Monthly Archives: September 2026

Alright – so, you have heard the saying “insanity is doing the same thing and and expecting different results”. Well, insanity is also voting for the same legislators and expecting different policies. As you know, I am not a fan of Sen. Hoffman. I think he is a grasshopper and yuk. He preaches so much sugar but is full of salt and more salt when it comes to people with disabilities and minorities.

Sen. Hoffman (aka Sen. Petty) has held more DHS including autism hearings than I care to count. He never tells DHS what to do or holds them accountable. He never asks them what the heck have you been doing and why do so many autism families and providers dislike you. Ok, loathe you. That would mean, he actually cared getting things done. Nope, he has more empty words than a Hollywood publicist – full of hot empty air.

Below is my written testimony. Others including families and mostly providers complained about DHS again. Only if I had a penny every time there was a complaint regarding DHS.

Minnesota Senate Human Services Committee

Chair: Sen. Hoffman

September 9, 2026

Re: DHS Delays and more drama as usual

Dear Mr. Chair and Committee Members, my name is Idil Abdull. I am an autism mom and retired advocate who has advocated for autism related policies from 2007 to 2023.

As an autism mom, it has been vividly frustrating and heart-breaking to see DHS delay and delay the ability for children with autism to get the services and treatments they need. I believe the reason DHS is behind and confused in trying to figure out what the right path is for the people they oversee is not having concrete directions from this committee and its sister one in the MN House of Representative.

DHS is now asking autism parents to get their children re-diagnosed with autism repeatedly. Isn’t autism a life-long dream stealing disorder? Why are we asking parents whose children have an actual formal diagnostic assessment to get it again and again. To hear the words – your child has autism is heart-breaking that no parent wants to hear over and over again. DHS also is now requiring all information relating to the person with the disability to go to every agency, including vulnerable private information. This will further put people with disabilities at safety and financial exploitation risk.

This committee has had more hearings on so many issues, not just autism services yet hardly gives DHS any direction with deadline and never holds them accountable. If there are no clear guidelines and policies by the committee leadership then why would DHS ever do the right thing for people with disabilities? Ask yourself that.

You cannot keep asking families and people with disabilities to keep telling our stories then break for weeks or months then ask us again the same questions. It is traumatic and not helpful. If this committee chair is not fair in hearing from everyone whether he agrees with them or not, then why would the agency the committee is in charge of do any better? Ask yourself that.

I suggest the Senate Human Services committee hears from everyone affected by DHS’ inability to function on time, fairly and appropriately. I also suggest this committee holds DHS accountable by making sure they are doing what they are supposed to do for autism families and all people with disabilities by giving them timeframe as well as clear policies and guidelines.

Sincerely,

Idil Abdull – Autism Mom

The above words do not reflect any committee, agency, or candidate.

Alright – so, anyone who reads my blog or follows our autism policy advocacy understands that Sen. Hoffman voted against autism therapy being covered by Medicaid and to eliminate the previous MN autism task force. He is by far the pettiest and most useless, elected official I have seen. Sadly, the Somali community only sees his flashy and worthless charm where he says – I like Sambusa, I am going to retire in Africa, and more yuk. He gives two dollar grants to xyz agencies who then tell our community he is good for everyone. That is simply not true.

He is petty to the bone and will try to use his committee chair power to silence those that disagree with his policies. Wait for it though because it gets better. Drum roll ……..more drum please……He managed to train the young and clueless Sen. Fateh. How you ask?

Well, as we all know, Sen. Fateh has refused to address autism in his committee of higher education. He refused to call the University of Minnesota and explain the autism numbers they do (ADDM). He has given autism families the run-around and empty words. Now, just like Sen Petty (Hoffman) he is denying anyone who disagrees with his policies to testify in his committee. I know what now? Yep, that is your vote at work.

Unlike Sen. Petty-Hoffman, Fateh needs the Somali votes who mostly have a child with autism or is related to one. He will come to the community and pretend to care. And we will forget and help him.

He will probably win this year because no one hardly challenges him during the primary. I hope autism families remember how he denied addressing anything autism even though he has the power and oversees all thing’s university and colleges in the state. This means he could have allocated funding for the Univ of MN to do autism research to find out why are the numbers high and what the heck is causing this dream stealing medical disorder.

We need to vote him out.

The above words do not reflect any committee, agency, or candidate.

Idil Abdull – Somali Autism Mom & Retired Advocate