Dear friends,

This has been a year full of challenges for the policy team at ASAN. Our humans have been working on everything from demanding an end to the use of shock devices at the JRC [[link removed]] to lifting restrictions on vital programs like Medicaid [[link removed]] . I can tell there’s been a lot on my human’s plate, because I’ve had tons more paperwork to eat.

Leo the dog eats an envelope [[link removed]]

Just look at me, hard at work!

Here are just a few examples of our policy and community outreach work this year:

* We joined a letter opposing cutting Medicaid and adding work requirements for Medicaid as a member of the Consortium for Constituents with Disabilities (CCD), and the Disability and Aging Collaborative (DAC).

* We joined coalitions to submit multiple letters of support for changes to health care privacy laws that would protect LGBTQ+ people.

* We urged reintroduction of the Reproductive Health Care Accessibility Act, which would restore some reproductive autonomy and justice for disabled people, especially disabled people of color, through funding accessible and culturally competent reproductive health care.

* We endorsed the Protecting Our Students in Schools Act; a bill that prohibits the use of corporal punishment in schools.

Will you empower our humans’ policy work with a donation? [[link removed]] Your support fuels our humans’ work - and my ability to keep mine on their toes by chewing paperwork and laptop chargers, stealing coffee, and shrieking when I want things or just for fun.

There are lots of ways to provide support! For example:

* Doing a Facebook [www.facebook.com/fund/AutisticAdvocacy/] fundraiser for ASAN. Friends can put their paws and claws in towards a donation goal, and it costs nothing to run.

* Share our resources!

* Check out our shop [autisticadvocacy.org/shop/], featuring holiday items! There are lots of shreddable wonderful things from sweatshirts to mugs.

Every size and shape of support is important - just like every size and shape of pet.

Leo the dog wears a bowtie and poses [[link removed]]

We couldn’t do this without you.

This holiday season, let’s keep taking action together [[link removed]]!

In solidarity,
Leo Taylor-Parker
Legal Director’s Gargoyle
Autistic Self Advocacy Network


Autistic Self Advocacy Network
PO Box 66122
Washington, DC 20035
United States
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