ASAN April Update

April 30, 2026

ASAN April Newsletter

Dear friend,

This Autism Acceptance Month has been a challenging one, but our community has continued to fight back against attacks on our rights.

Over the last year, many powerful people have been telling lies about autism. People in the government have told lies about autism and vaccines. They have told lies about autism and medicines. They have called autism a “tragedy” that hurts families and children. They have said the autistic community should be split into groups and treated differently from each other. They have said that it is okay to cut government programs that help autistic people get the services we need. None of these things are true. This Autism Acceptance Month, we want to remind everyone of the truth. ASAN is fighting for all autistic people. When we say this, we really mean it. Right now, our society doesn’t give most autistic people what we need to live good lives. But we know that can change. When we can make society respect our rights and meet our needs, our lives get better. Our families’ lives get better. Join us as we advocate for change, and make sure more people know the truth about autism.

Myths about autism are loud. Autistic voices should be louder. As we wrap up Autism Acceptance Month, there’s still one day left for autistic people to submit a short video for the Truth About Autism video campaign. You can learn more and submit your video here.

This month, the Autistic Self Advocacy Network (ASAN) and the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD) released “HHS’ Assault on AutisticPeople and Public Health.” In the last year, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) made many dangerous changes to what it does and how it works. The changes HHS made have hurt public health in the US, especially for autistic people. HHS has done so many things that it is hard to keep up with everything. HHS has also spread misinformation that makes it hard to know how to keep each other safe. “HHS’ Assault on Autistic People and Public Health” is available in a Plain Language version and a Formal Language version. There are also detailed infographics. You can use them to find more information about specific issues. You can find all of these resources here.

HHS is supposed to support public health to keep all Americans healthy. HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr has done the opposite. Secretary Kennedy has spent the past week speaking to Congress. Many of the things he said to Congress were lies. He said that disabled people are getting community services we don’t need. He spread false ideas about autism and about vaccines. And he showed that he knows nothing about how disability services get paid for. Secretary Kennedy says he wants to help people with disabilities. But the things he said to Congress show he does not care about us. RFK Jr. should not be the Secretary of HHS. He should quit his job, or Congress should make him leave his job.

Secretary Kennedy is also the person in charge of choosing who is on the IACC. IACC stands for “Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee”. We call them the “IACC” for short. The IACC helps decide what autism research the government will pay for. This month, the IACC held their first meeting during Trump’s second term. The IACC did not meet in 2025 even though the law says they were supposed to. The IACC did not make it accessible for autistic people to take part in the IACC meeting like we should. At the meeting, the IACC voted on changes they thought the government should make about autism. One thing they voted on is that researchers and policy-makers should focus on “profound autism”. The IACC said they think “profound autism” should be a new official kind of autism. But saying some autistic people have “profound autism” hurts the autistic community. It splits up the autistic community into people who are “profound” and “not profound”. Usually when people talk about “profoundly autistic” people, they mean autistic people who need a lot of support every day, autistic people with intellectual disabilities, or nonspeaking autistic people. This is the same way autistic people get split into “low functioning” and “high functioning”. Going forward, we are holding the IACC accountable for their actions and working to ensure that autistic voices are heard within research and policy making decisions.

It is important that autistic people make decisions about us and our community. This month, we held two webinars. The first one was an Autism Acceptance Month Panel which included Jules Edwards (Autistic Women and Nonbinary Network), Max Barrows (Green Mountain Self-Advocates, Natasha Nelson (Supernova Parenting), and Oluwatobi Odugunwa (Autistic People of Color Fund). The second was about the 2026 cycle of the Teighlor McGee Mini Grants program. You can learn more about the Teighlor McGee Mini Grants program here.

This month we were excited to share a blog post from Steph Baldassarre about access to safe foods as a disability issue and a bodily autonomy issue. Steph is a fat, queer, disabled writer, singer, and activist. You can read “Safe Foods are Access, not Failure” here. We’re also excited to share a blog post from Diane J. Wright, Founder of Autastic. You can read “Reasons You Didn’t Realize You’re Autistic” here.

As we move through this month, we recognize and honor the holidays, celebrations, and important events that hold meaning for our community and beyond.

Passover
Good Friday
Easter
Vaisakhi
Ridván Festival

April has been full of fights — many new and many we’ve seen before — but our community has continued to push back. Many of us are struggling, and we know supporting one another is one of the most powerful things we can do.

With warm wishes,

The Team at ASAN

ASAN released a statement in support of the Mail and Absentee Voter Protection Act.
We signed on to the Collaboration to Promote Self-Determination (CPSD) letter to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) in defense of the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS).
As a part of the Consortium for Constituents with Disabilities (CCD), we signed onto a letter urging the Senate to exclude any funding cuts or harmful changes to Medicaid from any budget reconciliation or other legislation.
ASAN endorsed the Keep Public Funds in Public Schools Act, which would protect public education for all American kids by repealing the school voucher provisions introduced in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
As a part of the CCD Education Task Force, we urged for robust funding for the federal programs that support infants, toddlers, children, and youth with disabilities, their families, and the educators and service providers who serve them while avoiding cuts to other education programs.
We signed on to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP)’s joint statement expressing concern about the plans for the new Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) charter.
ASAN signed onto three comments from Protecting Immigrant Families (PIF), Children Thrive Action Network (CTAN), and the CCD opposing the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) proposed rule on mixed status. The proposed rule denies housing assistance to eligible individuals – including U.S. citizens and lawfully present immigrants – if someone else in their family does not have an eligible immigration status.
As a part of the CCD Housing Task Force, we signed onto a letter to HUD urging the immediate release of the latest HUD Section 811 Project Rental Assistance (PRA) Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO).
We signed onto a letter from the IDEA Full Funding Coalition urging Congress to provide the maximum increase possible in funding for IDEA as part of a fair and proportional allocation for the final Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 LHHS-Education appropriations bill.
ASAN signed onto a letter from AAPD opposing the Department of Justice (DOJ)’s Interim Final Rule extending the compliance deadline for the Title II digital accessibility rule.
We signed onto a letter from the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights Voting Rights Task Force about the FY27 appropriations bill.
As a part of the CCD, we signed onto a letter expressing our grave concern with proposals under consideration for inclusion in the Farm Bill that would reduce access to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) rather than restore funding for vital nutrition benefits. We urged Congress to reject any cuts to SNAP and instead restore funding, reverse the harmful reductions enacted under H.R.1, and strengthen benefit adequacy and access for people with disabilities.
ASAN signed onto a letter from the National Immigration Law Center (NILC) opposing the budget resolution.
We signed onto a letter from the National Health Law Program (NHeLP) and the CCD Long Term Services and Supports Task Force opposing the Ensuring Medicaid Continuity for Children in Foster Care Act of 2026 (H.R. 8095). This bill would create an exemption in the Institutions for Mental Diseases (IMD) exclusion for residential treatment programs taking children in the foster system, essentially creating a backdoor to weaken a 2018 bill that promoted family placements instead of widespread institutionalization of foster kids.
ASAN staff co-wrote Safeguarding Health For People With Intellectual And Developmental Disabilities: Absent Federal Leadership, Others Must Step Up about the gaps in intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD) health leadership.