How first responders command the emergency: When someone with special needs goes missing

The call comes into the police department for a missing person. Sometimes it’s regarding an adult who didn’t show up for work. It might be a teenager who has run away from home. It might be a child who got separated from their parents while on an outing. Police train for these kinds of missing person cases. But what happens when the missing person has special needs and may be unable to communicate with authorities? […]

Often Overlooked In Pandemic Response Are People With Intellectual Disabilities

Peter Prater’s family wasn’t thinking about COVID-19 when the call came that he had been taken to the hospital with a fever. It was April, and the Tallahassee Developmental Center, where Prater lives, hadn’t yet had any COVID-19 diagnoses. Prater, 55, who has Down syndrome and diabetes, became the Florida center’s first known case, his family said. Within two weeks, more than half of the roughly 60 residents and a third of the staff had […]

A Dating Study – Love on the Spectrum

It is that time of year where love is on everyone’s mind. There are pink hearts, red roses, and chocolate practically everywhere. While there have been many advances in services designed to improve the lives of people with autism, one thing has been crucially missing: romance and dating. “Netflix recently released Love on the Spectrum,” a show which aims to spread awareness about some of the difficulties people with autism experience when pursuing a romantic […]

The Complex Health and Health Care of Individuals with Autism: National Autism Indicators Report:

People on the autism spectrum face barriers to comprehensive care that may cause their health and quality of life to be worse than that of their peers. While some people may be predisposed to worse health, preventive services and comprehensive health care can go a long way in improving the trajectory of health throughout their lives. In the recently published sixth report in the National Autism Indicators Report series, researchers from Drexel University’s A.J. Drexel […]

Advocates Encourage the Autism and I/DD Community to be Prioritized for COVID-19 Vaccination

The Autism Society of America applauds the global scientific and medical community for developing 95% effective COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna, where Pfizer/BioNTech has already received approval for emergency use authorization (EUA) by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The Autism Society enlisted the support of other national disability organizations to unite and urge the autism community to be vaccinated as distribution becomes possible. Individuals with autism and other developmental disabilities are at a […]