Autism Beatnik - 2012 Blogging Advent Calendar Day 10

Let me set the mood if I may... I would like to take you to the Beat Generation of the 50's and 60's. We are in a dimly lit cafe and I am stepping up to the mic weighing 80 lbs less and with my goatee still completely black.

I strain to look at my note-cards through my dark glasses, bongos between my legs and a steaming hot cup of coffee (in this fantasy I like coffee) next to me. We are in San Francisco and the vibe is right.

I play a riff on my bongos as you, the audience, start snapping your fingers... Jack Kerouac eat your heart out...

It’s time for me to act

I wasn't given a choice.

So now I gotta speak up

And have you listen to my voice.

You see I have to talk

Because my little girl can’t

Put together sentences

She gets therapy for that.

Therapy I take her to

Two times a week.

But the sad thing about it is

We’re not meeting her needs.

What she needs is a type of therapy

It’s called ABA

Applied Behavioral Analysis

To put it another way.

But the problem with that is

It isn't covered by insurance

To overcome this discrimination

Is going to take endurance

How else would you describe

Not helping a kid the age of three?

Whose only crime was being born

 Different than you and me.

If my co-worker smokes

Three packs a day

Gets himself lung cancer

Who do you think pays?

And what if my boss

Does something unwise?

Packs on 100 pounds

From eating things super-sized?

Who is it you think

Will pay for his treatment?

Glucometer, insulin,

Needles and equipment?

But what gets me about those things

Is their lifestyle was a choice.

Yet I see lots of kids with autism

Most without a voice.

And it isn't like it was

Some fault of their own.

But their parents get told by insurance,

“You’re on your own.”

I got a friend who married

A chick with a cat.

He was allergic, got shots,

Who paid for that?

Insurance that he got

Through his work paid bill.

So how do you think

That makes a dad like me feel?

When a runny nose and eyes

That get all puffy

Get covered because a dude

Is allergic to fluffy?!?

I get so angry and

Feel like withdrawing

Yet here I am

Scratching and clawing

To get my girl Bianca

To reach her full potential.

Fighting for her 

Because I know it is essential

So in twenty thirteen

I ask you do the same

Write your representative

And call them out by name.

Ask them to change

The system as it stands

So that we can put all the tools possible

In these amazing kid’s hands

2013 is going to be a big year for autism insurance reform. We will build upon the momentum gained in 2012 that saw: 

The hearing on the federal response to autism 

The US of Personnel Management suggestion 

The letter from Senators Gillibrand, Boxer, Franken and Brown urging the federal government to cover autism therapy

Three more states pass state mandates requiring coverage of autism therapies and a couple of more states amend and improve their mandates 

We will continue to destroy the culture of discrimination that currently inhibits many on the spectrum from getting the help and support that they need.

Please do take some time and write your representatives and ask tell them that autism health insurance reform is important to you. It takes minutes and can make a difference not just in the life of my daughter, but countless other sons, daughters, fathers and mothers. We need all the help we can get.

If you like what you have seen and read, please take a few seconds and vote for Lou's Land as one of Babble's Top Autism Spectrum Blogs. (Though I think this site is all kinds of messed up)

If you have not already, please take time to watch my videos, "Fixing" Autism and Autism Awareness with Nichole337 and share them with your friends.

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