[Note: Shared for #AutisticHistory archive purposes. This is NOT An Autistic Ally.]
Autism Speaks Presents National Award to Missouri DIFP
October 22, 2011
Jefferson City, Mo. – The nation’s largest advocacy group for autism has rewarded the Missouri Department of Insurance, Financial Institutions and Professional Registration for its implementation of the state’s new autism insurance law. The sixth annual Autism Law Summit was sponsored by Autism Speaks, which presented the award to the department for exceptional efforts on behalf of individuals with autism.
In 2010, Gov. Jay Nixon signed the law that requires health insurance companies to cover applied behavior analysis therapy, the most effective known treatment for children with autism. Under Gov. Nixon’s leadership, DIFP has continued to work with insurers, treatment providers, parents and other stakeholders to ensure the new law serves its intended purposes.
Missouri DIFP wins award from national autism advocacy group
State recognized for enforcement of new autism insurance law
Jefferson City, Mo. – The nation’s largest advocacy group for autism has rewarded the Missouri Department of Insurance, Financial Institutions and Professional Registration for its implementation of the state’s new autism insurance law. The sixth annual Autism Law Summit was sponsored by Autism Speaks, which presented the award to the department for exceptional efforts on behalf of individuals with autism.
In 2010, Gov. Jay Nixon signed the law that requires health insurance companies to cover applied behavior analysis therapy, the most effective known treatment for children with autism. Under Gov. Nixon’s leadership, DIFP has continued to work with insurers, treatment providers, parents and other stakeholders to ensure the new law serves its intended purposes.
Before the law took effect on Jan. 1, DIFP published a comprehensive guide to the new law on its website, which includes an FAQ and specific information for parents and health care providers as they file insurance claims for applied behavior analysis therapy.
“Their dedication to education of the autism community and successful implementation of the Missouri autism insurance reform law is extraordinary,” said Lorri Unumb, Autism Speaks vice president for state government affairs. “The department’s website serves as a model for other state departments of insurance to emulate. Autism Speaks is grateful for their leadership in this area.”
The new law also created DIFP’s Behavior Analyst Advisory Board, which licenses autism treatment providers. The board now has 120 professionals licensed in Missouri.
DIFP is hosting an Autism Provider Summit on Dec. 2 in Jefferson City. The one-day training program will educate autism treatment providers on billing for insurance claims, navigating the insurance world and getting their staffs properly licensed and credentialed.
Consumers and health care providers with questions about the new autism insurance law can contact the department’s Insurance Consumer Hotline at 800-726-7390 or visit insurance.mo.gov.
Photo: Missouri DIFP team members Melissa Palmer, left, and Angela Nelson, right, accept the award from Lorri Unumb, Autism Speaks’ vice president for state government affairs.
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Note/Warning:
Autistic people have fought the inclusion of ABA in therapy for us since before Autism Speaks, and other non-Autistic-led autism organizations, started lobbying legislation to get it covered by insurances and Medicaid.
ABA is a myth originally sold to parents that it would keep their Autistic child out of an institution. Today, parents are told that with early intervention therapy their child will either be less Autistic or no longer Autistic by elementary school, and can be mainstreamed in typical education classes. ABA is very expensive to pay out of pocket. Essentially, Autism Speaks has justified the big price tag up front will offset the overall burden on resources for an Autistic’s lifetime. The recommendation for this therapy is 40 hours a week for children and toddlers.
The original study that showed the success rate of ABA to be at 50% has never been replicated. In fact, the study of ABA by United States Department of Defense was denounced as a failure. Not just once, but multiple times. Simply stated: ABA doesn’t work. In study after repeated study: ABA (conversion therapy) doesn’t work.
What more recent studies do show: Autistics who experienced ABA therapy are at high risk to develop PTSD and other lifelong trauma-related conditions. Historically, the autism organizations promoting ABA as a cure or solution have silenced Autistic advocates’ opposition. ABA is also known as gay conversion therapy.
The ‘cure’ for Autistics not born yet is the prevention of birth.
The ‘cure’ is a choice to terminate a pregnancy based on ‘autism risk.’ The cure is abortion. This is the same ‘cure’ society has for Down Syndrome.
This is eugenics 2021. Instead of killing Autistics and disabled children in gas chambers or ‘mercy killings’ like in Aktion T4, it’ll happen at the doctor’s office, quietly, one Autistic baby at a time. Different approaches yes, but still eugenics and the extinction of an entire minority group of people.
Fact: You can’t cure Autistics from being Autistic.
Fact: You can’t recover an Autistic from being Autistic.
Fact: You can groom an Autistic to mask and hide their traits. Somewhat. … however, this comes at the expense of the Autistic child, promotes Autistic Burnout (this should not be confused with typical burnout, Autistic Burnout can kill Autistics), and places the Autistic child at high risk for PTSD and other lifelong trauma-related conditions.
[Note: Autism is NOT a disease, but a neurodevelopmental difference and disability.]
Fact: Vaccines Do Not Cause Autism.
International Badass Activists 