Autism
News
9/19/2019
AUCD Applauds Congress' Passage of Autism CARES Act
AUCD applauds Congress' passage of the Autism Cares Act of 2019, a bipartisan bill to expand research and coordination, increase public awareness and surveillance, and expand interdisciplinary health professional training to identify and support individuals with autism and their families. Passage of the bill, which occurred by voice vote, has been championed by Senators Enzi (R-WY) and Menendez (R-NJ) and Representatives Smith (R-NJ) and Doyle (D-PA), which reauthorizes CARES programs at NIH, CDC, HRSA, and IACC over the next five years.
Upcoming Events
AIR-P Presents: Using Autism Research to Inform Policy: Successes, Lessons, and Challenges
Monday, March 15, 20214:00 p.m.
Location: Zoom Webinar
This webinar presents results and lessons learned from nearly a decade of autism research aimed at informing policy to improve the lives of youth and adults on the autism spectrum. We will discuss how the work of the Life Course Outcomes Research Program and the Policy and Analytics Center at the A.J. Drexel Autism Institute have informed policy at the local, state, national and international levels. We will also outline the process and considerations necessary for creating effective information dissemination environments and partnerships, provide examples of useful tools for designing for dissemination, and guide a discussion of continued challenges.
Past Events
AIR-P Presents: COVID-19 Vaccine, I/DD Populations, and the Needle Anxiety Program at UCLA
Tuesday, February 16, 20214:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. ET
Location: Zoom Webinar
Immunizations are crucial to protect all people from vaccine-preventable illnesses. Some studies suggest that autistic individuals have lower rates of immunizations, for reasons that are not entirely clear. Multiple organizations have called for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities to be prioritized in COVID-19 vaccination distribution. Vaccine hesitancy and needle phobia are two likely contributors towards lower vaccination rates. One of the initial intervention projects from the AIR-P focuses on reducing needle anxiety and improving immunization rates among autistic individuals. This intervention was developed as a pilot to address needle anxiety in conjunction with Pfizer and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) for use in an Improving Pediatric Immunization Care collaborative but has not been widely implemented. The AIR-P network provides an opportunity to implement this needle anxiety intervention in multiple sites. Measures of success for this intervention would include vaccination rates among autistic individuals and satisfaction with the vaccine administration process.
AIR-P Presents: The National Autism Indicators Report on Health and Health Care
Thursday, January 21, 20214:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. ET
Location: Zoom Webinar
This webinar presents findings from the recent National Autism Indicators Report: Health and Health Care. This report, the sixth in the National Autism Indicators Report Series produced from the Life Course Outcomes Research Program area at the A.J. Drexel Autism Institute, reports indicators of health and health care for autistic people across the lifespan.
