Thanks very, very, very much to everyone for your kind words about the big change. It is definitely a change and I’m still adjusting—-I’m very interested in knowing what you think. Thanks to all those—-Kev, Emily, Mike, Lisa—who’ve given the new autism blog a shout-out It’s been fabulous blogging with Dora and I’m very excited to be part of the Change.org community.
There’s been a couple of questions about what will happen to this blog: While I won’t be writing it after this week, someone (I’m not sure who) will be taking it over. As far as I know, the …read more

A long time ago (definitely “before Charlie,” which is “bC” to Jim and me) “someone” (she writes poetry) wrote this to me:
Poetry is life; it should change everything around it. Do only what changes you.
The lines were written at the end of a letter regarding a topic that was, at that point in time (I was about half as old as I am as I write this), of total everything significance to my life: What should I study in graduate school?
I was a Classics major in college and, finding the sustained study of Latin and ancient Greek intellectually intriguing, albeit …read more

Change.org has been running a competition to vote on the top Ideas for Change in America. The competition ends on December 31st—-yes, that’s Wednesday—and here are three ideas that I think can clearly make a difference in the lives of autistic individuals:
Fully Fund Medicaid Waivers for the Developmentally Disabled
Replace No Child Left Behind With a Strong Education Policy
Independence and Services for Disabilities and Autism
The top 10 ideas will be announced in January.
(For discussion about the idea about the “Autism Reform Act,” see this post on autism legislation.)

You could call 2008 a year of autism legislation, with bills proposed and (in Arizona, Connecticut, Florida, Louisiana, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Texas) passed for insurance coverage for children with autism (of varying ages; for instance, Texas’ House Bill 1919 calls for coverage for autistic children between two and six; efforts are being made to pass House Bill 451, to require certain insurance plans coverage to autistic individuals up to age 18). Via the National Council of State Legislatures, you can access the NCSL Autism Legislation Database, which provides information about legislation in different states. Autism Bulletin also has a …read more