1
00:00:00,490 --> 00:00:03,664
Hi, Im Evelyn Peña and I'm an associate

2
00:00:03,742 --> 00:00:05,842
professor at Cal Lutheran University.

3
00:00:05,930 --> 00:00:08,710
I am also the director of the Autism

4
00:00:08,860 --> 00:00:11,180
Communications Center, which is a

5
00:00:11,248 --> 00:00:15,248
university center that focuses on

6
00:00:16,414 --> 00:00:18,904
inclusion, communication, access, and

7
00:00:19,105 --> 00:00:21,181
higher education for people with autism or

8
00:00:21,181 --> 00:00:22,181
autistic individuals

9
00:00:22,181 --> 00:00:25,511
This is my son, Diego Peña, he is doing a

10
00:00:25,766 --> 00:00:29,516
camio today and Diego would like to

11
00:00:29,723 --> 00:00:31,943
introduce himself using the letter board

12
00:00:32,097 --> 00:00:33,727
since he is non speaking.

13
00:00:34,991 --> 00:00:37,161
So he has his communication partner with

14
00:00:37,368 --> 00:00:38,958
him and they are going to spell out

15
00:00:39,115 --> 00:00:41,225
something.

16
00:00:42,558 --> 00:00:58,348
(Communication Partner) H.E.L.L.O. A.L.L.

17
00:00:58,463 --> 00:01:02,463
Hello all. Ok, back straight.

18
00:01:02,573 --> 00:01:43,013
M.Y. N.A M.E. I.S. D.I E.G.O.

19
00:01:43,135 --> 00:01:45,005
Hello all, my name is Diego.

20
00:01:45,153 --> 00:01:47,333
Evelyn: Awesome, so just a little bit

21
00:01:47,522 --> 00:01:49,992
about Deigo, he is going into 7th grade.

22
00:01:50,079 --> 00:01:52,699
He is fully included in general education

23
00:01:52,866 --> 00:01:57,016
and he is a presenter at conferences and a

24
00:01:57,187 --> 00:02:00,917
best selling book author of the book,

25
00:02:01,048 --> 00:02:04,718
Anatomy of Autism, so that is us and

26
00:02:04,905 --> 00:02:07,305
we're excited to be here.

27
00:02:08,463 --> 00:02:14,273
So, Diego is really excited to talk about

28
00:02:14,461 --> 00:02:16,971
inclusion, not only in his book but also

29
00:02:16,971 --> 00:02:18,045
share his thoughts.

30
00:02:18,188 --> 00:02:21,218
I think that is so important in relation

31
00:02:21,375 --> 00:02:23,265
to the Americans with Disability Act

32
00:02:23,343 --> 00:02:25,453
because it provided an avenue for

33
00:02:25,520 --> 00:02:28,090
inclusion in the community, higher

34
00:02:28,187 --> 00:02:29,867
education, and employment.

35
00:02:29,941 --> 00:02:33,811
As a young activist, Diego has experienced

36
00:02:33,996 --> 00:02:36,416
inclusion in school so he wanted to share

37
00:02:36,596 --> 00:02:38,486
some words that he typed out.

38
00:02:38,630 --> 00:02:40,850
He is going to share them through his iPad

39
00:02:40,980 --> 00:02:42,560
, which he calls his talker.

40
00:02:46,648 --> 00:02:48,858
(iPad): I think the culture of inclusion

41
00:02:49,184 --> 00:02:51,314
is important to have in order to implement

42
00:02:51,314 --> 00:02:53,414
strategies be successful for autistic

43
00:02:53,617 --> 00:02:56,247
students in a general education classroom.

44
00:02:58,024 --> 00:03:00,394
Without inclusion, I wouldn't be able to

45
00:03:00,625 --> 00:03:02,575
be in general education setting.

46
00:03:04,132 --> 00:03:06,762
Having autism has limited me both verbally

47
00:03:06,927 --> 00:03:08,167
and physically.

48
00:03:08,657 --> 00:03:11,107
I thankfully have access to communication

49
00:03:11,320 --> 00:03:13,620
by typing and this form of communicaion

50
00:03:13,943 --> 00:03:15,943
has given me opportunity to be

51
00:03:16,292 --> 00:03:18,762
included in general education classes and

52
00:03:18,762 --> 00:03:20,482
activities in the community.

53
00:03:23,243 --> 00:03:27,243
Evelyn: Thanks, Diego. So the first time I

54
00:03:27,391 --> 00:03:30,221
really learned about the Amrican Disabilities Act

55
00:03:30,482 --> 00:03:34,202
was when I was researching what it would

56
00:03:34,383 --> 00:03:37,033
take to support my son, Diego,

57
00:03:37,292 --> 00:03:42,272
He's autistic, you just met him, to go to

58
00:03:42,471 --> 00:03:43,801
college essentially.

59
00:03:44,346 --> 00:03:46,906
When I learned he had autism I didn't know

60
00:03:47,158 --> 00:03:49,958
anything about whether or not people had

61
00:03:51,140 --> 00:03:53,580
access to college if they had a diagnosis

62
00:03:54,106 --> 00:03:57,396
of autism or what the precedent was for that

63
00:03:57,465 --> 00:03:59,505
So, I really started looking into it and I

64
00:03:59,623 --> 00:04:02,433
did learn that, yes, autistic students do

65
00:04:02,723 --> 00:04:04,823
go to college. Which is wonderful.

66
00:04:05,301 --> 00:04:07,411
At that time this was, you know, when

67
00:04:07,612 --> 00:04:09,442
Diego was diagnosed.

68
00:04:09,818 --> 00:04:12,618
It was 8 years ago or 10 years ago and

69
00:04:12,996 --> 00:04:14,936
there wasn't a lot of research out there

70
00:04:15,278 --> 00:04:17,778
on autistic students going to college.

71
00:04:18,256 --> 00:04:20,666
So, that was one area where I'm excited

72
00:04:21,102 --> 00:04:22,792
that I've been able to do research and

73
00:04:22,967 --> 00:04:25,401
publish some work on how we can support

74
00:04:25,463 --> 00:04:27,959
autistic studetns to go to college and

75
00:04:28,052 --> 00:04:30,261
become successful. But, really the ADA

76
00:04:30,349 --> 00:04:30,909
(Americans with Disabilities Act)

77
00:04:31,009 --> 00:04:33,889
is so important for autistic students and

78
00:04:34,127 --> 00:04:36,617
students with disabilites in general, just

79
00:04:36,683 --> 00:04:39,063
to make sure that they have access to

80
00:04:39,143 --> 00:04:42,773
academic curriculums, that they are

81
00:04:42,985 --> 00:04:44,935
getting accommidations that they need to

82
00:04:45,153 --> 00:04:47,593
be successful in academic settings.

83
00:04:48,349 --> 00:04:50,599
So, I really feel that the ADA has been a

84
00:04:50,830 --> 00:04:54,830
key factor in making sure that students

85
00:04:55,001 --> 00:04:57,181
with disabilities are included in college

86
00:04:57,276 --> 00:04:59,040
and university settings.

87
00:05:00,497 --> 00:05:03,499
Certainly the ADA has provided a lot of

88
00:05:03,681 --> 00:05:05,531
opportunities for students with

89
00:05:05,800 --> 00:05:08,240
disabilities. So, I'm grateful for that.

90
00:05:08,591 --> 00:05:10,861
I think there are some areas that we need

91
00:05:11,107 --> 00:05:14,137
to think about, that the ADA does have

92
00:05:14,490 --> 00:05:15,530
some limitations.

93
00:05:15,772 --> 00:05:18,752
One of them is that, many disablility

94
00:05:18,801 --> 00:05:22,151
service offices on campuses at higher

95
00:05:22,222 --> 00:05:25,922
education institutions require diagnosis

96
00:05:26,056 --> 00:05:30,726
or documentation of neuropsychological

97
00:05:30,876 --> 00:05:35,556
evaluation and this can cost upwards of

98
00:05:35,719 --> 00:05:38,879
several thousand dollars for individuals

99
00:05:39,093 --> 00:05:40,193
to get this diagnosis.

100
00:05:40,398 --> 00:05:41,758
So I think there has been a lot of

101
00:05:41,890 --> 00:05:44,100
progress lately where those offices are

102
00:05:44,179 --> 00:05:47,009
saying, "Ok well, we will consider the IEP

103
00:05:47,009 --> 00:05:49,569
document and your individual education

104
00:05:49,692 --> 00:05:53,692
plan from high school as a form to

105
00:05:53,810 --> 00:05:56,360
validate that you do need services".

106
00:05:56,412 --> 00:05:58,442
But one thing we do need to work on a

107
00:05:58,506 --> 00:06:00,746
little more is making sure that higher

108
00:06:00,856 --> 00:06:03,022
education institutions, specifically the

109
00:06:03,070 --> 00:06:04,753
disabiblity offices, are a bit more

110
00:06:04,783 --> 00:06:08,396
flexible in making sure that students can

111
00:06:08,532 --> 00:06:10,726
receive accomodations without dropping

112
00:06:10,784 --> 00:06:13,754
3 or 4 thousand dollars, in order to do that

113
00:06:13,927 --> 00:06:16,697
The other thing that I think about a lot

114
00:06:16,850 --> 00:06:20,850
is, while the ADA does provide important

115
00:06:20,991 --> 00:06:24,051
accomodations that are reasonable and

116
00:06:24,203 --> 00:06:25,793
appropriate, to students.

117
00:06:26,109 --> 00:06:28,069
I think that what I have learned is

118
00:06:28,239 --> 00:06:32,258
universities and disabilities offices specifically

119
00:06:32,415 --> 00:06:35,655
do a much better job when they go about

120
00:06:35,807 --> 00:06:37,287
and beyond their ADA

121
00:06:37,448 --> 00:06:40,047
So what's required by the ADA

122
00:06:40,201 --> 00:06:42,558
usually I see proper team member

123
00:06:42,580 --> 00:06:45,140
the staff on campus

124
00:06:45,307 --> 00:06:46,547
going above and beyond

125
00:06:46,633 --> 00:06:48,843
to make sure that students feel included

126
00:06:48,953 --> 00:06:51,855
that they feel like they belong in campus

127
00:06:51,991 --> 00:06:54,671
and it is really important

128
00:06:54,856 --> 00:06:57,216
i think i learned that we have this brief lossgreat laws

129
00:06:57,483 --> 00:06:59,942
but it is also important to us to have

130
00:07:00,104 --> 00:07:03,167
compassion, flexibility, to accomodate

131
00:07:03,248 --> 00:07:06,945
individuals like my son Diego, who

132
00:07:07,020 --> 00:07:10,100
uses, you know, must have a communication partner

133
00:07:10,177 --> 00:07:12,747
with him uses iPad in order to communicate

134
00:07:13,509 --> 00:07:16,279
and we find that many colleges are providing

135
00:07:16,535 --> 00:07:18,775
accomodation and some are not

136
00:07:18,855 --> 00:07:20,615
because it is so new to them

137
00:07:20,832 --> 00:07:23,352
So i think that... al those things

138
00:07:23,532 --> 00:07:25,492
are important and especially

139
00:07:25,717 --> 00:07:27,957
for students of color and/or margin

140
00:07:28,015 --> 00:07:29,565
or historically marginalized students

141
00:07:29,652 --> 00:07:31,862
who has intersectional identity

142
00:07:32,058 --> 00:07:34,278
with disability, we need to make sure

143
00:07:34,429 --> 00:07:36,602
that we are providing a welcoming

144
00:07:36,790 --> 00:07:39,880
and accesible environment in higher education

145
00:07:40,524 --> 00:07:42,734
So i think that one of the important things

146
00:07:43,013 --> 00:07:44,920
I've learned in my work so

147
00:07:45,013 --> 00:07:47,558
this scholarship and the advocacy work

148
00:07:47,856 --> 00:07:49,446
that I do everyday

149
00:07:49,630 --> 00:07:51,455
in essence by half with faculty

150
00:07:51,578 --> 00:07:53,308
and staff in higher education

151
00:07:53,580 --> 00:07:54,920
setting in particular

152
00:07:55,025 --> 00:07:57,625
is that we know that disability

153
00:07:57,719 --> 00:08:00,181
support offices are mandated

154
00:08:00,370 --> 00:08:02,640
to provide accomodation according to

155
00:08:03,004 --> 00:08:05,311
the ADA but what I see a lot

156
00:08:05,590 --> 00:08:07,630
is that faculty and staff

157
00:08:07,902 --> 00:08:10,332
are not required to receive

158
00:08:10,402 --> 00:08:12,902
training or professional development

159
00:08:12,983 --> 00:08:16,103
in order to serve children with disability

160
00:08:16,197 --> 00:08:18,027
And we think about this

161
00:08:18,027 --> 00:08:20,187
one in ten students in college

162
00:08:20,286 --> 00:08:23,036
or campus having disability

163
00:08:23,281 --> 00:08:25,002
of some sort and there's

164
00:08:25,069 --> 00:08:26,329
only the ones who are documented

165
00:08:26,430 --> 00:08:28,460
So imagine who don't report

166
00:08:28,614 --> 00:08:29,994
and having disability

167
00:08:29,994 --> 00:08:32,184
But we do need our faculty

168
00:08:32,194 --> 00:08:35,624
instructor, staff, to have more

169
00:08:35,706 --> 00:08:38,306
knowledge, experience, tools

170
00:08:38,561 --> 00:08:40,799
and their toolkit to serve students

171
00:08:40,909 --> 00:08:42,079
with disability, so that we

172
00:08:42,177 --> 00:08:43,828
can fully include them

173
00:08:44,000 --> 00:08:45,750
make sure they're succesful and

174
00:08:45,948 --> 00:08:46,898
empower them to graduate

175
00:08:47,080 --> 00:08:48,978
with college degree, so that they can

176
00:08:49,107 --> 00:08:51,430
move on to employment opportunity

177
00:08:51,632 --> 00:08:53,312
in the future