you have seen my posts about my autism petition, which I have launched on Change.org. You may have signed it where it was launched On Causes. Many of you have joined one or both of the Causes that I lead (or help lead) at this Facebook application. I am thankful to all of you who have added youselves to one or more of my causes. I'm thankful to those among you who have signed my autism petition at Change.org and/or launched at Causes.
However, I must say that I have been disappointed and even feel betrayed and angered, by those of you whom I have shared of myself and my petition with, but who have not shown support. In May, when I launched my petition on Change.org, I was hoping to leverage support from certain high-profile or respected, well-known persons in the autism community whose support and voices could have greatly multiplied my efforts beyond what I could have done on my own. I had one person in mind, who maintains two autism blogspots. One of these blogspots is ranked among the Top 15 autism blogspots and this person has written memoirs about her autism journey. I have written a post for this person's blogspot. So, I emailed this person, two or three separate times, giving details about my petition and tried to make the case for her signature and her support. I waited and waited for this person to respond. No response. I posted on two of my Facebook pages, giving the person's name and email address (which is published in her info tab and on her blogs) and asked people to "flood" her inbox with shares of my petition and with appeals to support it and to help promote it. This person has promoted petitions on her page and I was longing for her to do this for mine. After all, this was for autism and what problem could she have with my petition?
This person got wind of my efforts to rally people to help me leverage her support by contacting her. This time, I did hear from this person! But it was not to support me in any way but to call me out for what this person saw as harassment and invasion of her privacy. Angrily, this person sent me a curt message ordering me to promptly remove ALL my posts with her name and contact information OR she would report me to Facebook. As I had copied and pasted my offending posts over and over, on two Facebook pages and on my profiles, I frantically tried to delete it all before this angry person could take any action that could hinder my advocacy. This person sent me one angry email after anoth demanding that I PROMPTLY delete my offending posts and angrily gave me a date by which I had to remove everything. My last email from her told me that she had reported me and curtly stated: "I never want to get email from you again." If you reading this and are this person, I know you will recognize yourself here. And yes, I have signed your petition which you launched on Change.org after I launched mine AND which has gathered many many more signatures than mine has. I did that because I agreed with the mission of your petition. I do not expect that you will feel any remorse for the hurt that you have caused me and you no doubt still believe that I owe you an apology. Maybe I do. I should maybe have just given people your page link and told them to look up your contact information on your Info tab. But I cannot even contact you now because you have ordered me not to contact you again! So if you are reading this, I apologize for my direct approach in seeking your support and my hope is that somehow you will change your mind, support me and my petition. But if not, my petition's success can happen without you.
Recently, I was challenged by one of you in a Facebook group, to put out a survey to autistic people and to field your questions about what issues you could have with my petition. Therefore, I did this and I posted my survey question to a number of autism Facebook groups. I expected, at most, to be told that I needed to rewrite parts of my petition but I did not expect the response I got later. I got a Facebook notification, some time later, with the word diagnosis. The person was responding the my copied and pasted status update (wth my petition link) where I was venting my frustration over not getting petition signatures in a 24 hour period and where I capitalized the word UNACCEPTABLE for emphasis. I visited this group page and the person posted: "You need to go out and get a diagnosis of an ASD." I replied to this post, mentioning my situation and my inability to access an ASD screening with an affordable, qualified professional. The person replied: "Then you need to remove your own story and your own information from the petition and deal in facts. The fact is that your daughter is diagnosed and her future is involved. Mentioning yourself and your story undermines this petition as your story is based on speculation, not fact." If you are reading this and you made that appeal to me to get an official diagnosis for more credibility, know that your words greatly crushed me. You may have meant very well and your heart may be in the right place, but when I'm told that I cannot share my story without an official diagnosis, I feel invalidated, suppresssed, violated and betrayed. But that is not all. In that same thread where you appealed to me to "go get an official dignosis," another person accused me of being pushy and a bully because I capitalized the words UNACCEPTABLE for emphasis when I was venting about lack of support for my petition. This person got backing from another person in the words, "That is what I have been trying to tell her." That did it for me! Feeling unvalued, unembraced and unappreciated, I left the group in question. Maybe your very ASD makes it hard for you to understand others' viewpoints which is why you did not "get" mine. Whatever the case is, if you are reading this and may be in that group, know that I'm saddened that your very disability may keep you from exhibiting the "theory of mind" that you need, to some degree at least, to support a petition that you may not fully understand or agree with.
More recently, I had joined an autism group because I am very sympathetic to the stated mission of the group. The administrator (admin) had stringent rules for his group and, as requested, I pulled up the link to review the rules. While I know that rules have to be created and enforced to protect members and to avoid abuses, I thought some of the rules were excessive and heavy-handed. I posted something about a nonprofit having started a petition in line with the stated mission of this group. The admin posted: "Lisa, anyone can start a petition. The real heros are those who actually get out and organize or participate in protests to make change." I posted about my situation and ended with, "I'm doing all I can for autism." The admin, apparently unconvinced, posted, "So you say, Lisa." This in itself, to me, was no big deal. The following day, in a comment thread in a discussion in this group, I shared my Facebook group for my petition, the link and I invited the admin to join. Then, seconds later after I left the page, I got a message from the admin with a warning that I had violated one of his rules! Knowing that he was no doubt talking about my shared group and sensing that this group was not a good match with what I see as rules that go too far, I left this group. The admin got wind of this but did not leave it at that but pursued me and challenged me. He accused me of overreacting to being "called out" for a "minor infraction" and blasted me for childishness, pettiness, and playing the victim. I reponded and our emails went back and forth until the following morning. After threatening to block me if I could not "hold an ADULT CONVERSATION" with him, he threatened to block me and forget all about me. I tried to reason with him, all to no avail. I was blocked anyway. I got another message from him, with his profile no longer linked and his pic now invisible to me. If you are the admin of this group and are reading this, know that I'm sorry that I was blocked but I'm not letting your cowardly and childish act deter me from my mission.
By the way, I wonder if many of you, who know about my petition but are not supporting it, even understand my petition's mission? I have edited it over and over in the hope that no one can get confused. I have tried, to the best of my ability, to remove all barriers to understanding it or supporting it. What is it about my petition that you don't understand or do not support? FYI: The mission of my petition is to gain comprehensive coverage for all persons wirh autism, regardless of age, income, race or walk of life. I'm calling for the US Congress and the US President to not only appropriate (fully fund) the 2011 Combating Autism Re-Authorization Act, but to re-allocate many of its $$$ set apart for research, to instead fund services for all children with suspected or diagnosed autism and in all 50 states. I'm calling for the US Congress and the US President to renew additional expired 2012 $$$ and to renew thse funds and to send them to all 50 states so that adults with autism can have access to covered services. So, it hurts and angers me that so many of you are choosing not to add your voices to this effort. This is about you and is meant to benefit you but I know that you have your own reasons for not supporting this petition. I just cannot understand thse reasons. Have you been asked too often to sign petitions? Have you been "burned" in signing them?
Yesterday, I learned that the US House is to hold autism hearings on November 29 but no autistic person has been invited to this meeting. This is unacceptable, just as unacceptable as the hearings on contraception where women were not allowed to add their voices. I fully agree with the slogan: "Nothing about us without us." My deepest fear is that the 2011 Combating Autism Re-Authorization Act (CARA) will be discussed and that the $$$ will go toward research, nullifying the very mission of my petition, to get most of those very $$$ to provide comprehensive services for all children with autism, in all 50 states, whose families cannot afford to pay for services! My petition needs to be mentioned at these hearings! But how can that happen? I need to reach the person (s) who will be at the November 29 autism hearing and I do not know who will be there. The one possible way to help make this happen is to contact your representative and to urge him or her to attend these hearing. I appeal to you to tell your Representative about my petition, sharing with him or her my link which is: http://tiny.cc/mrsahw. I'm sharing with you the link to the website where you should easily be able to find your Representative by your zip code, access his or her website and contact this person. This is important and may be critical. Research has its place and is important, but even more important are comprehensive services for all persons with autism, regardless of their ability to pay or their age. And if thse $$$ end up going where planned, my petition's stated mission may become null and void!
http://www.house.gov/representatives/find
This is the official website where you should easily be able to access your own Representative by entering your zip code at the upper search bar at the upper right of the home page. You should be able to find your Representative's website and contact information to send an email or call him or her, sharing my petition and its URL link: http://tiny.cc/mrsahw.
Thank you for your support!
Many of you are in my social networks in one or both of my accounts on Facebook. A growing number of you are being added to my one or more of my three Twitter accounts. I belong to many of your groups. A number of you do not use social networks, as far as I know, but I have met you in person because of my daughter who is diagnosed with an ASD. A number of you have dealt with me over the phone because I'm seeking an ASD screening for myself and I know I will, God willing, be meeting more of you in the future when I'm able to access this screening. I know that many of you have seen my posts about my autism petition, which I have launched on Change.org. You may have signed it where it was launched On Causes. Many of you have joined one or both of the Causes that I lead (or help lead) at this Facebook application. I am thankful to all of you who have added youselves to one or more of my causes. I'm thankful to those among you who have signed my autism petition at Change.org and/or launched at Causes.
However, I must say that I have been disappointed and even feel betrayed and angered, by those of you whom I have shared of myself and my petition with, but who have not shown support. In May, when I launched my petition on Change.org, I was hoping to leverage support from certain high-profile or respected, well-known persons in the autism community whose support and voices could have greatly multiplied my efforts beyond what I could have done on my own. I had one person in mind, who maintains two autism blogspots. One of these blogspots is ranked among the Top 15 autism blogspots and this person has written memoirs about her autism journey. I have written a post for this person's blogspot. So, I emailed this person, two or three separate times, giving details about my petition and tried to make the case for her signature and her support. I waited and waited for this person to respond. No response. I posted on two of my Facebook pages, giving the person's name and email address (which is published in her info tab and on her blogs) and asked people to "flood" her inbox with shares of my petition and with appeals to support it and to help promote it. This person has promoted petitions on her page and I was longing for her to do this for mine. After all, this was for autism and what problem could she have with my petition?
This person got wind of my efforts to rally people to help me leverage her support by contacting her. This time, I did hear from this person! But it was not to support me in any way but to call me out for what this person saw as harassment and invasion of her privacy. Angrily, this person sent me a curt message ordering me to promptly remove ALL my posts with her name and contact information OR she would report me to Facebook. As I had copied and pasted my offending posts over and over, on two Facebook pages and on my profiles, I frantically tried to delete it all before this angry person could take any action that could hinder my advocacy. This person sent me one angry email after anoth demanding that I PROMPTLY delete my offending posts and angrily gave me a date by which I had to remove everything. My last email from her told me that she had reported me and curtly stated: "I never want to get email from you again." If you reading this and are this person, I know you will recognize yourself here. And yes, I have signed your petition which you launched on Change.org after I launched mine AND which has gathered many many more signatures than mine has. I did that because I agreed with the mission of your petition. I do not expect that you will feel any remorse for the hurt that you have caused me and you no doubt still believe that I owe you an apology. Maybe I do. I should maybe have just given people your page link and told them to look up your contact information on your Info tab. But I cannot even contact you now because you have ordered me not to contact you again! So if you are reading this, I apologize for my direct approach in seeking your support and my hope is that somehow you will change your mind, support me and my petition. But if not, my petition's success can happen without you.
Recently, I was challenged by one of you in a Facebook group, to put out a survey to autistic people and to field your questions about what issues you could have with my petition. Therefore, I did this and I posted my survey question to a number of autism Facebook groups. I expected, at most, to be told that I needed to rewrite parts of my petition but I did not expect the response I got later. I got a Facebook notification, some time later, with the word diagnosis. The person was responding the my copied and pasted status update (wth my petition link) where I was venting my frustration over not getting petition signatures in a 24 hour period and where I capitalized the word UNACCEPTABLE for emphasis. I visited this group page and the person posted: "You need to go out and get a diagnosis of an ASD." I replied to this post, mentioning my situation and my inability to access an ASD screening with an affordable, qualified professional. The person replied: "Then you need to remove your own story and your own information from the petition and deal in facts. The fact is that your daughter is diagnosed and her future is involved. Mentioning yourself and your story undermines this petition as your story is based on speculation, not fact." If you are reading this and you made that appeal to me to get an official diagnosis for more credibility, know that your words greatly crushed me. You may have meant very well and your heart may be in the right place, but when I'm told that I cannot share my story without an official diagnosis, I feel invalidated, suppresssed, violated and betrayed. But that is not all. In that same thread where you appealed to me to "go get an official dignosis," another person accused me of being pushy and a bully because I capitalized the words UNACCEPTABLE for emphasis when I was venting about lack of support for my petition. This person got backing from another person in the words, "That is what I have been trying to tell her." That did it for me! Feeling unvalued, unembraced and unappreciated, I left the group in question. Maybe your very ASD makes it hard for you to understand others' viewpoints which is why you did not "get" mine. Whatever the case is, if you are reading this and may be in that group, know that I'm saddened that your very disability may keep you from exhibiting the "theory of mind" that you need, to some degree at least, to support a petition that you may not fully understand or agree with.
More recently, I had joined an autism group because I am very sympathetic to the stated mission of the group. The administrator (admin) had stringent rules for his group and, as requested, I pulled up the link to review the rules. While I know that rules have to be created and enforced to protect members and to avoid abuses, I thought some of the rules were excessive and heavy-handed. I posted something about a nonprofit having started a petition in line with the stated mission of this group. The admin posted: "Lisa, anyone can start a petition. The real heros are those who actually get out and organize or participate in protests to make change." I posted about my situation and ended with, "I'm doing all I can for autism." The admin, apparently unconvinced, posted, "So you say, Lisa." This in itself, to me, was no big deal. The following day, in a comment thread in a discussion in this group, I shared my Facebook group for my petition, the link and I invited the admin to join. Then, seconds later after I left the page, I got a message from the admin with a warning that I had violated one of his rules! Knowing that he was no doubt talking about my shared group and sensing that this group was not a good match with what I see as rules that go too far, I left this group. The admin got wind of this but did not leave it at that but pursued me and challenged me. He accused me of overreacting to being "called out" for a "minor infraction" and blasted me for childishness, pettiness, and playing the victim. I reponded and our emails went back and forth until the following morning. After threatening to block me if I could not "hold an ADULT CONVERSATION" with him, he threatened to block me and forget all about me. I tried to reason with him, all to no avail. I was blocked anyway. I got another message from him, with his profile no longer linked and his pic now invisible to me. If you are the admin of this group and are reading this, know that I'm sorry that I was blocked but I'm not letting your cowardly and childish act deter me from my mission.
By the way, I wonder if many of you, who know about my petition but are not supporting it, even understand my petition's mission? I have edited it over and over in the hope that no one can get confused. I have tried, to the best of my ability, to remove all barriers to understanding it or supporting it. What is it about my petition that you don't understand or do not support? FYI: The mission of my petition is to gain comprehensive coverage for all persons wirh autism, regardless of age, income, race or walk of life. I'm calling for the US Congress and the US President to not only appropriate (fully fund) the 2011 Combating Autism Re-Authorization Act, but to re-allocate many of its $$$ set apart for research, to instead fund services for all children with suspected or diagnosed autism and in all 50 states. I'm calling for the US Congress and the US President to renew additional expired 2012 $$$ and to renew thse funds and to send them to all 50 states so that adults with autism can have access to covered services. So, it hurts and angers me that so many of you are choosing not to add your voices to this effort. This is about you and is meant to benefit you but I know that you have your own reasons for not supporting this petition. I just cannot understand thse reasons. Have you been asked too often to sign petitions? Have you been "burned" in signing them?
Yesterday, I learned that the US House is to hold autism hearings on November 29 but no autistic person has been invited to this meeting. This is unacceptable, just as unacceptable as the hearings on contraception where women were not allowed to add their voices. I fully agree with the slogan: "Nothing about us without us." My deepest fear is that the 2011 Combating Autism Re-Authorization Act (CARA) will be discussed and that the $$$ will go toward research, nullifying the very mission of my petition, to get most of those very $$$ to provide comprehensive services for all children with autism, in all 50 states, whose families cannot afford to pay for services! My petition needs to be mentioned at these hearings! But how can that happen? I need to reach the person (s) who will be at the November 29 autism hearing and I do not know who will be there. The one possible way to help make this happen is to contact your representative and to urge him or her to attend these hearing. I appeal to you to tell your Representative about my petition, sharing with him or her my link which is: http://tiny.cc/mrsahw. I'm sharing with you the link to the website where you should easily be able to find your Representative by your zip code, access his or her website and contact this person. This is important and may be critical. Research has its place and is important, but even more important are comprehensive services for all persons with autism, regardless of their ability to pay or their age. And if thse $$$ end up going where planned, my petition's stated mission may become null and void!
http://www.house.gov/representatives/find
This is the official website where you should easily be able to access your own Representative by entering your zip code at the upper search bar at the upper right of the home page. You should be able to find your Representative's website and contact information to send an email or call him or her, sharing my petition and its URL link: http://tiny.cc/mrsahw.
Thank you for your support!
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