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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 a communication partner
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with him uses iPad in order to communicate
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and we find that many colleges 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