Archive for April 23rd, 2013
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Dear Friends,
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We are thrilled to announce the launch of ” Listen Up (Katie)“, the second of two public service announcements that we’ve created for Autism Acceptance Month. This is a brand new public service announcement featuring Katie Miller, one of ASAN’s board members, telling the world that the Autistic community can speak for itself.
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“Listen Up (Katie)” is on YouTube right now. We’re asking for your help to create enough buzz and pressure across social media to get both of our PSAs on air for Autism Acceptance Month. Watch it, share it, and help us make it go viral. If you want to see our PSAs on television, you can email acceptance@autisticadvocacy.org or visit the Autism Acceptance Month website for detailed information and instructions. This is your chance to help us spread the message of autism acceptance nationally, and we need every one of you to contribute.
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Help us change the national conversation on autism from one that largely occurs without autistic people to a conversation that frames our voices as central. Acceptance is an action, as we’ve been saying all month, and now it’s time for us to take action and reclaim our seat at the table.
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We’re very excited about our PSAs, about autism acceptance, and about the prospect of seeing our messages aired on television and virally online. So listen up! Together, we can change the national conversation on autism!
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Regards,
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Julia Bascom
Program Associate
Autistic Self Advocacy Network
This Friday morning, the House Energy and Commerce Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee will be holding a hearing entitled, “Does HIPAA Help or Hinder Patient Care and Public Safety?” The hearing is part of a series of public efforts on the part of Subcommittee Chair Rep. Tim Murphy to claim that people with psychiatric disabilities are dangerous public safety threats and that our mental health system is biased towards patient rights.Â
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HIPAA (the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) guarantees your right of privacy in health care settings. It’s the law that makes sure that your doctor can’t decide to share your private, confidential medical information with others without your permission. HIPAA already includes exceptions for emergency situations and law enforcement necessity. Despite that, Rep. Murphy and his allies want to weaken HIPAA further and threaten your privacy rights.
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Stand up for privacy by signing our petition calling on Rep. Murphy to reconsider his attack on HIPAA. Take action today – before it’s too late!
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Should Congress Be Able To Disclose Your Medical Records?
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Dear Friend:
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Should your doctor have the right to share your private mental health records without your permission? This Friday, the House Energy & Commerce Oversight Subcommittee will be taking up this very issue as part of Chairman Rep. Tim Murphy’s attack on the HIPAA privacy rights of people with psychiatric disabilities. We’ll be showing up to try and send a message by packing the room with supporters of disability rights – but we need your help.
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Join us at 8:30 AM outside Room 2123 in the Rayburn House Office Building to defend the privacy rights of people with disabilities. The hearing, entitled “Does HIPAA Help or Hinder Patient Care and Public Safety?”, will begun at 9 AM. ASAN and our supporters will begin lining up outside the hearing room at 8:30 to make sure we get seats.
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All supporters of our cause who join us will get a free, orange “Nothing About Us, Without Us!” t-shirt that we encourage you to put on and wear during the hearing. We want Rep. Murphy and anyone else on the Committee who decides to attack our privacy rights to see a sea of orange-clad voters with disabilities in the audience!
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RSVP with our event on facebook or, if you aren’t on facebook, e-mail us at lbrown@autisticadvocacy.org. I hope to see you there!
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Regards,
Ari Ne’eman
President
Autistic Self Advocacy Network