Just about every state across the country is facing a similar situation. Now more than ever, people with developmental disabilities, their families, friends, service providers and supporters need to advocate to esnure that these critical services remain intact.
Bravo to the Chicago Tribune for taking the time to cover this important story. More agencies need to be contacting the media with similar stories so people realize how budget cuts are going to impact people in their community.
CHICAGO -- The brain seizures that strike Joan Nowak's daughter without warning once made it impossible for her to secure a job or have any semblance of a social life. But for the last 11 years, Lisa Nowak, now 33, has enjoyed both at a Tinley Park-based Southwest Community Services, which provides case management and work programs for adults with developmental disabilities. Her situation, however, is tenuous after Southwest Community Services and other agencies that serve people with developmental disabilities in the south suburbs learned the state could slash funding by as much as 50 percent if Illinois lawmakers do not enact an income tax increase to plug a multibillion-dollar budget gap."My daughter asked, 'Where will I go next month?' and I had to tell her I didn't have an answer," Nowak said.
Monday, June 22, 2009
Victory for Children with Autism in Michigan
Blue Cross has settled a lawsuit brought by parents of children with autism, reimbursing them for the costs of therapy they had to pay out of their own pockets.
Hopefully, this will become a landmark settlement, providing relief to thousands of families who are paying for services which currently are not covered by their insurance.
The suit, filed in Detroit, alleged that Blue Cross refused to pay for Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) therapy for autistic children on the grounds that it was “experimental.”
Blue Cross policies exclude experimental therapies for a variety of conditions. The plaintiffs in the current suit, Johns v. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, argued that characterizing ABA as experimental was arbitrary, capricious, and possibly even illegal.
John Conway and Gerard Mantese, attorneys for the plaintiffs, said in a statement that ABA is "supported by science and is not 'experimental.'" The therapy is used to help autistic children develop the deficient verbal and social skills that are hallmarks of the disease.
In the settlement, Blue Cross agreed to reimburse the families of more than 100 autistic children who paid for their own behavioral therapy over the past six years. Included in the settlement are families covered by a Blue Cross policy who never actually submitted a claim.
Hopefully, this will become a landmark settlement, providing relief to thousands of families who are paying for services which currently are not covered by their insurance.
The suit, filed in Detroit, alleged that Blue Cross refused to pay for Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) therapy for autistic children on the grounds that it was “experimental.”
Blue Cross policies exclude experimental therapies for a variety of conditions. The plaintiffs in the current suit, Johns v. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, argued that characterizing ABA as experimental was arbitrary, capricious, and possibly even illegal.
John Conway and Gerard Mantese, attorneys for the plaintiffs, said in a statement that ABA is "supported by science and is not 'experimental.'" The therapy is used to help autistic children develop the deficient verbal and social skills that are hallmarks of the disease.
In the settlement, Blue Cross agreed to reimburse the families of more than 100 autistic children who paid for their own behavioral therapy over the past six years. Included in the settlement are families covered by a Blue Cross policy who never actually submitted a claim.
Monday, May 25, 2009
Ernie Els: I Want to Find the Cause of Autism
Ernie Els, one of the world's top golfers, is building an autism research center in Florida to help his son Ben. Check out this story from The Times of London.
"People will remember me as a major champion," Els said. "But hopefully when I'm forgotten as a player, I'd also like to be remembered as somebody who took this autism research and did something with it. I think I have a lot of time left. The rest of my life, I'll be fighting this thing."
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Growing Old With Autism
Karl Taro Greenfeld's latest piece "Growing Old With Autism, " an op-ed in Sunday's edition of The New York Times, once again drives home the point which the media has not quite grasped -- that autism does not just affect children. There is a critical need for additional funding for services for adults on the autism spectrum, including day programs, employment training programs (yes, actually some individuals on the spectrum are employable and thrive in positions that require repetitive and what may seem mundane tasks), residential services, socialization and recreation programs, just to name a few. Share your thoughts.
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
N.J. League Gets Special Field for Children with Special Needs
If you're a baseball fan like me, or even if you're not a fan, you'll still enjoy this wonderful story from the Asbury Park Press.
WALL, N.J. — After traveling outside of the township to bring their 12-year-old daughter to recreational baseball games, Jeff and Michele Domenick decided to start a baseball league for special-needs children right in their hometown.
Three years later, the league of 30 children now plays at its very own Challenger League field, a baseball field specially designed for the special needs of its players.
"It's their home location now. It's special for them and the field is adjacent to the regular South Wall Little League fields. They just feel like a part of the program," Jeff Domenick said.
The township Recreation Department began planning for a field like this six years ago, and things really started moving when the Domenicks started their league. The township worked with volunteer landscaping and construction companies last fall to build the field, but work came to a standstill due to a lack of funds. After the department received a grant for $15,000, all of the planning came together and the field was opened six weeks later.
WALL, N.J. — After traveling outside of the township to bring their 12-year-old daughter to recreational baseball games, Jeff and Michele Domenick decided to start a baseball league for special-needs children right in their hometown.
Three years later, the league of 30 children now plays at its very own Challenger League field, a baseball field specially designed for the special needs of its players.
"It's their home location now. It's special for them and the field is adjacent to the regular South Wall Little League fields. They just feel like a part of the program," Jeff Domenick said.
The township Recreation Department began planning for a field like this six years ago, and things really started moving when the Domenicks started their league. The township worked with volunteer landscaping and construction companies last fall to build the field, but work came to a standstill due to a lack of funds. After the department received a grant for $15,000, all of the planning came together and the field was opened six weeks later.
Autism Gene Is Discovered
LOS ANGELES (AP)-- In what one scientist called the most powerful study of autism to date, researchers have discovered that the presence of a certain form of a gene can increase a child's risk of developing autism.
Scientists at the University of California, Los Angeles, said they have isolated a trend among the DNA of 1,046 members of families with at least two sons affected by autism, who share a common variant or subtle change of a gene.
Nearly 40 percent of the general population carries this variant, but not all develop autism, which is why it's important to consider other factors, such as how other genes interact, as well as the environment.
Scientists at the University of California, Los Angeles, said they have isolated a trend among the DNA of 1,046 members of families with at least two sons affected by autism, who share a common variant or subtle change of a gene.
Nearly 40 percent of the general population carries this variant, but not all develop autism, which is why it's important to consider other factors, such as how other genes interact, as well as the environment.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Growing Old with Autism
Karl Taro Greenfeld's piece in this week's Time magazine provides insight not only in the struggles his family faced in raising his brother Noah, who has autism, but also what life is like today for his 42-year-old sibling.
Greenfeld writes, "Despite the successful marketing of the affliction by activists and interest groups, autism is not a childhood condition. It is nondegenerative and nonterminal: the boys and girls grow up. For all the interventions and therapies and the restrictive diets and innovative treatments, the majority of very low-functioning autistics like Noah will require intensive support throughout their lives. If recent estimates of prevalence by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are accurate, then 1 in 150 of today's children is autistic. That means we are in for a vast number of adult autistics — most better adjusted than Noah, some as bad off — who will be a burden to parents, siblings and, eventually, society.
"We are largely unprepared to deal with this crisis. Autism funding and research, so far, have predominantly focused on children."
Greenfeld writes, "Despite the successful marketing of the affliction by activists and interest groups, autism is not a childhood condition. It is nondegenerative and nonterminal: the boys and girls grow up. For all the interventions and therapies and the restrictive diets and innovative treatments, the majority of very low-functioning autistics like Noah will require intensive support throughout their lives. If recent estimates of prevalence by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are accurate, then 1 in 150 of today's children is autistic. That means we are in for a vast number of adult autistics — most better adjusted than Noah, some as bad off — who will be a burden to parents, siblings and, eventually, society.
"We are largely unprepared to deal with this crisis. Autism funding and research, so far, have predominantly focused on children."
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