Policy, Advocacy, Elearning, and Post-Transition Education

Last week in my state Rep. Chris Edwards and Kathryn Weit the policy analyst for the Oregon Council on Developmental Disabilities put together a very nice "Autism Day at the Capital." Events included information on how state policy is made, and how to effectively advocate for policy both at public hearings and in face-to-face meetings with legislators and staff. A wide range of bills relevant to autistic people were brought to our attention, such as a new anti-bullying bill. Both self-advocates and others were present. The day ended with a special hearing on autism before the House Education Committee.

I know for many of you "autism" and "education" probably means "how can I get services for my child in public school," and indeed that was the focus of many testimonies as well as the only thing the press covered.

But it was not the only focus. There are some other areas of education-intersect-autism that Oregon constituents are concerned with, for example this testimony on Elearning. Online learning for people on the spectrum was covered some in this space in Online Schools Naturally Accommodate.

For my part, I brought in some of my local community's concerns about need to attend to disability services at the state and local colleges, as well as to ensure that the support systems autistic adults need in order to attend college in the first place remain intact--stable housing, good transportation, self-advocacy and self-determination programs, etc. (not that education can do much about that but maybe they will talk to their friends about "the big picture :-). And of course, always, the need to include us in educational policy that affects us.

I vividly remember the day I realized that no one could ever learn everything there is to know--that no matter how long they lived, even if it was for 500 years, there would be always something new to discover. How incredibly cool is that! Education doesn't end when someone reaches age 21. And education doesn't all happen, or have to happen, in a classroom. There are years, and options, and the educational system stretches far past childhood and well outside the walls of the school house.

Hopefully a balance point can be found in education policy where both the educational needs of children in traditional classrooms, and the educational needs of young adults and adults--or people who don't do well in traditional classrooms--can be given equal consideration by policy makers. After all, the state university and community college systems, and accredited online public schools, fall under the wing of the government as well. And as communications technology widens so too does the scope of education's power to become fully accessible to all types of learners.