0:00:00.490,0:00:03.664 Hi, Im Evelyn Peña and I'm an associate 0:00:03.742,0:00:05.842 professor at Cal Lutheran University. 0:00:05.930,0:00:08.960 I am also the director of the Autism 0:00:09.080,0:00:12.050 Communications Center, which is a university center 0:00:12.218,0:00:16.218 that focuses on inclusion, communication, 0:00:16.414,0:00:18.904 access, and higher education, for people 0:00:19.105,0:00:21.995 with autism or autistic individuals. 0:00:22.181,0:00:25.511 This is my son, Diego Peña, he is doing a 0:00:25.766,0:00:29.516 camio today and Diego would like to 0:00:29.723,0:00:31.943 introduce himself using the letter board 0:00:32.097,0:00:33.727 since he is non speaking. 0:00:34.991,0:00:37.161 So he has his communication partner with 0:00:37.368,0:00:38.958 him and they are going to spell out 0:00:39.115,0:00:41.225 something. 0:00:42.558,0:00:58.348 (Communication Partner) H.E.L.L.O. A.L.L. 0:00:58.463,0:01:02.463 Hello all. Ok, back straight. 0:01:02.573,0:01:43.013 M.Y. N.A M.E. I.S. D.I E.G.O. 0:01:43.135,0:01:45.005 Hello all, my name is Diego. 0:01:45.153,0:01:47.333 Evelyn: Awesome, so just a little bit 0:01:47.522,0:01:49.992 about Deigo, he is going into 7th grade. 0:01:50.079,0:01:52.699 He is fully included in general education 0:01:52.866,0:01:57.016 and he is a presenter at conferences and a 0:01:57.187,0:02:00.917 best selling book author of the book, 0:02:01.048,0:02:04.718 Anatomy of Autism, so that is us and 0:02:04.905,0:02:07.305 we're excited to be here. 0:02:08.463,0:02:14.273 So, Diego is really excited to talk about 0:02:14.461,0:02:16.971 inclusion, not only in his book but also 0:02:16.971,0:02:18.045 share his thoughts. 0:02:18.188,0:02:21.218 I think that is so important in relation 0:02:21.375,0:02:23.265 to the Americans with Disability Act 0:02:23.343,0:02:25.453 because it provided an avenue for 0:02:25.520,0:02:28.090 inclusion in the community, higher 0:02:28.187,0:02:29.867 education, and employment. 0:02:29.941,0:02:33.811 As a young activist, Diego has experienced 0:02:33.996,0:02:36.416 inclusion in school so he wanted to share 0:02:36.596,0:02:38.486 some words that he typed out. 0:02:38.630,0:02:40.850 He is going to share them through his iPad 0:02:40.980,0:02:42.560 , which he calls his talker. 0:02:46.648,0:02:48.858 (iPad): I think the culture of inclusion 0:02:49.184,0:02:51.314 is important to have in order to implement 0:02:51.314,0:02:53.414 strategies be successful for autistic 0:02:53.617,0:02:56.247 students in a general education classroom. 0:02:58.024,0:03:00.394 Without inclusion, I wouldn't be able to 0:03:00.625,0:03:02.575 be in general education setting. 0:03:04.132,0:03:06.762 Having autism has limited me both verbally 0:03:06.927,0:03:08.167 and physically. 0:03:08.657,0:03:11.107 I thankfully have access to communication 0:03:11.320,0:03:13.620 by typing and this form of communicaion 0:03:13.943,0:03:15.943 has given me opportunity to be 0:03:16.292,0:03:18.762 included in general education classes and 0:03:18.762,0:03:20.482 activities in the community. 0:03:23.243,0:03:27.243 Evelyn: Thanks, Diego. So the first time I 0:03:27.391,0:03:30.221 really learned about the Amrican Disabilities Act 0:03:30.482,0:03:34.202 was when I was researching what it would 0:03:34.383,0:03:37.033 take to support my son, Diego, 0:03:37.292,0:03:42.272 He's autistic, you just met him, to go to 0:03:42.471,0:03:43.801 college essentially. 0:03:44.346,0:03:46.906 When I learned he had autism I didn't know 0:03:47.158,0:03:49.958 anything about whether or not people had 0:03:51.140,0:03:53.580 access to college if they had a diagnosis 0:03:54.106,0:03:57.396 of autism or what the precedent was for that 0:03:57.465,0:03:59.505 So, I really started looking into it and I 0:03:59.623,0:04:02.433 did learn that, yes, autistic students do 0:04:02.723,0:04:04.823 go to college. Which is wonderful. 0:04:05.301,0:04:07.411 At that time this was, you know, when 0:04:07.612,0:04:09.442 Diego was diagnosed. 0:04:09.818,0:04:12.618 It was 8 years ago or 10 years ago and 0:04:12.996,0:04:14.936 there wasn't a lot of research out there 0:04:15.278,0:04:17.778 on autistic students going to college. 0:04:18.256,0:04:20.666 So, that was one area where I'm excited 0:04:21.102,0:04:22.792 that I've been able to do research and 0:04:22.967,0:04:25.401 publish some work on how we can support 0:04:25.463,0:04:27.959 autistic studetns to go to college and 0:04:28.052,0:04:30.261 become successful. But, really the ADA 0:04:30.349,0:04:30.909 (Americans with Disabilities Act) 0:04:31.009,0:04:33.889 is so important for autistic students and 0:04:34.127,0:04:36.617 students with disabilites in general, just 0:04:36.683,0:04:39.063 to make sure that they have access to 0:04:39.143,0:04:42.773 academic curriculums, that they are 0:04:42.985,0:04:44.935 getting accommidations that they need to 0:04:45.153,0:04:47.593 be successful in academic settings. 0:04:48.349,0:04:50.599 So, I really feel that the ADA has been a 0:04:50.830,0:04:54.830 key factor in making sure that students 0:04:55.001,0:04:57.181 with disabilities are included in college 0:04:57.276,0:04:59.040 and university settings. 0:05:00.497,0:05:03.499 Certainly the ADA has provided a lot of 0:05:03.681,0:05:05.531 opportunities for students with 0:05:05.800,0:05:08.240 disabilities. So, I'm grateful for that. 0:05:08.591,0:05:10.861 I think there are some areas that we need 0:05:11.107,0:05:14.137 to think about, that the ADA does have 0:05:14.490,0:05:15.530 some limitations. 0:05:15.772,0:05:18.752 One of them is that, many disablility 0:05:18.801,0:05:22.151 service offices on campuses at higher 0:05:22.222,0:05:25.922 education institutions require diagnosis 0:05:26.056,0:05:30.726 or documentation of neuropsychological 0:05:30.876,0:05:35.556 evaluation and this can cost upwards of 0:05:35.719,0:05:38.879 several thousand dollars for individuals 0:05:39.093,0:05:40.193 to get this diagnosis. 0:05:40.398,0:05:41.758 So I think there has been a lot of 0:05:41.890,0:05:44.100 progress lately where those offices are 0:05:44.179,0:05:47.009 saying, "Ok well, we will consider the IEP 0:05:47.009,0:05:49.569 document and your individual education 0:05:49.692,0:05:53.692 plan from high school as a form to 0:05:53.810,0:05:56.360 validate that you do need services". 0:05:56.412,0:05:58.442 But one thing we do need to work on a 0:05:58.506,0:06:00.746 little more is making sure that higher 0:06:00.856,0:06:03.022 education institutions, specifically the 0:06:03.070,0:06:04.753 disabiblity offices, are a bit more 0:06:04.783,0:06:08.396 flexible in making sure that students can 0:06:08.532,0:06:10.726 receive accomodations without dropping 0:06:10.784,0:06:13.754 3 or 4 thousand dollars, in order to do that 0:06:13.927,0:06:16.697 The other thing that I think about a lot 0:06:16.850,0:06:20.850 is, while the ADA does provide important 0:06:20.991,0:06:24.051 accomodations that are reasonable and 0:06:24.203,0:06:25.793 appropriate, to students. 0:06:26.109,0:06:28.069 I think that what I have learned is 0:06:28.239,0:06:32.258 universities and disabilities offices specifically 0:06:32.415,0:06:35.655 do a much better job when they go about 0:06:35.807,0:06:37.287 and beyond their ADA 0:06:37.448,0:06:40.047 So what's required by the ADA 0:06:40.201,0:06:42.558 usually I see proper team member 0:06:42.580,0:06:46.580 the staff on campus