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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

Alright – so, it has been a minute since my last blog. I have been trying to do vlogs which is challenging because I am tech challenged. Ugh.

This morning, I testified in Health and Human Services committee in MN State Senate regarding a bill by Sen. Zaynab that states social workers cannot call themselves social workers unless they have the education and licensure. What now? No one should call themselves titles they have not earned.

Sadly, and so often, many do especially in counties and others. I have seen so many county staff and those contracted with counties give themselves fancy titles they do not have the education nor the required licensure. If you can believe some counties hire people who call themselves behavior analysts when they are not. Once in a blue while, Sen.. Zaynab will write a cohesive and helpful bill. This was one of them. If you remember, last legislative session, she became the puppet for Sen. Hoffman whose single job is to divide and conquer people.

Below is my testimony.

Minnesota Senate

Health & Human Services

Chair – Sen. Wiklund

March 4th, 2026

Re: SF 3682 Social Work Titles

Dear Madam chair and members, many thanks for the opportunity to be able to testify today. My name is Idil Abdull, I am an autism mom and retired advocate.

I testify regarding this bill and ask that no social worker without the education and licensure call themselves a social worker. As an autism mom, I have encountered many county staff who work in counties. When someone says they are a social worker, you assume they have earned that title and have the education and required licensure. Anything less is not accurate and should not be allowed.

In fact, many counties hire employees or external contractors without the proper education and experience to support individuals with autism including social workers, behavior therapists, etc.

I ask that the standards are higher for people who are hired to work with children like mine and other individuals with autism. As legislators, you are obligated to ensure that.

Thanks for your time.

Idil Abdull

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

Idil Abdull – Autism Mom & Retired Advocate

Alright – so, I know I a bit late with this blog. Trying to learn more about doing this via YouTube and other social media platforms and maybe come to the 20th century or something. At any rate, I am always against Sen. Hoffman’s autism ideas. He is confused, out of touch, divisive and plays the Somali community against each-other. He usually gives two dollars to xyz Somali agency then uses them against others. To add more injury to salt, most of autism therapy agencies that are Somalis haven’t a clue about legislations, policies, statutes, and are always willing to throw each-other under the bus to please some over-rated shithead (not a type) like Sen. Hoffman.

Without further ado; here is one of my many testimonies before he blocked me from testifying in the committee he chairs. What a cry baby and how lovely and dignified for a public committee chair. He can dish it but cannot take. Yum!

Don’t worry, he is not the first DFL’er to block me from testifying in a publicly funded program; (Liebling, Huntly, Norton, just to name a few. Ironically no GOP has ever tried to block me from having different opinion/idea/thought. Imagine that. I thought dflers were the inclusive party. Lovely) I am fairly certain he won’t be the last. That is how the DFLers roll, you know the party of inclusiveness and diversity. Unless, of course you disagree with their mostly crappy policies then they will try to silence you. No ONE will ever silence me about autism – ever.

Minnesota Senate

Human Services Committee

Chair – Sen. Hoffman

April 9^th, 2025

Re: Human Services Omnibus SF-3054 opposing the autism language  

Mr. Chair and Members, my name is Idil Abdull, I have a son with autism, and I am a retired advocate.

I want to tell you about my deep concerns regarding the governor’s language for autism, especially for Early Intensive Developmental Behavior Intervention (EIDBI). While I understand and agree with the need to license all facilities that have access to children and adults with autism and other disabilities, there must be a fair and balanced way to do it.

The way the governor’s language is written is more authoritarian than balanced and equal. It essentially gives DHS the authority to investigate and close autism therapy agencies without any objective and/or administrative appeal rights.

Further, there is no training done for autism families and/or the agencies to ensure they understand the EIDBI policies and set them up for success. Additionally, when DHS says they gathered information from “stakeholders”, please know the EIDBI advisory council is secluded group that does not follow open meeting laws and never hears from the public. They are controlled by DHS.

Somali autism families have tried to explain to this committee’s chair without any success the need for fairness and just services for children with autism. Many of you, if not all of you, have autism families and autism therapy agencies in your districts. I hope you speak for your constituents and add training by DHS as well as the right to appeal to an objective entity other than EIDBI staff making all the decisions by themselves.

Sincerely,

Idil Abdull – Somali Autism Mom & Retired Advocate

The above words do not represent any candidate, agency, or committee

Idil Abdull – Somali Autism Mom & Retired Advocate

Alright – so, there has been a lot of news about autism lately at the federal level. This is a good thing. There are soooo many emotions going through my heart and soul about this that go back almost twenty years. As we all know, autism is a spectrum meaning no two individuals have the same challenges or strengths. In other words, everyone is different and as the saying goes – if you met one person with autism, you met one person with autism.

I remember back over a decade ago, I was invited to the only so far White House Autism Conference. We (researchers, parents, advocates, etc.) we were put into different groups. I wanted to be in the research group, but they put me in the services group. When it was my turn to speak, I said “I want a cause and a cure for autism”. There were maybe two or three autistics there in our group. One of them, the girl said – we do not need to be cured. I argued with her by saying, my son’s autism needs a cure. He has non-verbal autism. She did not understand things from my or my son’s perspective. You see one of the characteristics of autism even in the mild form is lack of empathy or simply putting yourself in someone else’s shoes.

There are those with mild form of autism who can attend White House conferences, finish college, get married, have children who speak for ALL Autism. I disagree with that 100%. They just want to be accepted which is fine. I do not accept my son’s autism and that does not equate to anything else other than if autism is a medical condition, then we need a medical solution – full stop. Now, if your autism is a little quirky and you can live independently, then good for you. But you have zero right nor audacity to speak for profound autism. We, the parents, and families who have not slept for years and worry daily have the right and obligation to speak for our children – period.

I am ecstatic the secretary of health and human services is finally speaking to find a cause and a cure for the kind of autism that has stolen dreams. Yes, autism steals dreams. It is tiring, exhausting, heartbreaking and breaks souls. YES, with no hesitation and no reservation, we need a cure for this. What makes some kids verbal and some not, where in the brain controls safety, sensory, behaviors, and how can we address that? I want a cure for my son’s autism. I would give every organ in my body for my son to be verbal. Somalis are an oral society, and autism is silencing our children. That should be unacceptable to everyone.

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

Idil Abdull – Somali Autism Mom & retired advocate.

Alright – so, it is the end of the state legislative session and as usual, most autism families and almost all Somali EIDBI agencies are sleeping. Ugh, so sad and depressing. At any rate, I sent my written testimony and will try to orally testify on 4.9.25. I urge autism families and EIDBI agencies to do the same. Speak from your heart and perspective. Noor is the co-chair in this committee, it is important to note – his district has the highest autism rate in the state and arguably in the nation.

Minnesota House
Human Services Finance & Policy
Chairs: Noor and Schomacker
4.9.2025

Re: HF 2434 Opposing the Gov’s Autism Language for EIDBI

Co-Chairs Noor and Schomacker, my name is Idil Abdull, I am a Somali Autism Mom and retired advocate. I also advocated for EIDBI back when it passed as a 1915i waiver on 5.16.13 on a rainy Thursday night. I feverishly oppose the language of this bill for many reasons.

1. There were not robust and engaging conversations with autism families nor EIDBI agencies when DHS produced these self-serving rules.
2. DHS refuses to provide EIDBI training that is person-centered to autism families and agencies.
3. We have been asking Chair Noor since 2023 to add EIDBI training which he has not done thus far.
4. DHS wants to act the prosecutor, the judge, and the jury in autism services under EIDBI without any rights for us to appeal administratively to an objective        person and/or agency. How is that exactly right?
5. I would propose adding EIDBI training for both the families and agencies to ensure they understand the policy and statute.
6. I would decrease EIDBI staff from 3 to 1, that is waste of time since they mostly do not do anything meaningful – ever.
7. I would add the ability to appeal to an administrative judge if/when DHS closes an agency wrongly and unjustly.
8. I would add the new OIG office to audit and oversee DHS’ programs, especially EIDBI, to ensure fairness and objectivity.
9. I would put a moratorium on EIDBI until current ones know what they are doing and do it correctly in a manner that helps the children and families.
10. I would ask DHS to send you and the public the answers to the many questions you asked the last time they were on this committee explaining EIDBI.                There were a lot of questions they were not able to answer. DHS should come prepared.

Sincerely,

Idil Abdull – Somali Autism Mom & Retired Advocate

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

Idil Abdull

Alright – so, first my heart and prayers are with all the families who lost children to drowning. Sadly and heartbreakingly, there were two children with autism who drowned last year in Minnesota. No family should go through that.

This gained a lot of news attention and rightfully so. It also made lots of people get interested in this issue and advocate for it from different perspectives. Sen. Mohamed in Minnesota Senate introduced a bill SF 3040 to modify the current language in waiver services under CDCS and CFSS. She attempted to explain to allow families who already has wavier or CFSS services to use such funding for swimming lessons.

Now, that is a lot to understand and process unless you are a waiver policy junkie which I am. Sen. Mohamed was not able to clearly explain when Sen. Utke and Sen. Abeler asked – does this have a fiscal note. DHS person said – maybe, we do not know. DHS should know better.

Let me explain in the words of Denzel Washington in Philadelphia: 

1. No, this bill should NOT have any fiscal note.
2. Yes, the current policy technically should allow it because it is a waiver that is person-centered and consumer directed.
3. Yes, autism families including me and countless others have gotten swimming lessons for their children with autism via the waiver CDCS.
4. Recently, counties have started denying autism families the whole cost by not saying it is a recreational but that families should pay the extra cost that is beyond what it would cost for a typical child. Example: You have a typical kid who is getting swimming lessons in a group setting because he/she has no sensory, safety, motor imitation issues and can learn how to swim in a group of 2 or 3 other kids. That cost is $50 per lesson. In parallel, a child with autism has no safety skills, has sensory issues, and no imitation skills. He/she needs one on one swimming lesson that will cost $75 per lesson. The counties started saying the waiver will cover the additional cost that is above and beyond what a typical kid needs which in this case would be $25 per lesson. The counties say parents still must bear some responsibility taking their child to swimming lessons and we will cover the extra fee.
5. I agree with that because the waiver should not replace parental responsibility. If your child does NOT have autism, you should still take him/her to learn how to swim. That is parental responsibility. The county does not typically say swimming is a recreational.
6. Now, let’s say a typical child learns how to swim in 25 to 30 lessons which is the average but a child with autism will take years to learn then the county approves the cost above and beyond the cost for a typical child. I also agree with this.
7. Finally, any family whose swimming is denied by the county via CDCS or CFSS can appeal to a judge. I know families are not lawyers but after a while it gets easier to just appeal if the policy is in your favor which it is if asking above and beyond swimming lessons than a typical child.
8. Oh and the Hopkins kid’s name is Waeys not Aways. Plus, it would’ve been right to name this bill after him and Mohamed, and ask their families to testify. That is more powerful than anyone else – to hear from the parents who went through it.

In summary, while the bill has good intentions, the explanation was less than stellar and not cohesive by Sen. Mohamed, DHS nor the testifiers.

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

Idil – Somali Autism Mom & Retired Advocate

Alright – so, from day one, I knew he was turafatoore. That means never mean what he says and never says what he means. He constantly dances around the issue, asks more questions with every question. Asks you to go to that person and this person for things he is clearly in charge of, and blames everyone especially the GOPs for probably snowing in Minnesota. How lovely and original.

I met Sen. Hoffman over a decade ago when he voted against what is today known as EIDBI on the senate floor in 2013. He voted against everything about autism back then as most dflers did. Let me take you back in memory lane. Back in early 2010s, Rep. Norton (also known as the queen of autism disparity) and now the mayor of Rochester Minnesota kept introducing legislations that wanted to take funds from the health and human services budget to subsidize private insurance companies to pay for autism therapy while it denied low income autism families for the same therapy. Nope, not kidding.

In fact, it was the MN Republican legislators (Benson, Gottwalt, Abeler, etc.) who voted for Medicaid to cover autism therapy while the MN house dflers and many dfl senators including Hoffman voted against it. So if you are a Somali person and want to preach how welcoming and inclusive Hoffman is, please go back to legislative history. Don’t believe his empty calorie charm.

Now in the end in giving credit where credit is due, it was Gov. Dayton a dfler who added $12 million to his budget in 2013 to cover autism therapy for children with autism. The senate voted against it including Sen. Hoffman, Eaton, most of them. The House voted against it including Rep. Norton, Huntley, most of them. Then in conference committee, we (Somali autism parents and community members) went to Sen. Laurey and Sen. Cohen and convinced them to eliminate Norton’s bill and add Gov. Dayton’s language. That is exactly what passed on a rainy Thursday night on May 16th, 2013. Then we went to CMS and convinced them to do it for all states in July of 2014. 

I blogged and documented all of this back then. It seems that Sen. Hoffman wants to vote against autism and we should be happy and thank him. No way. We have the right to criticize his votes and policies. In fact, when non-Somali autism parents or any other group like Isaiah does not like his policies and criticize him and campaign against him, guess what? he is ok with it and even apologizes. But for us – not allowed. How do you like them apples.

Listen Sen. Hoffman, I do not have to like you and vice versa. But know you are a publicly elected official and is supposed to help all Minnesotans – period. I personally think you should be defeated next election by someone who cares about Minnesotans and means what he/she says by doing it.

I hope you stop learning two words in every language pretending to care which you do not. I also hope you stop giving people the run around. You can simply say – I cannot write, author or support xyz issue. That is fair and you have that audacity. But when you promise things you know will never be delivered and waste people’s time is a higher level of cruelty and hurtful. You also must accept to learn that anyone from anywhere in the state has the right to be happy or not happy with your policies. If you want to be liked by everyone, maybe you should work in a shoe store. I am sure everyone is happy there.

I wonder Sen. Hoffman when you wrote this Op-Ed, and those on the other side saw your view as offensive and sensational, did you also get angry at them and try to vilify them. My guess is no, because we all have the right to our truth and opinions.

One of my favorite show is Frasier, I must’ve watch it kazilian times. One of my favorite episodes is this one.

One of my favorite columns was Dear Abby Questions are good if it leads to answers and deeper understanding not to give people the run around and waste time. Have you ever listened to Joel Osteen – he talks common sense things and ties it to God. He always starts with a joke, this is my favorite. Every ethnicity has different strengths and things they are good at or known for. For Somalis it is “Fadhi ku dirir”. That is what makes us different and same in a humane manner.

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

Idil – Somali Autism Mom & Retired Advocate

Alright – so, unless you live or want to live under a rock, you have read or heard Somali autism parents and members of the Somali community initiated and took it to the finish line the law that passed 5.2013 which allowed medical assistance to cover autism therapy. This was done when the non-Somali autism community including parents and mainstream agencies testified and lobbied against it. They wanted the state to subsidize private insurance companies and cover ABA therapy. Clearly, we beat them. Don’t hate the player – hate the game. We used simple hard-work, strategic and focused advocacy to the end of this legislation.

Move forward to 10 years later, Somalis are opening autism centers like no other community. This is good, bad, and ugly.

Let’s start with the good:

1. There are now many, ok some young Somali professionals who are licensed mental professionals. Yum.
2. There are highly educated people opening some of the agencies with integrity and ethics. Yum
3. They are teaching our children what mainstream agencies did not – actual skills and progress is being made. Yum.
4. Many of them care about autism as it affects someone in their family. Good they care, yuk that autism is high in our children.

Now that bad:

1. Almost all of them refuse to learn about legislation, history of EIDBI, and policies. Yuky.
2. Almost all of them refuse to defend themselves and their work. Yuky.
3. Almost all of them kiss the ass of those who were against the very benefit they are now functioning under. Yuky.
4. Almost all of them are confused about this benefit, and do not want to learn. Yuky.

Then the ugly:

1. Few of them think this benefit or autism is a money-making machine. Yuckier and may you go to hell.
2. Few of them are not helping the children and families learn the needed skills. Yuckier.
3. Few of them have no idea what the heck autism is and sometimes what EIDBI stands for. Are you bleeping kidding me? Yuckier.
4. Few of them are exploiting tired and sad autism families to fatten their pockets. yuckier and may you go to hell.

Now, who the heck am I and what gives me the audacity to say above words. I am glad you asked. Let me introduce myself.

1. My son was discharged by racist and inhuman person Dr. Eric Larsson when my kid was five years old. Larsson told me – he would never be cured from autism. I thought my world ended and cried like one of Oprah’s ugly cries.
2. I then begged Larsson and his fellow Lovaas owners, Linda Wright in NJ and Scott Wright in CA. They sided with Larsson and refused to take my son back.
3. I then went to Arc, and the MN Ombudsman’s office. They met with Larsson and he refused to take my son back.
4. I then went to complain to the Governor’s office (Pawlenty) to see if my son had any rights.
5. Pawlenty’s office referred me to DHS who said – they do not even cover ABA. What now?
6. This started our advocacy journey. We had to find out what DHS meant they do not cover ABA. They were covering for my son and my fellow autism mom (Hodan) daughter.
7. Hodan, Istahil and Idil go to the Somali community leaders (Dr. Fahia, Mohamed Jibril, and Hussein Samatar) to help.
8. Other Somali autism parents especially fathers join the cause (Cascase, Jama, Yusuf, Fanax, Abdihakin, Nuur, & Abdiqadir Diriye)
9. We testify in every committee in the House and Senate.
10. Rep. Abeler (he was in the House back then) and chaired a committee proposes DHS to come up with what the heck it pays and what it can cover.
11. Finally, with the help of Mpls Tribune Maura Lerner and Pioneer Press Chris S cover the double standard ABA coverage in Minn and how low-income kids are not getting covered.
12. We go to the Governor’s office asking to add MA to cover ABA therapy.
13. Finally, DHS commissioner Jesson (I miss her) and Governor Dayton added it to their Human services budget.
14. Most of the Somali community and parents are tired now and slowly but surely start not coming to the capitol.
15. Meanwhile the non-Somali autism community and families get organized; they hire a lobbyist and a publicist.
16. Every (five of them PIE, Lazarus, Lovaas, Holland, and Rochester center for Autism) join the non-Somali autism advocacy efforts which wanted the state to cover ABA for the private insurance autism family but not for the low-income medical assistance family. If you don’t know history, you will befriend an enemy. MAC stays neutral and does not join plus; the leadership of MAC then (Ron Carry and Kathryn Marshall) hate Larsson who is organizing this anti low-income autism family.
17. Dayten added twelve million dollars which the House voted down and the Senate voted down, but the House added the private insurance bill by Rep. Norton from Rochester and deleted the governors for the low-income autism family.
18. The Senate votes down both the private insurance and the low-income.
19. It is now the conference committee, and we are down on both committees and the house has the bill we do not want.
20. Dr. Fahia and I go to Sen. Laurey and Sen. Cohen who chaired the finance committee and was a member of the Confederation Somali Community of Minn and we ask to tell Laurey to put our bill back and kill the private insurance one.
21. The Governor’s health policy calls me in the middle of the night during the conference committee and says, “the governor wants to help the private insurance kid too”. I say sure but they cannot take money from the state budget and subsidize BCBS or any private insurance. She says, “let me see if that is possible”. She calls again and says the House and Senate agreed to this.
22. 1915i waiver that will cover both developmental and behavior intervention passes the health and human services conference committee in the middle of the night on a rainy Thursday night on 5.16.2013.
23. I was the only Somali, the only black/brown person in the committee during this time as people got tired and left.
24. I sit on those long stairs in the Capitol being grateful, tired, and overjoyed.
25. I do not stop there; I get appointed by the Obama administration to be a member of the prestigious federal autism committee IACC.
26. I started advocating the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid cover autism therapy for all low-income autism families whether they lived in Minnesota to Montana or from Alabama to Alaska.
27. So many in the committee agree and have ideas. We all pressure CMS
28. On July 8th, 2014, CMS announces – the federal government will cover both developmental and behavior interventions.
29. I come back to Minn and see if we can change our 1915i waiver and add autism therapy to the state Medicaid plan. Commissioner Jesson, Coleman and Anne H agree.
30. Minnesota requests EIDBI and changes from a waiver to adding under EPSDT.
31. The federal government approves Minnesota’s plan amendment in March 2015.
32. From 2020 to 2024, DHS approves so many Somali EIDBI agencies without adequate training and education leading to the mess we are in now.

Viola! That is, we did it. You see, I have the right to tell you “If you are not doing EIDBI for the right reason and wanting to teach our children skills and empower our families then please leave and screw you”. We have put blood/sweat/tears into this for our children and our families – full stop.

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

Idil – Somali Autism Mom & Retired Advocate

Alright – so, the Minnesota Senate Human Services Committee is having a hearing on 1.29.25. As usual, the meeting information is confusing. It does not say if public testimony is allowed or not. The people on the agenda are secret and no one knows until they show up. Ugh. Hoffman again. When will people vote this subjective biased legislator out. Anyway, I sent below written testimony, not sure if it will be part of the public record or not. It is like playing – what is behind door number one or something game.

Co-Chairs and members, I am hoping this can get into the committee’s record and I am allowed to testify. My name is Idil Abdull; I am a Somali Autism Mom & trying to retire advocate.

I want to start by telling you this committee has been painful to follow and send comments. There are no directions or guidance on when public testimony is allowed or not.  The agenda and the people who are invited have been secret at least for the one last week.

Please know that this is a public committee discussing public policy and it must be fair and open to the public – full stop.

Now, let me give you my comments regarding a day too late and a dollar too short licensure EIDBI proposal by DHS:

1. I and other Somali autism parents went to DHS almost 10 years ago and reported child abuse and maltreatment. There was a therapist who worked at Minnesota Autism Center in the Woodbury location who stated she witnessed child abuse and cruel treatments. She also said MAC knew and hid the abuse from the families. There was also another abuse in MAC location in Mankato that DHS did nothing. Is DHS also going to license CTSS agencies who provide autism therapy since many autism centers function under that?

https://www.mankatofreepress.com/news/local_news/minnesota-autism-center-supervisor-faces-criminal-charge/article_b815e5ae-ea03-11e5-91b8-13bfe6779a2c.html

2. DHS told the therapist report to the county who said call the police who did nothing because MAC management denied it all.
3. There was a Somali autism mom whose child was hit and did report again to DHS, the police, and the county. Guess what happened – nada and nothing.
4. I cannot help but think DHS now mentioning maltreatment in a Somali owned autism therapy agency is nothing short of racism and unfair overreach. If DHS cared about children with autism, they would have done something about it when many autism families reported abuse, but the difference was those agencies were owned by white Americans, not Somali Americans. Think about that and tell me it is not differential treatment.
5. I hope the two Somali senators in this committee stay vigilant and take anything DHS says with a grain of salt. They have been unfair and biased at best towards our community. The same with the media who refused to report any wrongdoing by any white autism therapy agencies but when a Somali sneezes the wrong way, they are all over it like white on rice.
6. DHS states there are thousands of children with autism being served by current EIDBI providers. That is good news. Those are children who did not get services before EIDBI and will hopefully depend less on the system.
7. DHS fails to tell us the race/ethnicity of the children being served and the current EIDBI providers, why?
8. DHS fails to mention autism is 1 in 16 in Somali children born in Minnesota who are four years old. You know what these children are – as American as apple pie. Why is DHS and the legislators pretending to be blind about it? If these kids do not get early intervention, they will depend on the system which will be 1000% more expensive than getting services through EIDBI.
9. DHS mentions following the BACB board, why? There are other better qualified behavior analysis boards such as Qualified Applied Behavior Analysis (QABA) which is a national and internationally recognized board that focuses on autism unlike the BACB.
10. If the case load of the qualified supervising professional and/or the behavior analyst is limited to twelve children or so, and EIDBI is serving thousands, wouldn’t that mean kids will not get services, at most there are only three hundred or so behavior analysts in Minnesota. DHS cannot limit access for children.
11. DHS mentions things they can fix now such as having a business phone line, email that is privacy compliant, and safe place to do therapy. Instead of complaining about miniscule items they have the power to do, they should give each new and/or current EIDBI agency a checklist to follow. DHS needs to do training for new and current EIDBI providers in-person, not a drive through webinar where they silence people. They preach person-centered but fail to follow it.
12. DHS needs to provide stricter oversight to ensure the children are learning, the family understands their rights and responsibilities and progress is tangible. They can do this now and do not need a license; they are simply an agency of minimum effort and only takes up issues if God forbid is in the news.

Correction: It seems that Sen. Hoffman DID add a Somali Autism advocacy agency – MAAN. I retract my statements in this blog regarding Hoffman. Fair is fair. Plus, I told him I would blog positively if treated us fairly. Thanks Sen. Hoffman. 

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

Idil Abdull – Somali Autism Mom & Retired Advocate