cc
Hello and welcome to another edition of Tuesdays with Liz: Disability Policy for All.
Today I'm very excited to be interviewing my friend Julia Bascom, who is the Executive
Director of the Autistic Self Advocacy Network and also my friend.
ASANhas developed a toolkit about Medicaid and I am excited to talk to her about it.
So welcome, Julia.
Hi, thanks for having me.
I've wanted to be on Tuesdays with Liz for a really long time so this is exciting.The
first question is: Why did the Autistic Self Advocacy Network want to make a toolkit about
Medicaid for self advocates?
Sure.
So, ASAN, the Autistic Self Advocacy Network, is a self advocacy organization, so we represent
autistic adults and other people with disabilities and Medicaid is obviously really important
to a lot of people with disabilities and a lot of autistic people in particular and there's
obviously a lot of talk right now about Medicaid in policy and in the media and in Congress
and we think it's really important as a self advocacy organization that whenever disability
issues are being discussed that autistic people and people with disabilities are there having
that conversation and participating in that conversation.
Our motto is: Nothing about us without us.
Since Medicaid affects so many autistic people and people with disabilities we think that
self advocates need to be able to talk about Medicaid and participate in those conversations.
But a problem we run into a lot, not just with Medicaid, but Medicaid in particular,
is such a complicated program, that a lot of the materials that are out there that explain
what Medicaid is and how it works aren't really accessible to a lot of people and we think
that's a problem because it impacts our lives so we should be able to talk about it and
participate in that.
So what we wanted to do was to create an accessible toolkit that sort of laid out the basics of
Medicaid: What it is, how it works, why it's important.
And then self advocates could use that tool to learn about Medicaid and then to participate
in those conversations that are happening about Medicaid.
One of the things that's been particularly complicated in recent conversations about
Medicaid is that right now there are a lot of politicians who have motivations to say
things about Medicaid that aren't necessarily true.
And as a result, we want to make sure people have enough information that they can tell
when they're getting correct information versus when someone is saying something that isn't
true.
So we put together a toolkit so that people can really work it out for themselves.
Thank you, and actually that's why Tuesdays with Liz has been here, because we want to
make sure that nothing about us without us.
The next question is: Can you tell the audience about the toolkit and how to use it.
Sure.
So the toolkit is available in a couple of different forms.
We've got one version that's just one document that explains in sort of easy to understand
English what Medicaid is, how it works, how to tell whether or not you're on Medicaid.
It talks about some of the changes that have been suggested for Medicaid and what those
might mean.
Really all of the information you need to under what people are talking about right
now.
We have another version.
It's all the same information except it's broken up into chapters on specific topics,
so instead of having to read one big document you can read a shorter document about a specific
thing.
And then we have a third version that's those same shorter chapters but this time with a
lot more visuals, in case somebody learns better that way.
So you can sort of pick whichever way is best for you to learn and then you can decide if
you want to read the whole thing or if you want to jump from topic to topic depending
on what you're interested in or what you're curious about or what you need more information
about.
The toolkit covers...
I already said what it covers.
No, that's it.
That's the whole thing.Thank you, and that sounds so much more inclusive, that this is
for everyone, regardless if you can read or you can't or whatever.
There's something for everyone.
I really hope so.
Definitely.
We don't have an option that's like a video, which is why I was so excited to do Tuesdays
with Liz, but we have the information a couple different ways.
OK, thank you.
The last question is: What does the Autistic Self Advocacy Network want the community to
get out of this toolkit?
So I mean again I think we're in this situation where right now Congress is talking about
some pretty big changes to the Medicaid program and those changes would have a huge impact
on people with disabilities.
They're talking about cutting the Medicaid program by 25%.
The budget the President has suggested would cut the Medicaid program in half and that
means there's going to be a lot less services for people.
So it's really important right now that self advocates are out there sharing our stories
and talking to lawmakers about how Medicaid works and why it's so important.
Right now a lot of the people who are talking about these changes don't really know about
the changes themselves, don't really know about Medicaid, and so it's really our job
to go out there and really educate them and advocate and make them understand how these
changes could have on people.
So we would want people to obviously read the toolkit, get the information, understand
what's being talked about, and then use that language and use that understanding to go
and educate other people.
Whether that's other self advocates, whether that's your elected officials and new members
of Congress, whether that's people on the state or local level who are working on Medicaid,
this is really a time when everyone needs to be speaking out and everyone needs to be
having a voice in these conversations and we've noticed that self advocates often have
the smallest voice and there are a lot of different reasons for that but a big part
of that is because people don't feel like they know enough about the program or they
feel like everyone around them is using all of these big words and all of these acronyms
and they don't know how to participate so we're hoping this toolkit can give everyone
the information and confidence they need to step up and participate and to make themselves
heard.
Thank you.
And I'm sure that Tuesdays will also help with that too.
Thank and if you have any more questions about this or any other policy issues please got
to the AUCD webpage and look for this week's InBrief and if you have any questions or comments
about this edition of Tuesdays with Liz please leave them in the space below.
Thanks and have a nice day.
Thanks, Julia.
Bye.
Bye.
Đăng ký:
Đăng Nhận xét (Atom)
Không có nhận xét nào:
Đăng nhận xét