From left to right: Connecticut constituents Deb, Cristina, Zack, and Jim, preparing for what they thought would be their initial meeting in the Hart Senate Building.
What began as a scheduling failure and escalated into a frightening standoff ultimately opened a path toward substantive action.
Read moreThe proposed 2028 HCBS Quality Measure Set leaves the population of individuals affected by severe forms of autism and their families substantially invisible in the data CMS will use to drive state Medicaid HCBS improvement; the ten recommendations that follow describe what would close that gap.
Read more
NCSA does not oppose HCBS funding. We urge the Subcommittee, however, to recognize that expanding HCBS in its current form does not constitute a sufficient response to the disability services crisis facing the most severely affected individuals in America.
Read moreIn early January 2026, an anonymous source provided the National Council on Severe Autism (NCSA) with photographs taken inside a psychiatric care facility in Northern Greece. The images depict conditions that raise serious concerns about the safety, dignity, and human rights of people with severe autism and related disabilities.
Read more
Caroline’s story deserves to be shared. She and her family deserve answers, protection, and dignified care.
Read more
Cute on a shelf but useless in a crisis, her plastic, one-dimensional face exposes a problem.
Read more
This is not a story about a doll. This is about how autism has been rebranded, monetized, and flattened into something safe for public consumption while the people with the highest needs remain excluded from public life, public policy, and public concern.
Read more
For autism families, especially those more severely affected than mine, ’tis the season of incredible isolation. Lights flicker, music blares, crowds press in, and routines disappear. What is fun and festive for the average family demands constant regulation from us, as we cross our fingers and hold our breath that our loved ones, who cannot filter sensory input or flexibly adjust expectations, will hold it together.
Read more
This week, NCSA recognized National Special Education Day and International Day of Persons with Disabilities! What better way to close out this week than by understanding the legal rights and protections that these events have historically helped bring to our community. Let’s get into it.
Read more
Criminalizing manifestations of disability before providing appropriate educational and therapeutic services is not only against the law, but morally indefensible in a civil society. If the goal is safe education, healing, and development for all students, then increased resources, funding, and training for school officials and special educators is the productive and humane way forward.
Read more