Project AutTrain: Health Care Access for Adults with Autism

Project AutTrain: Health Care Access for Adults with Autism

Vote On Idea

In the next decade, over half a million children with autism will move into adulthood with many being non-verbal and facing increased health risks and with few medical professionals available to understand their unique needs. Pediatricians have been trained on the signs of autism in order to encourage early diagnosis and intervention, however, physicians and other medical professionals who work with adults have received virtually no education. This project will build a group of professional trainers from the UCLA Medical Center Faculty and other UCLA organizations, regional center experts, therapists, parents, and autistic adults. This group will provide training to medical professionals and students on issues of physical and mental health, sexuality, health care delivery, and communication related to adults with autism. The project will be led by the Autism Society of Los Angeles, a leader for over four decades in the areas of professional training, skills building, and advocacy recognized both locally and nationally.

Dr. Linda Demer and Judy Mark of the Autism Society of Los Angeles have created a project led by the Autism Society of Los Angeles that we hope will get funded by a community grant from the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine. We are working to educate physicians in L.A. County on effective methods to care for adults with autism who often face significant challenges in communication and sensory issues when trying to access health care.  We will also work to increase the number of doctors who actively care for adult patients with autism.  We hope that this project will become a model for other communities.

The only way to get this grant is through a voting process with the top four vote-getters winning.  We are reaching out to you as a self-advocate, family member, or professional in the field to help ASLA win this critical grant.  

The process to vote seems slightly complicated but it actually only takes a minute to go through all of these steps.  I’ve written out exactly what you need to do.  And you only have to do it one time!  Here are your specific directions:

1.  Click on the "Vote On Idea” link below.

2.  You will see our project listed with a grey arrow next to it.  Click on the arrow.  

3.  You will be taken to a log in page.  Assuming you’ve never been registered before, scroll down to the small words in blue: “Register Now."

4.  You will then go to a page to create your account.  You need to put in your email address, click that you are not a robot (it may ask you to identify some photos) and then register.

5.  A few minutes later, you will receive an email to verify your email address.  Click on “yes this is my email”  (Some people have not been receiving this email automatically.  If this happens, you can go back to step 4 and ask them to resend the email.  It will definitely work this time.)

6.  It will now take you to a page to set your profile.  Choose a user name (it could just be your email address) and a password.  Then click save.  (Do not stress about remembering your password because you will never need it again.)

7.  You are now at the main page to vote.  Scroll down to our project - Project AutTrain - and click on the grey arrow next to the name. It will turn brown and the number will go up.  Yay!!!

And then you are done.  We truly wish it were simpler but we so appreciate your help and we know that this grant will make a huge difference in the lives of adults with autism.  There are so few grants available in our area to do this important work that we must work hard to get this one.

Each email address can only vote once.   Voting will take place throughout the month of April. Please pass this on to others and encourage your friends, colleagues and families to vote. 

Thank you so much for your time to help ensure good health outcomes for adults with autism.