What Health Care Can and Should Look Like for Individuals with IDD

The world came together in Los Angeles last month at the Special Olympics World Summer Games in an amazing international celebration of abilities and possibilities.
It was the ideal place and time for the Golisano Foundation to announce that our founder, Tom Golisano would commit $25 million to expand Special Olympics Healthy Communities, a successful initiative we helped launch three years ago to enhance global access to healthcare and improve health outcomes for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Denying Health Care to Autistic Is Nothing New

From Age of Autism's Kim Stagliano.

Traditional and social media are abuzz with a story of a Pennsylvania man with autism who has been denied a heart transplant at The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania over his "psychiatric condition" and "autism."  His mother, Karen Corby, is rightfully outraged that her son's life has been judged and fallen short of the "criteria" for life.
In thinking about the story, it occurred to me that while denial of a heart transplant is cut and dried no bones about it refusal to give medical care to a sick American - it's only the ugly publicized tip of a dirty and monstrous iceberg under the surface of healthcare for people with autism.