PEOPLE WITH AUTISM LEGALLY VULNERABLE

[Schafer Autism Report]

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Monday, August 27, 2018                                               Reader Supported

POLITICS PEOPLE WITH AUTISM LEGALLY VULNERABLE NY Governor Signs Two Autism Bills         tinyurl.com/ydxx47lu       ALBANY - Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo has signed into law two pieces of autism legislation sponsored by a local assemblyman.       On Friday, the governor signed a bill authorizing the state Office for People with Developmental Disabilities to create a standardized identification card, and another mandating that early screening for autism be a recommended part of routine early-childhood pediatric exams.       Both bills were sponsored by Assemblyman Angelo Santabarbara, D-Rotterdam, who has a 16-year-old son with autism.       "Hundreds and hundreds of families go through the exact same challenges that my family goes through," said Santabarbara, who is chairman of the Assembly Subcommittee on Autism Spectrum Disorders.       "It's a big win for my Autism Action Plan, and it's a big win for people with disabilities," he said. "This makes New York a leader in addressing the issues of people with autism.”       The autism ID card law will give families the option of having a state-issued card for presentation to law enforcement, firefighters or emergency medical personnel that would explain that a person with autism might have limited communication skills or difficulty making eye contact or following commands. They may also engage in unusual or repetitive behavior that can draw the attention of law enforcement. + Read more: tinyurl.com/ydxx47lu • • • Police In Russia Charge An Autistic Man With Hate Speech For Posting A Sexist Internet Meme       tinyurl.com/yb98tfob       A year ago, police in Kaliningrad charged a local man with hate speech because of a sexist picture he shared online. The suspect, 27-year-old Artur Smirnov, has been diagnosed with Asperger syndrome, and his mother has spent the past 12 months lobbying the district attorney’s office to close the case against her son.       In 2014, Smirnov uploaded a picture of a man punching a woman in the face, captioned, “Unlike women, house pets never betray you.” The man shared the picture in a Vkontakte community called “Hatred for Women” that had “no more than three members.”       Police have allegedly pressured Smirnov to confess to the charges or risk pretrial detention. His mother says his health has deteriorated over the past year.       In mid-August Vkontakte’s parent company, Mail.ru Group, urged the government to decriminalize the sharing of harmless Internet content (including posts, reposts, “likes,” and comments), and also asked state officials to amnesty Internet users convicted of nonviolent crimes under Criminal Code articles 282 (extremist hate speech) and 148 (offending religious sensitivities).       A similar initiative has the support of Russian Human Rights Commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova, Russia’s Communications Ministry, and even the Russian Orthodox Church. This isn’t the first effort to repeal Article 282, however, and Vkontakte — despite its recent show of support for the decriminalization of online hate speech — makes these prosecutions possible by cooperating with Russian law enforcement. DO SOMETHING ABOUT AUTISM NOW . . . Read, then Forward the Schafer Autism Report. $45 for 1 year - or free! www.sarnet.org Autistic Man Abandoned At Florida Hospital Has No Place To Go      It it typical that once a child reaches adult status a parent is no longer legally responsible for the care for that child. However, some states have exceptions that usually have to do with child support obligations in divorce situations. -ed.        tinyurl.com/ydcpu4cb       A public guardian and a state agency thought they had a solution for a severely autistic young man whose mother abandoned him more than a year ago at a Naples hospital.       Placement in a local group home lasted four days before the 22-year-old — referred to as “John Doe” in court records — was back at NCH Downtown Baker Hospital, said Patrick Weber, the public guardian in Collier County.       “In my history I have never quite had a case like this before,” said Weber, the county’s public guardian for 25 years. “Nothing is the same as this case.”       Doe's care requires intensive services in a 24-hour setting, and no group home in Collier is equipped for that, experts say.       Previously: Naples hospital files complaint to remove patient who overstayed.       The young man can smile and acknowledge people around him but is nonverbal; he can’t speak about his fears and wants, Weber said.       Doe was first taken to NCH in May 2017 for emergency medical care, court records show.       He was hospitalized for treatment and cleared for discharge in mid-August 2017. The catch is that the hospital had no place to send him.       Hospitals are required by state and federal law to follow discharge planning requirements that include making sure discharged patients have access to services that fit their needs. NCH was stuck because Doe’s mother refused to accept responsibility for him.       The hospital racked up a huge sum for uncompensated care and filed a complaint in court to have Doe moved to another setting.       NCH cannot comment on specific patient cases because of privacy laws, but in general, hospitals have a responsibility to use inpatient hospital beds for patients who medically require that level of care, spokeswoman Debbie Curry said.       “Unfortunately, on a somewhat regular basis, many hospitals are put in the unfortunate position of having to address situations involving patients who do not (or no longer) require hospital care, but who are without a safe discharge plan due to a lack of family involvement, funding, or other circumstances beyond the hospital’s control,” Curry said in a statement.       “These situations ultimately result in millions of dollars of uncompensated care annually to the hospitals involved,” Curry said. +Read more: tinyurl.com/ydcpu4cb

In This Issue: • • • NY Governor Signs Two Autism Bills Police In Russia Charge An Autistic Man With Hate Speech For Posting A Sexist Internet Meme Autistic Man Abandoned At Florida Hospital Has No Place To Go     DO SOMETHING ABOUT AUTISM NOW . . . Read, then Forward the Schafer Autism Report. $45 for 1 year - or free! www.sarnet.org

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