New Administration Puts Autism as a Priority

Today, President Obama put his disability policy up on Whitehouse.gov and highlighted autism as a priority. We are very excited about this, and encourage you to circulate this important news to your members and supporters and social media contacts and encourage all to voice their support for autism services to the new administration through the Whitehouse.gov “comments” section. ASA CEO Lee Grossman and ASA COO Barbara Newhouse met with President Obama’s then- transition team on Jan 2, who underscored the importance of grassroots outreach in informing the administration of ASA’s public policy priorities for 2009. For your information, below is the news post we did on our website today; the US News and World Report article is also available on our homepage

New Administration Puts Autism as a Priority
Autism highlighted on whitehouse.gov

On the newly launched Web site of the Obama administration, the new president has outlined his disabilities agenda, in which autism is the only condition highlighted specifically. The agenda includes:

Signing on to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
Providing better educational opportunities for Americans with disabilities
Ending discrimination and promoting equal opportunity
Increasing the employment rate for workers with disabilities
Supporting independent, community-based living
President and Obama and Vice President Biden also outlined their support for increased funding for increased funding for autism research, treatment, screenings, public awareness and support services; inproving life-long services to children and adults; funding the Combating Autism Act and improving federal and state autism programs; and universal screening of all infants and re-screening of all 2-year-olds. Learn more about screening and early identification.

The Autism Society of America has been working with the transition team and will continue to work with the new administration to make these priorities a reality for all affected by autism. Stay tuned for action alerts and legislative updates by signing up here.

To show your support for President Obama’s plan, and to read the disabilities agenda in its entirety, please visit .

Marguerite Kirst Colston

Vice President, Marketing and Strategic Initiatives

Autism Society of America

7910 Woodmont Avenue, Suite 300

Bethesda, MD 20814 USA

Office: +1-301-657-0881 x. 107

Mobile: +1-240-672-4734

Fax: +1-301-657-0869

www.autism-society.org