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Hi, Im Evelyn Peña and I'm an associate

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professor at Cal Lutheran University.

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I am also the director of the Autism

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in Communications Center, which is a

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university center that focuses on

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inclusion, communication, access, and

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higher education for people with autism or

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autistic individuals

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This is my son, Diego Peña, he is doing a

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camio today and Diego would like to

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introduce himself using the letter board

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since he is non speaking.

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So he has his communication partner with

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him and they are going to spell out

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something.

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(Communication Partner) H.E.L.L.O. A.L.L.

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Hello all. Ok, back straight.

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M.Y. N.A M.E. I.S. D.I E.G.O.

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(Comm) Hello all, my name is Diego.

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Evelyn: Awesome, so just a little bit

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about Diego, he is going into 7th grade.

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He is fully included in general education

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and he is a presenter at conferences and a

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best selling book author of the book,

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Anatomy of Autism, so that is us and

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we're excited to be here.

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So, Diego is really excited to talk about

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inclusion, not only in his book but also

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share his thoughts.

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I think that is so important in relation

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to the Americans with Disability Act

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because it provided an avenue for

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inclusion in the community, higher

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education, and employment.

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As a young activist, Diego has experienced

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inclusion in school so he wanted to share

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some words that he typed out.

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He is going to share them through his iPad

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, which he calls his talker.

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(iPad): I think the culture of inclusion

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is important to have in order to implement

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strategies be successful for autistic

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students in a general education classroom.

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Without inclusion, I wouldn't be able to

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be in general education setting.

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Having autism has limited me both verbally

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and physically.

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I thankfully have access to communication

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by typing and this form of communication

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has given me opportunity to be

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included in general education classes and

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activities in the community.

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Evelyn: Thanks, Diego. So the first time I

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really learned about the American Disabilities Act

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was when I was researching what it would

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take to support my son, Diego,

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He's autistic, you just met him, to go to

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college essentially.

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When I learned he had autism I didn't know

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anything about whether or not people had

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access to college if they had a diagnosis

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of autism or what the precedent was for that

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So, I really started looking into it and I

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did learn that, yes, autistic students do

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go to college. Which is wonderful.

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At that time this was, you know, when

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Diego was diagnosed.

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It was 8 years ago or 10 years ago and

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there wasn't a lot of research out there

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on autistic students going to college.

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So, that was one area where I'm excited

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that I've been able to do research and

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publish some work on how we can support

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autistic students to go to college and

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become successful. But, really the ADA

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(Americans with Disabilities Act)

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is so important for autistic students and

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students with disabilites in general, just

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to make sure that they have access to

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academic curriculums, that they are

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getting accommodations that they need to

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be successful in the academic settings.

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So, I really feel that the ADA has been a

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key factor in making sure that students

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with disabilities are included in college

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and university settings.

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Certainly the ADA has provided a lot of

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opportunities for students with

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disabilities. So, I'm grateful for that.

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I think there are some areas that we need

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to think about, that the ADA does have

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some limitations.

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One of them is that, many disablility

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service offices on campuses at higher

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education institutions require diagnosis

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or documentation of neuropsychological

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evaluation and this can cost upwards of

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several thousand dollars for individuals

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to get this diagnosis.

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So I think there has been a lot of

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progress lately where those offices are

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saying, "Ok well, we will consider the IEP

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document and your individual education

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plan from high school as a form to

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validate that you do need services".

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But one thing we do need to work on a

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little more is making sure that higher

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education institutions, specifically the

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disabiblity offices, are a bit more

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flexible in making sure that students can

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receive accomodations without dropping

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3 or 4 thousand dollars, in order to do that

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The other thing that I think about a lot

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is, while the ADA does provide important

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accomodations that are reasonable and

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appropriate, to students.

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I think that what I have learned is

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universities and disabilities offices specifically

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do a much better job when they go above

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and beyond their ADA

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So what's required by the ADA

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usually I see faculty member

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the staff on campus

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going above and beyond

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to make sure that students feel included

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that they feel like they belong in campus

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and it is really important

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i think i learned that we have this brief lossgreat laws

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but it is also important to us to have

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compassion, flexibility, to accomodate

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individuals like my son Diego, who

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uses, you know, must have[br]a communication partner

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with him uses iPad and a letter[br]board to communicate

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and we find that many colleges[br]are providing

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accomodation and some are not

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because it is so new to them

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So i think that... al those things

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are important and especially

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for students of color and/or margin

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or historically marginalized students

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who has intersectional identity

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with disability, we need to make sure

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that we are providing a welcoming

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and accesible environment in higher education

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So i think that one of the important things

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I've learned in my work so

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this scholarship and the advocacy work

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that I do everyday

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in essence by half with faculty

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and staff in higher education

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setting in particular

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is that we know that disability

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support offices are mandated

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to provide accomodation according to

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the ADA but what I see a lot

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is that faculty and staff

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are not required to receive

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training or professional development

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in order to serve children with disability

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And we think about this

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one in ten students in college

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campusses having disability

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of some sort and there's

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only the ones who are documented

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So imagine who don't report

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and having disability

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But we do need our faculty

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instructor, staff, to have more

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knowledge, experience, tools

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and their toolkit to serve students

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with disability, so that we

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can fully include them

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make sure they're succesful and

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empower them to graduate

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with college degree, so that they can

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move on to employment opportunity

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in the future