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Dear friends,
This month, we had many exciting opportunities blooming just like the cherry blossoms outside our Washington, DC office!
We started the month on a somber note with our annual Disability Day of Mourning. Our community came together with vigils across the country and the world to remember those we’ve lost to filicide, or the murder of a family member. You can read more about our DC vigil, virtual vigil, and the many other vigils here.
The beginning of the month also saw concerning new COVID-19 guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention rolling back crucial pandemic guidelines. ASAN joined many other disability rights and justice organizations in sending a letter to CDC Director Rochelle Walensky urging her to reinstate pandemic protections like masking guidelines that keep our community safe.
We also released new resources about changing COVID-19 guidance. You can check out our two new guides, “What you need to know about the COVID-19 vaccine and booster shots” and “Immunocompromised People and the Vaccine” here.
We also joined a letter in support of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s nomination to the United States Supreme Court. The nomination of a Black woman to our nation’s highest court is long overdue. We wholeheartedly commend Judge Jackson’s record as a thorough and thoughtful jurist who has repeatedly demonstrated an understanding of disability rights and other civil rights laws and their importance to people with disabilities.
There’s still time to submit comments to the IACC! The Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC) advises on federal funding for autism research. They make recommendations on how autism research funding is prioritized. You can push IACC to advocate for research that matters to our community by submitting a public comment telling them what kind of research you want to see. Aligning research funding with our community’s needs could make a major difference in autistic people’s lives. Submit a comment to the IACC by tomorrow, April 1st, telling them what you want studied!
The work keeps marching on, so we will too! Thank you for your support this month and beyond - and join us in ringing in Autism Acceptance Month!
Sincerely,
The Team at ASAN
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There are many different parts of policy that go unrecognized! Here’s some of the smaller, but no less important, things our policy team has been up to this month:
- Signed on to public comments to be submitted to the Texas child welfare agency regarding the horrific executive order designating vital gender-affirming care as abuse. Beyond this order being dangerous to trans children and their families, it is also a violation of the Americans with Disabilities act!
- Joined a letter with the Consortium of Citizens with Disabilities to ask Congress to fully fund the White House’s request for supplemental appropriations to respond to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The Disability and Aging Collaborative and Coalition on Human Needs, two coalitions that we are a part of, both submitted similar letters that we signed on to as well.
- Endorsed the Amir Locke End Deadly No-Knock Warrants Act. The use of no-knock warrants and raids have a deep-rooted history in racism and the criminalization of Black and brown people.
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