I called NY’s capital district today to speak with Bernadette, a worker in New York State’s Assembly. She is gathering information from those of us on the autism spectrum for Assemblyman James Tedisco. Tedisco wants to raise autism awareness. There is a meeting about this issue in Albany, at the corner of State and South Swan Street, between the hours of 10:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m., in Hearing Room B, of the Legislative Office Building, on April 21st (tomorrow). Three minutes is the time allotted for each person attending to speak about autism at the podium. Somehow I have the feeling that most of the speakers are parents of children on the spectrum.
When I called, Bernadette first asked me, “Do you have any children on the spectrum?” Judging from the surprised reaction I received when I told her I’m an adult with Asperger’s syndrome, I doubt she received a significant portion of phone calls from adult Aspies.
I have a feeling that no one else in my adult Aspie group has contacted Tedisco’s office (I hope I’m wrong). I’m not aware of anybody in my group that’s volunteered to go to Albany to speak up in behalf of adults on the spectrum. Maybe they all become silent when speaking to a public audience?¹
Parents of children on the spectrum mean well by getting involved, but they don’t have the experience that spectrumite adults have. That’s why it is so critical for AS adults to send an e-mail of our testimony to our elected officials. I was told our input will be welcomed even after this meeting tomorrow. They want to hear what works and what doesn’t work for Aspies and Auties.
If you’d like to call for more information about what is going on with autism awareness in NY’s political arena, call 518.455.5073 and ask to speak with Bernadette. The e-mail address to send your testimony to Bernadette is vandeib@assembly.state.ny.us
Jim Tedisco’s blog is Tedisco’s Take and his website is NY State Assembly. There was one labeled as Tedisco Congress. His e-mail contact information can be found on those websites, but not on his blog.
I apologize for not writing about this sooner. However, it’s still not too late to have our voice be heard.
¹I fail at public speaking because too much attention at once is too distracting for me. Even if I did manage to speak to a crowd, the after-effect of such stress to my hyper-sensitive nervous system would not stop increasing for days and sleep would be near impossible for almost a week. I’d rather stay the way I am than put my health at risk by ingesting a pharmaceutical substance.
