Autism Speaks Official Blog

This is a guest post by Janet Pope, Autism Speaks volunteer and Anne Gregory, Autism Speaks Kentucky Chapter Advocacy Chair.

This past April, for the first time in my life I learned what it truly means to live in a democracy. Since the start of 2010, our group of Autism Speaks volunteers had been in our state capitol for months working diligently with members of various House and Senate committees on a matter near and dear to our hearts – autism insurance reform, because we believed Kentucky’s children with autism deserved better.

After months spent in the capitol’s hallowed halls talking to legislators, testifying at hearings, and countering the insurance industry’s iron grip on insurance policy in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, we emerged on March 16 with a unanimous vote on the House floor in favor of our bill, House Bill 159. That victory was sweetened when, 16 days later, the Senate also voted unanimously to pass HB 159!

Until this experience, I held an image of all special interest lobbyists and politicians in an unfavorable light, as many of us do. I am a veteran reader of John Grisham novels about big tobacco, the pharmaceutical industry, and, of course, the insurance company lobbyists who, in these novels, try to manipulate politicians. These were the horrible images that immediately came to my mind. However, after many months of working closely with a special interest lobbyist, I became very aware that they are not all bad men, out to dupe the public or our politicians into passing unfavorable laws. In our case, this image could not have been more wrong. Our lobbyist, Bart Baldwin, spent countless hours with us, guiding us through the delicate, chess-like maneuvers of professional politics. He laughed off our rookie mistakes and, in the same way we teach our children, he modeled appropriate behavior and language for us to use in our conversations about autism insurance reform with members of the state legislature. Bart is a true defender of the rights of our children with autism, as are so many other lobbyists just like him, who work for the passage of good public policy and the betterment of all society.

We were also fortunate to have had two excellent champions for our cause in the House – Representative Jeff Greer and Representative Scott Brinkman. While neither of these men has had to experience the financial drain that a full-time applied behavior analysis (ABA) therapy program puts on a family’s finances, Representative Brinkman is the father of a grown son with autism and did engage in other costly treatments.  Both Representatives had compassion for our issue and moved forward with fervor on behalf of our “insurance is the answer” solution.

Thank you, Bart Baldwin, Representative Greer and Representative Brinkman!  And take that, John Grisham!

To learn more about Autism Votes, take action today on autism insurance reform legislation in your state, or find out about Autism Speaks’ federal legislative advocacy agenda please visit www.autismvotes.org.

Left to right – Janet Pope, Autism Speaks volunteer; Kentucky Governor Beshear; Anne Gregory, Autism Speaks Kentucky CAC