1 00:00:04,540 --> 00:00:06,850 Hi, Im Evelyn Peña and I'm an associate 2 00:00:06,980 --> 00:00:08,960 I am also the director of the Autism 3 00:00:09,080 --> 00:00:12,050 Communications Center, which is the center 4 00:00:12,218 --> 00:00:16,218 that focuses on inclusion, communication, 5 00:00:16,414 --> 00:00:18,904 access, and higher education, for people 6 00:00:19,105 --> 00:00:21,995 with autism or autistic individuals. 7 00:00:22,181 --> 00:00:25,511 This is my son, Diego Peña, he is doing a 8 00:00:25,766 --> 00:00:29,516 camio today and Diego would like to 9 00:00:29,723 --> 00:00:31,943 introduce himself using the letter board 10 00:00:32,097 --> 00:00:33,727 since he is non speaking. 11 00:00:34,991 --> 00:00:37,161 So he has his communication partner with 12 00:00:37,368 --> 00:00:38,958 him and they are going to spell out 13 00:00:39,115 --> 00:00:41,225 something. 14 00:00:42,558 --> 00:00:58,348 (Communication Partner) H.E.L.L.O. A.L.L. 15 00:00:58,463 --> 00:01:02,463 Hello all. Ok, back straight. 16 00:01:02,573 --> 00:01:43,013 M.Y. N.A M.E. I.S. D.I E.G.O. 17 00:01:43,135 --> 00:01:45,005 Hello all, my name is Deigo. 18 00:01:45,153 --> 00:01:47,333 Evelyn: Awesome, so just a little bit 19 00:01:47,522 --> 00:01:49,992 about Deigo, he is going into 7th grade. 20 00:01:50,079 --> 00:01:52,699 He is fully included in general education 21 00:01:52,866 --> 00:01:57,016 and he is a presenter at conferences and a 22 00:01:57,187 --> 00:02:00,917 best selling book author of the book, 23 00:02:01,048 --> 00:02:04,718 Anatomy of Autism, so that is us and 24 00:02:04,905 --> 00:02:07,305 we're excited to be here. 25 00:02:08,463 --> 00:02:14,273 So, Diego is really excited to talk about 26 00:02:14,461 --> 00:02:16,971 inclusion, not only in his book but also 27 00:02:16,971 --> 00:02:18,045 share his thoughts. 28 00:02:18,188 --> 00:02:21,218 I think that is so important in relation 29 00:02:21,375 --> 00:02:25,375 to the Americans with Disability Act 30 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 because it provided an avenue for 31 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 inclusion in the community, higher 32 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 education, and employment. 33 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 As a young activist, Diego has experienced 34 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 inclusion in school so he wanted to share 35 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 some words that he typed out. 36 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 He is going to share them through his iPad 37 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 , which he calls his talker. 38 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 (iPad): I think the culture of inclusion 39 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 is important to have in order to implement 40 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 strategies be successful for autistic 41 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 students in a general education classroom. 42 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Without inclusion, I wouldn't be able to 43 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 be in general education setting. 44 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Having autism has limited me both verbally 45 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and physically. 46 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I thankfully have access to communication 47 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 by typing and this form of communicaion 48 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 has given me opportunity to be 49 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 included in general education classes and 50 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 activities in the community. 51 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Evelyn: Thanks, Diego. So the first time I 52 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 really learned about the Disabilities Act 53 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 was when I was researching what it would 54 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 take to support my son, Diego, 55 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 He's autistic, you just met him, to go to 56 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 college essentially. 57 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 When I learned he had autism I didn't know 58 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 anything about whether or not people had 59 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 access to college if they had a diagnosis 60 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 of autism or what the precedent was for 61 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 that. 62 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 So, I really started looking into it and I 63 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 did learn that, yes, autistic students do 64 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 go to college. Which is wonderful. 65 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 At that time this was, you know, when 66 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Diego was diagnosed. 67 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 It was 8 years ago or 10 years ago and 68 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 there wasn't a lot of research out there 69 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 on autistic students going to college. 70 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 So, that was one area where I'm excited 71 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 that I've been able to do research and 72 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 publish some work on how we can support 73 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 autistic studetns to go to college and 74 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 become successful. But, really the ADA 75 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 (Americans with Disabilities Act) 76 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 is so important for autistic students and 77 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 students with disabilites in general, just 78 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 to make sure that they have access to 79 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 academic curriculums, that they are 80 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 getting accommidations that they need to 81 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 be successful in academic settings. 82 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 So, I really feel that the ADA has been a 83 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 key factor in making sure that students 84 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 with disabilities are included in college 85 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and university settings. 86 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Certainly the ADA has provided a lot of 87 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 opportunities for students with 88 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 disabilities. So, I'm grateful for that. 89 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I think there are some areas that we need 90 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 to think about, that the ADA does have 91 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 some limitations. 92 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 One of them is that, many disablility 93 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 service offices on campuses at higher 94 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 education institutions require diagnosis 95 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 or documentation of neuropsychological 96 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 evaluation and this can cost upwards of 97 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 several thousand dollars for individuals 98 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 to get this diagnosis. 99 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 So I think there has been a lot of 100 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 progress lately where those offices are 101 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 saying, "Ok well, we will consider the IEP 102 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 document and your individual education 103 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 plan from high school as a form to 104 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 validate that you do need services". 105 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 But one thing we do need to work on a 106 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 little more is making sure that higher 107 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 education institutions, specifically the 108 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 disabiblity offices, are a bit more 109 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 flexible in making sure that students can 110 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 recieve accomidations without dropping 111 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 3 or 4 thousand dollars, in order to do 112 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 that. 113 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 The other thing that I think about a lot 114 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 is, while the ADA does provide important 115 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 accomidations that are resonable and 116 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 appropriate, to students. 117 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I think that what I have learned