Advancing the Future Lives of Adults with Autism
Karen Kaplan

On Friday, the 13th of November, I had the pleasure of being one of 10 table facilitators at America Speaks on Advancing Future Lives of Adults with Autism Town Hall held at the M.I.N.D Institute in Sacramento.

Mayor Dailey of Chicago and his inspiring wife kicked off the event which connected 16 cities across the United States through web casting by pledging their total support to work towards ensuring the full potential of people with autism spectrum disorders. Next, Lisa Goring, Director of Family Services from Autism Speaks announced that it was time to get busy and lay the foundation for better outcomes.

Finally a father of a 17 year old boy with autism stood up and shared with over 1,000 participants that he and his wife’s dreams of bringing a child into the world and wishing their child to have love, happiness, good health, adventure, fun, education and life long learning, good friends, a sense of humor, a job, a safe home, a welcoming community and to be able to make a contribution have not changed since they sat in their home and completed the section in his baby book years ago prior to hearing the diagnosis of autism.

Daniel Stone, national facilitator of the event, then set the event in forward motion by making the following statement, “When the School Bus Stops Coming, Who Will?
It was clear then to all of us that the work we were about to do this day would have a major impact on what would happen when the school bus did stop coming. It was also clear that we were just the first part of the WHO WILL and that it was going to be our responsibility to inspire, motivate, educate and move our home communities towards action on the key issues of housing, employment, vocational training and flexibility of funding.

So we began our work. At my table the business community, the parent community, the therapeutic community, the medical community, the regional center community, the governmental community, the private consultant community and the consumer community sat around the table ready to listen, provide ideas and agree on strategies to from a national agenda. Each of the 10 tables in the room mirrored our diversity and the same diversity was seen throughout all 16 cities participating in the days’ agenda.

The vision that adults with ASD will have an increase in housing choices, an increase in job opportunities with on going training and support was clearly stated next. The vision that adults will be valued contributing members of their own community set the tone for our work.

The agenda would be to change existing and established funding streams so that financial assistance follows the person. There would be strategies put in place to increase the numbers of available, qualified and motivated personnel and that adults would have access to supports to develop life skills.

In the area of Housing, the agenda was to direct support to residential models that are person-centered, to expand public and private funding for residential services and to engage people and institutions that direct capital and influence housing policy.

In the area of Employment the agenda would be to create and expand career development and vocational skills training programs while they are still in school, ensure on going accessibility to employment supports in the technical and social area and to increase the number of successful programs that match adults with autism with meaningful jobs.

Finally in the area of Community Life the agenda is to educate first responders about challenging behaviors and prepare them to handle occasions in the safest and most effective manner, to create a comprehensive public awareness campaign to help the general public better understand, engage and support adults with autism and their families and to assist adults in accessing public and private transportation as well as providing training for transportation providers.

Daniel Stone brought closure to the day by asking each of the 1000 participants to identify at least one activity they each could commit to the advance the work to today’s town hall. Participants in each of the 16 local areas shared their ideas amongst themselves and the meeting was adjourned.

For detailed information on the event and next steps check out www.afaa-us.org. See what you can do to help advance the futures of adults with autism.

Karen Kaplan
Autism Consultant
Karensupportsu@comcast.net