(US Residents) - Contacting elected officals on ASD issues

Post Reply New Topic

We have many people on WP who are US residents and who have concerns about government policies relating to ASDs.

I was wondering how many WP posters have made contact with their elected officials, and if so, how many of the officials and in what way.

I guess I'll start this off, I have met with my state legislators on different issues, and I know how to contact them if an issue arises (new bill, confirmation hearing, etc.). I have not met my federal elected officals, but I have sent E-mail to one senator on a matter, and I have sent a letter to my local US represenative.

I met with an elected offical of the previous state executive once.

I think this issue is more than just an "activism" issue, and goes to the level of connection with our elected officials.

I'm not in the US (I'm in the UK) but I have contacted my elected representative - my MP (Member of Parliament) many times

Perhaps people on WP aren't that politically engaged?

I've emailed... but I haven't turned in the privacy notice thing... seems like a lot of work and I'm just not all that confident that they can/would do anything :-/ So far my experience with government and ASD is not very positive.

We all know that it'll take more than being contacted by one person to do something about it.

"We the people" is written on the Constitution for a reason.

Now I wants some ice cream...

Please forgive my lack of knowledge, but do you mean by "privacy notice"?



WP posters don't appear to be that terribly interested in the subject. That's disappointing, since it's easy to forget voices that arn't even speaking.



Well, if legislators never hear from us, I doubt they will be too concerned about us. Many people on this board say "<insert group> does'nt speak for me", but then we don't speak for ourselves. There is only so much ASAN can do without some grassroots support.

When I contacted them asking about what programs, if any were available for adults with Autism, they sent a letter saying "we'd be glad to help, just sign this release" which I have no problem with the terms of... it just seems like a lot of work to possibly get nowhere.

What is the 'release' you have to sign?

We don't have that in the UK

We can email our MP (Member of Parliament) ie the political representative for our local area.

You can email them via a website 'They Work For You' as long as you live in their constituency (the local area they cover)
and you put your address

Then you usually get a reply by letter within a few weeks

The website asks people to feedback whether they got a reply from the MP and adds this to the site statistics on how each MP
acts in terms of how good they are at responding, what policies they vote on etc.

I've sent emails/letters to two of my MPs over a number of years and they've been good at responding but the answer doesn't
always answer your question.

Also, you can only contact your own local MP in this manner which I think is wrong.

I want to be able to contact the MPS responsible for specific areas of government directly, without having to go via my own MP

I think MPs should be made far more accountable to the electorate.

I also think people who are already rich and have their own businesses should not be allowed to be in government as there is a direct conflict of interests and they are completely out of touch with the issues of the average person on the street

Without speaking for Shaybugz, I believe it was because the legislator's office wanted a waiver before releasing self-disclosed medical data to a 3rd party (ie, that Shaybugz was asking for Autism-related services).



Politicians are the same everywhere, it seems. I'd rather they know we exist and that we have concerns, rather than listening to <insert name> speaking for us. We don't have a big lobbying budget, but we can contact our local legislators.

People complain about politicans not listening to us, but we should go talk to them as well.

Yea, it was a release waver. Which I would appreciate... had I not already filled out a buttload of paper for the government to be told that there's more-or-less nothing they can do. I appealed that... but I'm still waiting.