News

A note from Autism Society of Texas:

Are you registered to vote? Calling all autistic adults, parent/caregivers of those with autism, autism support professionals and friends and family! We need you! Every vote counts. The autism community is broad, and electing those that will support those with disabilities has a huge impact on the lives of individuals with autism and those that support them! Please join the greater disability community and pledge to vote!  Register by October 5th! Need help or have questions? Contact jacquie@texasautismsociety.org or email Rev Up.

Voting information from our friends at Rev Up:

More than any time in memory:

Hurricane Laura Information: Assistance & Resources

If you are a family or an adult with autism seeking assistance after Hurricane Laura:  If you have phone or internet service, please contact the organizations below for support. 

Red Cross:

https://www.redcross.org/about-us/our-work/disaster-relief/hurricane-relief/hurricane-laura-relief.html

Texas 211

https://www.211texas.org/211/ 

Provides a voluntary registry for people who need assistance and evacuation in the case of a hurricane or natural disaster. The public may register year-round. Registry information will be forwarded to local Offices of Emergency Management (OEMs). Local OEMs have the responsibility for coordinating evacuations.

FEMA

See link to Disability Rights Texas below with tips to apply for FEMA assistance.

https://www.fema.gov/

READY.GOV

https://www.ready.gov/

Hurricane Guide For Families (Sesame Street):  SupportAfterEmergency_Printable_Hurricane_FamilyGuide

Disaster Distress Hotline:

The Disaster Distress Helpline, 1-800-985-5990, is a 24/7, 365-day-a–year, national hotline dedicated to providing immediate crisis counseling for people who are experiencing emotional distress related to any natural or human-caused disaster. This toll-free, multilingual, and confidential crisis support service is available to all residents in the United States and its territories. Stress, anxiety, and other depression-like symptoms are common reactions after a disaster. Call 1-800-985-5990 or text TalkWithUs to 66746 to connect with a trained crisis counselor.

(https://www.samhsa.gov/find-help/disaster-distress-helpline)

Houston & East Texas Shelters:

https://www.click2houston.com/news/local/2020/08/25/list-texas-shelters-open-to-evacuees-ahead-of-hurricane-laura/

Austin Shelters:

List of shelters for evacuees, residents seeking shelter

Austin Disaster Relief (aid throughout Texas, not just Austin)

https://www.adrn.org

Partnership for Inclusive Disaster Strategies

Phone: (800) 626-4959

Website: https://disasterstrategies.org/

The Partnership for Inclusive Disaster Strategies (The Partnership) is the only U.S. disability-led organization with a focused mission on equal access, disability rights and full inclusion of people with disabilities, older adults, and people with access and functional needs before, during, and after disasters and emergencies.

Disability Rights Texas

How to register for FEMA assistance & resources to help you with your registration:

https://tinyurl.com/DRTXHurricane

You can also call our office (512) 479-4199, ext 6 or the national office (1-800-3-Autism or 1-800- 328-8476) for autism navigational or emotional support, or email support@texasautismsociety.org.

AAC Disaster Relief

The AAC Disaster Relief Committee (subcommittee organized by the United States Society for Augmentative and Alternative Communication) works to help anyone who has lost their communication system due to natural disasters. The systems are being replaced free of charge to families through financial support. Please visit their website for more information, or to volunteer for the organization:

https://aacdisasterrelief.recovers.org/

Another action is required to move the ABA program forward!

Your efforts, along with other advocates and providers, pushed the Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) to take a small step forward in implementing the Medicaid ABA benefit!

HHSC has sent a letter asking the Governor’s office and the Legislative Budget Board (LBB) to approve funding for the program. HHSC also included proposed rates for provider reimbursement and set a date for the program to start (if funded) for March 1st of 2021 – a year later than was proposed in December of 2019.

Now we need a second push! 

Please contact the Governor’s office, House and Senate Leadership, and the member of LBB listed below and tell them:

• Approve funding for the $7.9 million dollar General Revenue request for intensive intervention behavior services for the remainder of the 2020-21 biennium

It’s also important to remind decision-makers that HHSC must:

• Set “reasonable provider reimbursement rates” to ensure that all children who qualify for the benefit will receive services
• Don’t predetermine and limit services by age – allocate supports according to medical necessity
• Keep other autism services like the Children’s Autism Program separate as the other programs provide a unique set of critical supports and services

Please call or email these offices:

As a reference, below are the information sheets on the Medicaid ABA Benefit, the Children’s Autism Program, and What is ABA? from our first Medicaid/ABA alert.

It’s time to flex our advocacy muscles and let our Texas Legislators and leadership know that we expect the state agency in charge of “Improving the health, safety and well-being of Texans with good stewardship of public resources” to immediately implement the Medicaid IBI/ABA Services Benefit.

You might remember advocating last session in 2019 for the passage of the Medicaid Autism Benefit.  And you may have heard that the program would be available in Spring of 2020. Unfortunately all progress stopped in December of 2019 and the program appears to be on indefinite hold.

We need your help! 

Please send an e-mail or call your representatives in both the Texas House and Texas Senate and tell them that HHSC must immediately implement Rider 32, the Medicaid IBI/ABA Services Benefit, to support families who desperately need these intensive, life-changing therapies.

We’ve developed three information sheets to remind you of the history of the program and to answer any questions that legislative staff may have.

Who Represents Me? – Use this online database to find your representative – remember some of Texas’ districts are so gerrymandered that you will have to include your full address to find your representative.

Keep in mind when making calls that many people are working from home so you may need to leave a short but informative message with your contact information for a call-back or give them that AST’s advocacy team contact information: 512-479-4199 Ext.10, or advocacy@texasautismsociety.org.

We encourage you to tell your own stories about how important this issue is to you, but if you need one – there’s a script below.

—————————————————————————————————————–

Script:

Hello, my name is ______ .  May I speak to the staff member in charge of Medicaid or Health and Human Services issues.

• Stress the importance of the Medicaid IBI/ABA Services Benefit
• Use your own stories or talk about how this benefits the entire autism community
• The ASK: Please consider sending a letter or directly contacting HHS leadership to encourage the immediately implementation of  Rider 32, (the Medicaid IBI/ABA Services Benefit) to support families who desperately need these intensive, life-changing therapies
• Thank the staff member for their time and ask if you can send them more information on this crucial issue.

——————————————————————————————————————–

Let us know if you were successful or if AST Advocacy staff need to do any follow-ups at 512-479-4199 Ext:10 or  advocacy@texasautismsociety.org

AND,

If you have time – there’s a group of important legislators and leadership that also needs to hear from you.

To get on our Advocacy alert email list please sign up here: https://tinyurl.com/ASTAdvocacy

Learn more about our exciting plans for the virtual Texas Autism Bike Ride & Fun Run, meet our amazing supporters, Amy & Michael Ota, learn about AutFestTexas: The Sequel on 9/13, and the continuation of many of our free groups online for teens, kids and adults!

Read it here.

Subscribe here.

Check out what’s happening in July! Free kids & teens social groups, help us provide funds for adult scholarships through the Hunter Hinze Fund, support & rec groups for autistic adults, support groups for caregivers, Zumba for Autism, and Respite & Support Services Brown Bag Learning Event!

Read it here.

Subscribe here. 

Please note, we will just have one newsletter at the start of the month in June, July & August. 

Read the June newsletter here.  Subscribe here.

Check out our May Mid-Month Updates! Read here. Subscribe here.