Blog Archives

Alright – so, Minnesota now has the most minority legislatures. Yay! I soooooo hope this means our communities will be fairly represented and inequalities eliminated. Reps Hodan, Moran, Richardson, Noor and Senators Hayden and Champion formed this caucus. They talked about writing specific bills in education to close the disparity gap and don’t forget the suspension disparities as well. They also stated judicial reform is needed… you think? We need more judges of color to be appointed by Walz AND we need our attorneys including Champion to run for county and district attorneys as well as judges. Richardson talked about maternal health disparity. Well…. well….well….can we please fire previous deputy commissioner Pollack and current MDH commissioner Jan if we really want to get rid of maternal health disparity which is baaaad for women of color in Minnesota. Actually, Minnesota is doing worse in this area than some third world countries. Who is surprised by this? please stand up and come out of living under a rock.

I have said a million times, disparity comes from discrimination. The faster we admit this – the faster we can address it. Just take a look at the people in charge of Minnesota Department of Human Services. No Black person.. what a shock there!  And the Minnesota Department of Health…who the heck looks like me there…. drum roll please….. nada. Just to tell you how bad Minnesota is in White privilege – remember when MDH or the state health department didn’t care about the elderly getting abused and neglected. Well, guess who was in charge of that? Dan Pollock. Did he get fired? Oh god no. never. He got promoted to be deputy commissioner of the human services department. This is what creates disparity. Giving opportunities to yuky people like Pollock. I am sorry but if one more white person tells me they understand inequity and disparity, I am going to scream. One of my favorite people on this earth is Professor Michael Eric Dyson who is simply amazing. Here is what he said about white privilege which is soooo true.

Equity has become a hip word for elected officials to use. Oh, they also said something about Walz being a former teacher. Ah, excuse me but aren’t a white male and white female teachers the ones who suspend students of color disproportionately. Walz is also from Mankato school district which has a horrible suspension rate for students of color. Can we party like it is 1999 now? like really? Governor Walz helping the Black community in Minnesota is an oxymoron.

Seriously, will the real slim shady please stand up…is all I can really say here.

blah blah, blah was the rest of this speech. They needed to come and hit it out of the park with specific agendas and actual specific bills that had assigned numbers. You can watch or read that announcement here.

As always, above words are my own and do not represent any candidate, agency or committee.

Idil – Somali Autism Mom

Alright – so, anyone who does not live under a rock knows that Minnesota has some of the worst racial divide and disparities for people of color. We also know that Minnesota is one of the best states to live unless of course, you are a person of color.

We know that over 90% of teachers in Minnesota are white and overwhelmingly female. The question now is why are these mostly white females suspending mostly minority boys who are often black?

Ever since my own son who has nonverbal autism has been suspended by a white female teacher (Kelly Morris) at Jefferson High school in Bloomington Public Schools, I have been struggling with this question.

Now, keep in mind my child could not talk back at this white teacher. Additionally, she took his voice by not giving him his communication device and he does not understand the concept of suspension or even that he was suspended. \Mminority teenagers and even elementary students are suspended by mostly white female teachers like Ms. Morris. Why is that? What do these white female teachers see when they see our children? Why do they think their only option is to kick the student out of school. Why does Minnesota have this horrible record which is higher than most other states? Why do Bloomington public schools have a higher rate of minority students suspended than other districts? Why Why Why?

Is it racism? is it subconscious bias, is it lack of training, its lack of what? 

I recently read an article in the NY Times and something a Minneapolis principal said stuck in my mind. Ms. Rathke stated, “We have students that we just haven’t figured out how to support yet.” Think about that sentence for a hot minute. These mostly white female teachers have not figured out how to support, teach, nurture, and educate our children. Instead of learning how to bleeping do their job, they suspend and kick our kids out of school. Imagine that.

You see I have a different take on this. We (minorities) allow these teachers to screw with our children and our families because we have not yet figured out how to advocate effectively through policy. You see if a teacher knew there would be consequences for her suspensions, she would think twice. If a district knew their funding would be affected, they would think twice before they suspend any child.

Study after study after study tells this is real and has consequences for our children and families. This has been going on for decades and generations. We simply can not tolerate it anymore. We should’ve never tolerated it. We must fight it through policy changes that have meaningful consequences and accountability. These teachers including the white female teacher (Kelly Morris) who suspended my son are denying our children their free and appropriate public education (FAPE).

Please start calling or writing to your state and congressional representatives and the governor asking and demanding this racially based disparity is eliminated. We must hold our elected officials accountable to write and enact better laws and policies that protect our children from such harsh treatments. Additionally, these school districts are controlled by school boards who are elected by the people of that city. Only we are smart and strategic because we can replace the board with members that actually represent the students and families. You see the board hires the superintendent who hires the principals who hire the teachers and who the heck hires or votes for the board – us. That is right. We have the power to change the narrative and the landscape if we worked hard and stayed focused. 

Above words do not reflect any candidate, agency or committee.

Idil – Somali Autism Mom

Alright so, we all know that the likes of JB Handley, Generation Rescue, Age of Autism, etc. have taken advantage of Somali autism parents in Minnesota. These groups who could care less about equality nor equity have exploited our community by pushing and even sometimes paying thousands of dollars to push their dangerous public health agenda. We have already seen what this can do in Minnesota and to our community. These groups are extremely rich and powerful in Minnesota and in the country. Shame on them for picking on a vulnerable autism community.

State Senator Abeler who is usually fair-minded and reasonable for some reason has become unreasonable and hurtful. He has refused to appoint an African American autism parent, minority autism therapy agency, etc. to his state autism council. This council has dozens of non-minorities and less than a handful people of color. It has no minority autism advocate agency and no minority provider/agency. Abeler said to those that applied “we don’t need anymore because we have enough minorities”. I am not sure if I should scream or curse because the notion that dozens of Caucasians are oK while few minorities are too many is both discriminatory and heart-breaking especially from someone like Sen. Abeler.

As if that was not bad enough, he appointed members from the Age of Autism and Generation Rescue who as we know have taken advantage of our community and our autism families. Their motto is divide and concur. They seek either Somali autism parents whose children are young and are still in a shock mode or those new to Minnesota to push their extreme agenda. They have never helped our community get the services and support our children and families need. They are selfish, racist, arrogant and dangerous to public health.

I ask the Minnesota Department of Health to intervene. I also ask Sen. Abeler to stop this nonsense and stay focused on what is important which is ensuring our children/adults with autism have the services and supports they need in a manner that is fair with equity and diverse to reflect the autism community in Minnesota.

JB Handley who is also rich and powerful from the west cost tried to bribe some Somali autism parents with thousands of dollars to say their children’s autism was caused by vaccines. Then when parents realized his scheme, he and another rich Minnesotan went after those parents by sending cockroaches. to carry their message and try to divide our families. Luckily, autism parents like Matt C from LBRB have been fighting these dangerous groups. It is too bad that Sen. Abeler now wants to give them a public platform to spread their horrible ideas.

Mpls Tribune Story on this council

Above words do not reflect any candidate, agency or committee.

Idil – Somali Autism Mom

Alright – so, Governor-Elect Tim Walz has been preaching lots of sugary words. He campaigned with one slogan that at the time seemed sincere – One Minnesota. He heavily saught Somali votes as well as other minority votes. He kept promising things that he has not delivered thus far including having his administration’s leadership reflect Minnesota. There are twenty-three state agency commissioners that Walz needed to appoint. He and his Lt Governor at first seemed genuine and pretended to care and hear communities of color by adding them to their advisory council. I think this was just a show and a token. Here is why..

First of all, Walz appointed 22 commissioners out of the 23. 8 are white men, 9 are white women and 5 are minorities. Current Governor Dayton has 24 which 13 are white men, 7 are white women and 4 are minorities who head the education department, human rights department, economic and employment department and metropolitan council. In other words, Walz hired five minorities and Dayton hired 4 minorities a difference of ONE. Let me write that again – the difference measly ONE. Yet, Walz has preached diversity diversity diversity like it was holy water or something making us think he was going to hire more diverse commissioners. The fact is NOPE. Yes, there are more white women but I hope he does not think white women speak or understand minority issues and disparities.

In fact, Dayton had minorities in-charge of critical agencies such as education which Walz hired a white teacher, economic/employment is now led by a white man. How lovely and equity!

Walz is making it seem as though he is soooo diverse and has hired so maaaany diverse commissioners but he has not. He preached one Minnesota but is practicing the same old BS that created Minnesota’s horrible racial disparities. He preached sugar when Minneapolis Council Member Abdi Warsame so graciously endorsed him but is now practicing salt. I was there on this day and do not see the fruits of his words.

When will we minorities learn to vote wisely and negotiate with our votes before they win? Insanity is doing the same thing and expecting different results.

While even I bought his One Minnesota Lies, I am not surprised. The idea of appointing a white female teacher to the education department alone tells me he is clueless about how students of color are treated by white female teachers who fail our kids and suspend them disproportionately. Every time I see MDE’s new commissioner, I am reminded my son’s white female autism teacher Kelly Morris with the Bloomington school district who suspended my son after she failed to teach him or understand that autism is a behavior disorder. I can’t even explain what the heck the minority Lt Governor is doing by allowing this crap. I mean really what the heck? There should’ve been more minorities appointed to commissioners. To make matters worse, Sen Franken’s gatekeeper Alana’s (who stayed on with Dayton’s gatekeeper now sadly Sen Smith) husband is now a commissioner. I know that sounds more like The Young and Restless storyline than state government leadership, but this is what happens when it is who you know rather than what you know. Can someone say nepotism? Quite frankly, Raj Rajan should’ve been hired for the Pollution Control Agency who is actually an environmental engineer. Instead, we got another privileged white woman Laura B.

I for one am waiting for Walz when he comes back to our community looking for votes. Fool us once Walz, shame on you…fool us twice shame on us. Just because he says diversity does not mean he hired fairly and with equity and the proof is in the appointments he made. Shame on you Governor-Elect Walz for telling us empty words to get our votes, clearly you had no intention of hiring fairly.

Above words do not reflect any candidate, agency or committee.

Idil – Somali Autism Mom & Advocate

Alright – so, Sen Abeler’s autism council working group met today for the second time. I was there and I sooooo don’t want to be going to this and won’t have to if they had more people that looked like me.

Anyway, they added a few more members from minority communities. Still missing from this table is a minority autism therapy agency representative, an African American autism parent and a native American parent. Now, the question is why is there only one minority person for each under-served community but there are countless caucasian advocates, agencies, autistics, researchers, etc.?

Have you heard of the saying “when they don’t give you a seat at the table, bring a folding chair.” Abeler in a typical Abeler way took all of the faults of not having enough diverse folks. He said to not blame them for anything. Obviously, Abeler is just being nice because we all know the first three (Rohde, Bender and Grassie) did all of the selecting of other members. I will say it is getting better though not perfect and still too white for my taste.

Today, they talked a lot about creating subgroups which I think is a good idea. They also said equity and equality a lot and I think at least from the chair’s (Ellie) body language – she may actually mean what she was reading. As a black autism mom, I learned a long time ago to read their body language and not always what they say.

I heard after I left the meeting which I apparently pissed some of the autistic advocates when I was talking about how tired and exhausting autism is, that they made the only Somali (Deeqa) there today really hurt and sad. First, that is cowardly – if you got something to say to anyone say it to them, not behind their back. Second, I am a public autism mom and this council does not control my views or opinions – period. Third, their backstabbing only proves my point of how selfish and self-righteous so many (not all) of them are.

Finally, I want to address the vice chair’s (Ms. Edwards) comment to me when I tried to apologize not what I said but how she literal she understood it. Again, I am sorry how you misunderstood my words. Somalis use a lot of metaphoric phrases and words which is in our culture, Therefore, I do not nor will ever apologize for my culture and it is up to you to understand what I meant or not. I understand autistic people take everything literally and are honest which I can totally appreciate and even appreciated when you yelled at me during my apology to you. At least you said it to my face which is awesome. Nevertheless, just like you want me to respect your perspective, you will need to respect my perspective and my culture even if you don’t understand it. I will never apologize for being a Somali and an Autism Mom.

I also heard some of the self-centred and self-righteous members were upset about Sheryl Grassie whereby some of them tried to use their old tactics of divide and conquer. It won’t work and we don’t appreciate it. Sheryl should’ve been supporting and proud of Noah not picking and belittling him – period. She needs to sit down and shut up.

To those that are calling other Somali autism parents/community members trying to divide us – screw you (not a typo). 

To Deeqa:

Walaalo, Ilaahay khayr ha ku siiyo. Aad baan kuugu mahad naqayaa sida walaaltimo ee aad ii difaacday. Way ku edab darnaayeen in ay xantaan qof autismo waalid ah oo aan joogin. Aad baan ugu faraxsanahay in aad u jowaabtay oo ay ogaadeen in an nahay dad walaalo ah. Toban sano ayaan ku dhexjiray noocooda iyo ka daran, umana ogaalaado in ay iga xanaajiyaan, adiguna ha u ogalaanin. Hiilkaaga ma iloobi doono. Walaalo Mahadsanid!

Above words do not reflect any candidate, agency or committee.

Idil – Autism Mom

Alright – so, Sen Abeler whom I consider a friend for some reason has become unrecognizable to me. He first appointed a white man (Wayne Rohde who believes dangerous anti-vaccine ideas) and two white women (Jean Bender & Sheryl Grassie) to select an autism council members. Have you ever heard of the saying – the leaf doesn’t fall far from the tree? Well, I have. This Caucasian trio picked a majority of members that resembled them. Now, what does this all mean? It means voices from minority communities will not be heard. What does this create? wait for it….it is original…..drum roll pls……oh yeah racial disparity. Does Minnesota have racial disparity? unless you live under a rock. Heck yes.

What is racial disparity? we always hear it on the news, see people suffering from it but what is it exactly. It is when two people of similar situations get differential treatment. For example, child A named Anderson applies to an ABA therapy agency and lives in Mpls. He is white and six years old with nonverbal autism. He is accepted and is assigned to a team of therapists to teach and help him. Child B named Ali applies to the same ABA therapy agency and lives on the same road in Mpls as child A. He is Black and is six years old with nonverbal autism. His parents are told, the agency simply does not have any room for him and has a long wait list but they are very sorry. Sound familiar? that is because it happens daily to children of color with autism in Minnesota and probably nationwide. Just google it as the list of examples is too long to list here.

Still confused about what racial disparity is. Let’s give another example. Child A, Donte goes to a public school in Bloomington Public Schools and has nonverbal autism. Child B Nelson goes to school in Bloomington Public Schools and has nonverbal autism. One day child A (Donte) has a behavior due to his disability, he is suspended for a week and sent home. Another day Child B (Nelson) has a behavior due to his disability, the school hires a behavior analyst to find the function of his behavior and his IEP team meets to figure out how to help him. You see this happens every day in Minnesota and this blatant differential treatment is what creates disparity. In other words, racial disparity is created by intentional discrimination caused by either conscious or subconscious beliefs.

Alright – now let’s go back to this Caucasian trio that cherry-picked Sen Abeler’s Minnesota Autism Council. Why didn’t they have more diverse folks representing African American autism parents, Latino American Autism parents, Native American Autism Parents, Minority-owned autism therapy agencies, etc.? Their reason ….wait for it…..seriously wait for it…….we could not find any. Gee, I wonder where I heard that before. Oh yeah every agency, school district, and their mamas use this useless and incorrect excuse. You see – people of color whose voices also need to be heard exist. But if the selecting committee does not reflect them as this vanilla group did not then they are left out and this creates racial disparity which comes from racial discrimination. Now, you don’t have to call someone the N word to be racist. You can even have black friends, work with black folks and still be subliminally racist or bias.

To me it seems this council is less welcoming than a white golf club in Alabama in the 1960s. The saddest thing of all is that Sen Abeler who is usually authentic and genuine is allowing it. 

I will say it had a lot of autistic folks who are able to communicate their needs and were highly intelligent which was probably the only positive thing in this secluded committee. But even this group needed to be diverse and have several minority self-advocate autistics unless of course, the cherry-picking trio could not find any.. yeah right. I am not buying this for a minute. They do exist but were not selected. In fact, three members from the Oromo community were denied. Why? you figure it out. If it selects like a duck and acts like a duck it is a bleeping duck.

There were also members from another all-white Alabama 1950’s golf club. I think they call themselves ATAM or something. They represent all white ABA therapy agencies. How Minnesota nice! By the way, this group testified against the last autism committee in Minnesota by a Bill from the queen of autism disparity previous state legislator, and sadly current mayor of Rochester – Kim Norton. Melissa who is with ATAM testified and I remember I asked why. Her response was – I don’t know we were told by Norton to do it so I did. I am still in shock by such a gang mentality response.

This secluded council also has few folks from the previous autism task force.  Mr Trahan who if you remember was adamantly against Minnesota covering ABA therapy for low-income autism children via Medicaid. In fact, he and I testified on the opposite sides in a house committee. He was for the coverage of taking $20 million dollars from the state health and human services budget to subsidize private insurance companies to cover ABA while low-income Medicaid kids got nothing. And, I testified for what now became EIBDI. Back then it was 1915i Medicaid autism waiver. Clearly, we won and the private insurance coverage which Ms Bender (from the Alabama golf club trio) also wanted, in fact, the entire autism task force except for health plans rep (Dr David G) wanted but it failed. Boohoo, cry me a river. And the low income or Medicaid ABA coverage passed at 1am on a rainy Thursday night in May of 2013 with just me and other Somali community autism parents and community member’s support. Mr Trahan said something that stuck in my mind. “let’s make Minnesota a good example for other states to follow”. That sounds good on paper but Minnesota must first stop being so darn racist and having so many racial disparities. We are all created equal and the notion that anyone is better or superior to anyone else is wrong and reprehensible. I will say this – Mr Trahan has lots of good ideas as I am someone that believes in giving credit where credit is due unlike so many hillbillies in Minnesota who take our ideas and credit themselves. I like his ideas of training law enforcement about autism. I also like how he fought Mayo to cover autism therapy. He would be cool if he just walked on the ground and came off his high horse by realizing a person is a person is a person irrespective of their views and it is ok to disagree on things because we have different experiences and backgrounds. And, you don’t have to like me to validate my ideas.

There were state agency representatives in this council, although I did not see county representative, public schools representative, charter schools representative nor health plans representative. I wonder what the exclusive trio’s reason for not getting those folks is.. I bet they couldn’t find one county person from 87 counties. Lovely! Let’s start with the village idiot from the health department who I can say without hesitation is racist. Here is why. A few years ago, I and other Somali autism parents advocated in HRSA (look it up if you don’t know who HRSA is) for an autism grant. MDH was going to apply for this funding and wanted the Minn autism task force to give them a support letter. All good right. Hold on to your seat, it is a bumpy ride. Ms Dalbec writes the application grant and I ask her to write in there that the funding will be shared with communities of color parents and agencies. She says no and I say well then I will not sign into the letter from the task force and I will let HRSA know you are against equity and equality. So then, the all mighty self-entitled Mr Trahan gets mad and says we are writing a support letter from all of the members. I tell him to take a flying leap and that he does not speak for me and I will not support this letter unless there is a written language into the grant for people that look like me will benefit from it. If you know the history of autism in Minnesota then you know how this ends as I am not going to repeat it because I have already blogged about it then.

We again prevail because HRSA tells them to write the application in an inclusive manner and the governor’s amazing health policy person directs MDH to include the inclusive language I was asking. You see in this state and sadly in many states in this county, equality and equity happen with consistent and relentless advocacy which is something most elite whites can’t even comprehend because they don’t experience it.

There was also a representative from DEED, Abbie. Now, I have never seen Abbie say or do anything bias but she tolerates it. My gentle friendly advice to Abbie is something Desmond Tutu said “If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality”. Abbie speak up the next time the likes of Ms Dalbec or Mr Trahan want to dismiss or belittle the needs of others.

Then there was someone from MDE who I guess represents education and autism. I don’t know her at all and can not comment. But she was silent. I would ask her to work on how students with autism can succeed in school, not be suspended for having behaviors due to their disability and level four setting which is a gateway to prison for so many minority students especially black boys. Just look at Harrison Education Center in Mpls and 917 school district which takes students from Bloomington public schools and is a segregated George Wallace education setting. Better yet, just google the report from Minn dept of Human rights where 43 school districts were cited for suspending students of color and students with disabilities disproportionately. This really boils my blood and is one area I must advocate before I am fully retired.

DHS sent Jason. For those that don’t know Jason, I can describe him in one word – Mr Fantastic. I am usually not a big fan of DHS as you may have read in my blog posts but this guy simply rocks.

Oh, I almost forgot, there was someone from Univ of MN – well actually two. I think I will write a different blog about Jennifer Hall-Lande and Amy Esler and the Somali Community’s history with them. It is not pretty. When I think of white privilege, I think of these two and there are plenty of reasons for it. Stay tuned for my next post. I will also be blogging about this committee to see if they appoint diverse members or continue to be an exclusive and secluded white golf club in Alabama from the 1950s.

Another area I will write about is how the anti-vaccine group who now are part of this beloved exclusive autism group will interact with the state health department. Will Ms Dalbec say facts and research about autism and vaccines, or will she stay mute and let this group (who also, by the way, has divided and exploited the Somali community more than any other group) inject their crazy ideas into Minnesota’s state legislator? This is a fight I want to see. Well except when whites disagree it is not a fight. What do they call it? I am blanking out on it. Oh yeah…it is called a heated and passionate discussion. But when a minority person disagrees with a white person, we are called…. another drum roll pls…..difficult, angry, emotional – yada yada. My favourite is when two minorities disagree – guess what it is called? Think about it. This is going to be a fun ride, so many things to write about and so little time…Stay tuned! Title of my next post (The first step towards equity and equality for Minnesotans is to first accept and take responsibility for the states’ racial disparity and discrimination) You can’t heal if you are in denial, oh my Minnesota Caucasians are in denial. An addict can only recover when he/she admits he/she is an addict.

I am going to end this post with two more quotes from one of my heroes – Desmond Tutu..

I am not interested in picking up crumbs of compassion thrown from the table of someone who considers himself my master. I want the full menu of rights.

When these white trio kept saying diversity more times than I can count but lacked actual diversity in the committee they cherry picked, I thought of above the quote.

Another Tutu quote simply says “A person is a person because he recognizes others as persons”. You see if this caucasion trio recognized minority folks as persons whose voices are also important and must be heard then we would not be where we are today. Not only did they not see us as persons, but as usual they were defensive and arrogant about it.

Above words do not reflect any candidate, agency or committee.

Idil – Autism Mom

Alright – so, what a ride so many Somali Americans have had for the past year leading up to the last election. History was made by so many of them. I am extremely proud of them. I am sure it is not easy to run a campaign let alone win it. Congrats to Hodan Hassan who is a new state representative replacing Rep. Karen Clark. Mohamud Noor who won state representative replacing Ilhan Omar, Siad Ali who won again to be on the Minneapolis School Board and Ilhan Omar for winning to be a congresswoman replacing Keith Ellison who also won to be Minnesota state attorney.

So now what does this all mean for our community especially autism? I hope it means they will change the landscape of so many policies that have created disparity and discrimination. I hope they will write an autism legislation that looks in the cause of autism for Somali children and why it is higher in us. I hope they will change the current laws for how students are suspended in schools and what the consequences are for educators and school districts. I hope it means they will write into every funding from every state and federal agency to share and partner with underserved community agencies. I hope it means every dollar the University of Minnesota gets has attached policy that ensures resources are shared fairly with equity and students, fellows and faculty reflect the state’s diversity and talents. I hope it means judges appointed to Minnesota courts are as diverse as our state. I hope it means school districts are held accountable when they fail students of color. I hope it means the state legislature and state agencies’ staff reflect our state’s diversity. I hope it means current laws and policies are amended to ensure fairness, equality and equity for all Minnesotans.

I hope it means the state’s agency commissioners reflect the state’s diversity. I hope it means we all prosper and are given equal opportunities not with words, but with laws, policies, funding, appointments, resources and everything in between.

I hope it means the way DHS punishes minority-owned agencies are eliminated so that the rules are the same for all agencies irrespective of their ethnicity or race. I hope it means equality and prosperity for all. I hope it means Ken Martin and the DFLers don’t just come to our community during elections then drop us like a hot potato after they win.

Here is my wishlist for autism:

1. Either the governor allocates funding or a legislation is written that looks into the cause of autism in Somali children of why it is high and more severe. Sadly, Governor Dayton’s health department or as I like to call them “the do nothing state health agency” did not do any autism research as Dayton promised during his campaign. 
2. There is funding allocated through the governor via the department of public safety to do a thoughtful training for the state’s troopers similar to what an autism dad and officer of St. Paul police department has done. 
3. The governor or a bill is written that protects children with autism from neglect and maltreatment when in autism therapy centres. Currently, there is none and our children are vulnerable. 
4. We amend the current suspension laws for students with disabilities by getting rid of the language that states schools can suspend students up to 10 school days before they determine if the behavior is due to the student’s disability. This is wrong for students who have behavior disorders like autism and do not understand the concept of suspension nor cause/effect. The new language can say “students with disabilities can be suspended similar to that of their typical peers if their behavior was NOT due to their disability which is determined by the student’s IEP team”.
5. Finally, any state and/or federal funding that goes to state/federal agencies (MDH, DHS, MDE, HRSA, CDC, NIH, etc.) must have language that states “resources will be shared and partnered with underserved agencies and communities”. Currently, mainstream agencies just hog the majority of the resources and communities of color are left out. 

While I only care and understand about autism issues and certainly do not want to be the Jackie of all trades, I give gentle friendly suggestions to our newly elected officials. 

1. Keith Ellison must ensure the state attorney general lawyers and staff represent the diversity of the state. He campaigned hard in the Somali community and I hope he keeps his promises or at least we hold him accountable.
2. Governor Walz who campaigned on unity and one Minnesota must ensure his commissioners, office staff and state agency leaders reflect the diversity of Minnesota.
3. Funding that goes to the University of Minnesota must have some kind of accountability to ensure there is a collaboration with underserved community agencies, faculty &  administrative staff are diverse and reflect Minnesota. Currently, it does not. White liberals like Dr Amy Hewitt simply hog the resources and rarely nurture or hire researchers of color.
4. While Gov. Dayton appointed few minority judges to Minnesota courts, it is clearly not enough given this states disparities in the justice system. Therefore, upcoming Governor Walz must ensure minority lawyers are appointed to be judges similar to how Rep Thissen was appointed to Minnesota Supreme Court and previous DHS Commissioner Jesson was appointed to Minnesota Court of Appeals. If you look at Minnesota judges, they are as white as vanilla and need to reflect the diversity of the state.
5. I would also encourage young minority lawyers to run for county attorneys. Currently, there are 87 county attorneys and only one (Ramsey) is a person of color. This can’t be but sadly it is.

Above words do not reflect any candidate, agency or committee.

Idil – Autism Mom & Advocate

Alright – so, Kim Norton in my humble little opinion was the queen of autism disparity when she was a state legislator in Minnesota. She has written so many bills to list here that wanted to give more butter to the buttered up while screwing with low-income autism families. I kid you not. Norton was one of the reasons that we as Somali autism parents advocated really hard because all of her legislations wanted to give millions of dollars to the wealthy autism families while giving almost nothing to the low-income autism families who we know are disproportionately minorities. To make a long advocacy work short, we have defeated her disparity creating legislations in every corner and at every session. Actually, when the R’s were in control, her bills would never come up in any committee even for a hearing, but when Huntley or Liebling were in charge – her bills would pass those committees. Luckily, we were able to advocate in the Senate and in conference committees and defeat them in the end.

Then Norton retired from the Minn House of Reps and for some reason decided to come back this year and ran for mayor in Rochester Minnesota. Drum roll please…..there is a minority person running against Norton for the Rochester mayor position. Ahhh, this is Mozart music to my ears. Liebling on the other hand wanted to run for governor of Minnesota then changed her mind and wants to run again for her seat at Minn House of Reps. The good news is there is a Somali running against her. Yep, it does not get better than this.

Norton and Liebling have been very difficult in our autism and equality advocacy journey. I am not going to write all of the horrible things they did as that would take days to complete, but in a nutshell, they have always voted against anything autism that enhanced or helped minority children with autism. They voted to eliminate the Minn autism task force (don’t worry – it didn’t work because we defeated this bill in conference committee) because we wanted equality, they tried to silence and eliminate our voices. In all of their efforts, we have defeated them in every corner and none of their bills passed in the final legislation which is good. And, now they want to come back and create even more horrible policies. I think we need to come out and vote against them because our children’s future depends on it.

I ask the voters in Rochester where there are a lot of Somalis to please vote for Regina Mustafa to be the next mayor of Rochester. We also need to come out in high numbers and vote for Abdulkadir Abdalla who is running for Minn House District 26A in Rochester.

As Somalis and in general as Minorities, we need to use our voices for the betterment of our lives and that of our children. One way of doing this is having those that reflect us at the decision-making table. Disparity in Minnesota is so high because we are never at the table.

Update – June 29, 2018:

Sadly, Abdulkadir told me that he withdrew and is not running this cycle. Bummer. I am hoping, he comes back next time in couple of years. The good news is we can still beat Norton and not allow her to be the next mayor in Rochester, MN. Please get out and vote for Regina Mustafa to be the next mayor in Rochester and let’s defeat Norton.

Above words do not reflect any candidate, agency or committee.

Idil – Autism Mom and Advocate

Alright – so, this week there were quite shake-ups in Minneapolis politics. The voters said goodbye to the old ways of doing things and hello to new and fresh faces and ideas. Even St. Paul elected its first African American Mayor. How amazing is that!

Mpls Mayor: Jacob Frey won and beat a list of candidates including the current mayor Betsy Hodges. Four years ago, candidate Hodges came to many Somali community events and promised to do a lot. Yes, I know candidates promise a lot before reality of governing hits. Mayor Hodges named the first Somali policy adviser ever. She also along with the city council gave an autism grant to a Somali autism advocacy agency, and she came to one of our annual autism meetings. In terms of getting her police department get trained about autism – well that has been a lot more challenging. The Mpls police department under Hodges has not been autism friendly, it also has not been minority community friendly. I am hoping Jacob can change this and ensure all of Mpls police officers get trained and learn about autism. Additionally, Jacob is a genuine person by nature. What you see is what you get. I don’t think he will promise anything he can’t deliver. I have met Jacob years before he was a city council member, and I must say he is the same today as he was back then. He is a sweet, kind, authentic individual who calls it from the hip without any passive aggressive Minnesota nice bullshit. I will for sure contact him and ask if Mpls police officers can finally get a comprehensive and thoughtful autism training.

City Council: Well, it was no brainer that Abdi Warsame won again. I don’t even know why Mohamud Noor keeps running. I mean how many times can a guy lose before he gives up. Warsame and Autism – I would say it hasn’t been as fruitful as I had hoped but I also haven’t really contacted his office and asked for help other than once few years ago when we invited him to come to an autism event and he came. What I like about Warsame is that he is passionate about representing his constituents. This term, I will for sure ask him to help with autism policies in particular with Mpls health dept and Mpls police training. I am also hoping in this term, Warsame on his own advocates and creates autism policies that help his constituents.

One Mpls mayor candidate that I hoped she would run for a different office was Nakima Levy. In my humble little opinion, she would be a much better candidate running against Hennepin County district attorney Mike Freeman. He needs to go and be replaced by a fair more just person. I think he is cocky, self-soothing and arrogant district attorney for this county which has some of the highest racial inequalities in the nation. He reminds me of the attorney from Ferguson Missouri who won even after the riots and injustices that city suffered. This is another area that sorely needs minority representation. Guess how many district or county  attorney’s of color there are in Minnesota -….. wait for it…. drum roll pls…. ONE. Yep, just one. And, how many counties are there in Minnesota? …… lots and lots.. Additionally, have you noticed how many state judges are minorities….. almost non-existent. Yet, no one hardly runs against them. I really hope Nakima and others like her change the landscape in this area by running in these offices.

City council member and president Barbara Johnson lost. My take on that is goodbye and good riddance. First of all, the fact that Ms. Johnson has been sitting in this seat for decades is wrong, then her family apparently represented this area for half a century. Let’s put this into perspective, Mpls has some of the worst disparities and gaps between people of color and whites and those living in north Minneapolis have it the worst. The fact that Johnson represented this area that has suffered for so long and seemed so out of touch with reality is beyond shame. I am glad she lost and I hope the new winner changes things for the better.

Mpls Park Board: This was another area where many minorities including Somalis were running. If you live in Mpls then you have noticed the differences in the parks where minorities live versus parks where whites live. It is like day and night. I thought previous park board members were self-righteous, rude, entitled and plain racist in a Minnesota nice passive aggressive manner. Everyone talked about equity and acceptability, I really hope this includes creating parks for children with autism. Even dogs have safe parks with fences, but there are no safe parks for children with autism who often bolt and elope, and have no safety skills. I think that is unacceptable, parks must be a safe place for all children to play irrespective of their abilities or disabilities.

At any rate, I think overall this was good election year. I think many in communities of color are realizing in order for equality to prevail and opportunities to be fair, they must do it themselves and represent their communities. America is a nation of immigrants and diversity, it is possible to live in harmony and embrace each-other’s culture and values – that is what makes America the beacon of hope and the best country in the world.

Final election results

A Liberian American becomes a mayor in a city in Montana!

An American born Sikh becomes a mayor in a city in New Jersey!

Above words do not reflect any candidate, agency or committee.

Idil – Autism Mom and Advocate

Alright – so, The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) fined Behavior Dimensions Inc. (BDI). BDI provides ABA therapy for children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) in Minnesota. It is run by Dr. Nancy Schussler and Jay O’Neill. Depending who you talk to – there are lots of good and bad information from parents and previous staff. In my opinion – I can do without the huffing and puffing of Dr. Schussler. I really don’t know her partner at all.

At any rate, few years back when Minn DHS was in denial in covering ABA services for wealthier fee for service ASD families, the state legislature and CMS prompted an audit for some ABA agencies. BDI was among that list. It turns out that BDI billed Medicaid fraudulently by $2,772,517.00.

The reasons were diagnostic assessments not completed on time as required, missing or unsigned ITPs, and ITP’s not being reviewed every 90 days as required per CTSS guidelines. BDI also lacked proper clinical supervision. Therefore, CMS cited BDI for failing to meet the requirements needed for reimbursement of ABA services. DHS commissioner was asked to recoup this amount in lump sum, installment payments or deductions/withholding from Minnesota Health Care Programs (MHCP) payments.

Now, let’s imagine this was a minority owned agency. DHS would’ve had a meltdown. They would’ve closed shop, revoked their license and charged them with everything in the kitchen sink. None of that has happened. DHS has been mostly silent. The media that writes and writes when minority owned agencies do anything wrong has also been silent. It is as though it never happened.

Guess why that is? I have a theory. Wait for it…..drum roll please……implicit bias that is so subliminal it is buried under their soul. In other words, this is yet another reason of why racial disparity exists in this great state of Minnesota nice! The land of 10, 000 lakes or as I like to call it – the land of 10,000 racial disparities.

Where are  Mpls and St. Paul NAACP? well – your guess is as good as mine. Probably sleeping or shouting somewhere unnecessarily. In fact, there isn’t even a phone number or an office for these organizations that is supposed to assure colored folks are treated equally. Go figure. They should be the ones calling this double standard out and contacting Gov. Dayton and Commissioner Piper about it.

Where is the minority media – you ask? well – they are too busy taking a picture with some useless politician. They never write about such things, only complain about it when others do it.

I personally don’t even blame DHS or Gov. Dayton. In Africa – there is a saying that says “lax meeshay is dhigtaa lagu qalaa” or “ishii laga arka ushii lagu tumaa”. When translated into English, it loses it’s poetic meaning but it basically means that we are at fault for not using our votes and voices wisely. It is an election year – what have the folks you voted for last time done for you? Why give the same job that they were bad at.

Ask your-self and vote differently.

Above words do not represent any candidate, agency or committee.

Idil – Autism Mom & Advocate