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Alright – so, sadly Sen. Fateh has won the dfl endorsement for Minneapolis. How frustrating. Majority of Somalis have a kid with autism, related to one, or works with. Yet, we are in the dark about state legislation and statutes at the capital. Sen. Fateh has a lot of power in the state legislature. He has not used that power to do good for at least autism families. He is the chair of higher education. This means all funding and policies that govern all higher education in Minnesota go through him. This includes U of MN and all other colleges and universities. Research funding goes through his committee.

The autism monitoring statistics come from the U of MN also called the ADDM numbers. They indicate Somali children born in Minnesota have the highest rate for autism, 1 in 16 for 4-year-olds. Imagine that. Every 16 Somalis in Minnesota, one has an autistic child. My guess is the other fifteen are related to that family. Autism steals dreams and alters families. Fateh did not give a flying leap about it. He promised then lied and delivered nada for our autism community. The Somali community knows how to open autism centers, but when we need their support, they are MIA. You cannot open an autism center then ignore our children’s needs.

Fateh denied calling the University of Minn regarding the high numbers. He refused to allocate autism research funding in his committee that had millions going through. Now we want to vote for him to be the mayor for the city with the highest autism rate for our community and all communities. Why?

My advice to anyone who lives in Minneapolis is to tell him NO. If he doesn’t care about our children, why should we care about him? I only hope he experiences the life of an autism family. Maybe then he will have a human heart and understand.

Qofkii walaalkiis loo xiiroow; adna soo qoyso.

Hadaad is tiri autism aniga ima khusayso then ha furanin an autism center.

Hadaad qabiil ugu hiilisid Fateh, then you are no different than being cunsuuri.

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

Idil Abdull – Somali Autism Mom & Retired Advocate

Alright – so, when I first heard a Somali woman won the state senate, I was so excited. You see I have been advocating at the MN state legislature for over fifteen years now. I retired in 2023 – technically. Initially, she was not on any autism related committees, and I never saw her as I only go to such committees. I also heard she tells Somalis “I did not win because of the Somali vote”. But I shrugged off as I did not know her. I also heard she was arrogant and cocky. I did not pay attention to that either as I never met her and she was not on any health or education committee.

Well – then magically she was assigned to the senate human services committee. Now, I thought things will be good because we will have a Somali woman there. Not so fast. At first, if you watch the committee hearings, she asks questions, does not understand much but does nothing bad. Just you wait.

A group of Somali autism parents go to the senate chair Sen. Hoffman and ask if he can add funding to his omnibus bill for them to train in collaboration with DHS EIDBI agencies and autism families. All good right as that is sooooo needed. Sadly, Hoffman becomes a toddler and a teenager mixed and wants to take that funding from the Somali autism advocacy agency. Guess what he does; he uses the village idiot Sen. Zaynab and Sen. Fateh to divide the Somali autism families. It is the end of the session and the funding for Maangaar Voices (MV) is in the Omnibus for human services senate version.

Sen. Zaynab couches Sen. Fateh to introduce an amendment to take the funding from MV and give to another Somali autism advocacy agency (SPAN), what now? what the heck is that? creating a pitting situation within the Somali autism families. You see this is what happens when you are the village idiot senator who is over-rated, underperforming, and can fall for an easy divisive tactic like that. Yes, siree Bob.

The amendment fails because a Republican, Sen. Abeler says – why are we taking funds from one agency who has been here advocating to another? This is all in the committee hearings on 4.9.25 (the part where Sen. Fateh introduces amendment A16 to take the funds from one Somali autism advocacy agency and tries to give to another Somali autism advocacy agency starts about 2:39 minutes into the hearing. All hearings are recorded and anyone can watch. What happens next?

Well, evil Hoffman deletes the funding from MV. This is the guy Somalis claim to like because he is good for people with disabilities, oh please.

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

Idil Abdull – Somali Autism Mom & Retired Advocate

Alright – so, here we go again. First, no community is perfect and it is heartbreaking for anyone to open an autism therapy agency if they do not understand the EIDBI statute, policy, and care about our children and families. Human services is not a business; it is about humans. Humans who have a disability and often cannot advocate for themselves. At bare minimum, we ask for kindness and compassion from providers. With all that said, DHS always uses the Somali community and other black and brown folks as a scape goat for their incompetence and lack of better oversight that is fair, not to mention their subtle bias ways. None of the agency leaders Harpstead, Nathasha, etc. are here now that either caused or contributed to this shitshow at least for autism as that is the only thing I understand. Then magically the Senate dflers and the governor pretend to care and introduce a bill that would provide objective oversight to all state agencies including DHS, MDE, etc. Wait for it… it is original, not really. Then the DFLers in the house oppose it. Excuse me but aren’t they all the same party who meet behind closed doors. YEP, you see how all this is just a game for them. Ugh, and our community always falls for the bait. If it is too easy to enroll to a service then it is too good and a set up. Below is my testimony for that after the House dflers rejected the senate and governor’s proposal.

Fraud Prevention & State Agency Oversight Policy

Chair: Rep. Robbins

July 8^th, 2025

Re: Overview of DHS OIG office & DHS Medicaid Eligibility

Dear Madam Chair and Members, my name is Idil Abdull. I am a Somali Autism Mom and retired advocate. I and other Somali autism families and community members advocated for the Early Intensive Developmental Behavior Intervention (EIDBI) in 2013 at the state legislature and 2014 at Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) after I was appointed to the Federal autism Committee – IACC by US HHS Sec Sebelius.

We did this so that Medicaid would cover medically necessary therapy for children with autism in Minnesota and nationwide. As you may know, CMS approved Minnesota’s state plan to provide autism therapy in March of 2015.

Now move forward ten years, as one of the original advocates and more importantly as an autism parent, I am not impressed with DHS’ OIG oversight for autism services and with DHS in general.

• They approve people without to care to ensure people are in this for the right reasons and care about our children.
• DHS refuses to train autism families and EIDBI agencies about policy and statutes. Then DHS gets mad and vilifies our community when people make mistakes.
• Even the new policy and rules passed in this legislative session, DHS has refused to explain to families and agencies that it will affect.
• How do you expect anyone to follow statutes and policies if they do not understand it and no one holds DHS accountable.
• One of DHS’ reasons to not have an oversight of them was the state would lose Medicaid. I am confused and baffled by that; how exactly will the state lose any funding for doing a better oversight? Please ask DHS commissioner that.
• Finally, I am also disappointed with this committee. You have not asked or allowed actual public members in autism or other areas to testify before today unless you selected them. What is the point of helping us when you do not allow us to talk to you. I ask that you allow more public input from the public if the goal is better oversight that is fair and thoughtful without political agenda.

References:

https://www.startribune.com/mom-s-push-to-help-poor-kids-with-autism-brings-new-federal-benefits/298349191

https://www.mprnews.org/story/2012/03/29/idil-abdull–interagency-autism-coordinating-committee

Sincerely,

Idil Abdull – Somali Autism Mom & Retired Advocate

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

Idil Abdull – Somali Autism Mom & Retired Advocate

Alright – so, if you know me or read my blog, then you understand that Sen. John H has voted against Medicaid covering ABA therapy for individuals with autism. He also voted to eliminate the last MN Autism council because I was asking for fairness. Nope, not kidding. He did all this when he had no power and was a freshman senator.

Fast forward to a decade later, he has power to screw with our autism community even more. Sadly, he is the chair because of his seniority not because he knows how to run a committee. If you saw him as the chair, it would make you wanna puke. That is not even the problem. He seems to think dividing autism families and in general the Somali community is the way to go. Why? Because we allow him. People from the community beg him to give them two dollar grants then brown-nose so hard that you cannot tell where their nose separates from you know where. Akhas Caleeg.

He demands like a toddler having terrible twos to not talk with xyz person or he won’t fund your cause. How mature of him. Sorry, I meant immature. He tells the community silly things like I am going to retire or visit xyz city in East Africa as that makes any difference. He tries to speak one or two words in Somali or whatever East African person he is talking to as though that is somehow a welcoming thing to do.

Hey Senator – how about you just do your job as the chair of human services fairly without being vindictive and mean-spirited. How about you stop making useless jokes that no one gets and again simply manage the committee. Stop silencing people who you don’t like as this is not Paris Hilton’s BFF show. Stop dividing the black and brown communities. Stop adding contingencies of kissing your you know where to giving anyone two dollar grants to do their job.

To the Somali and black/brown community – it would be so much better if you did now allow or listen to his whining and unnecessary words, we can replace him at the polls in the next election. Elected officials should not be dividing any community. You ain’t got to hate your brother/sister to get a two dollar grant to do important work. Your work should be good and sufficient.

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

Idil Abdull – Somali Autism Mom & retired advocate

Alright – so, I am sooooo trying to retire from advocacy but these publicly elected officials keep pissing me off. They want to be elected, write whatever policy they want, and we shall have no right to say nada about it. How do you like them apples?

The Somali DFL Caucus had what they called listening session in Cedar/Riverside today (April 12, 2025). The flyer said it starts at 4pm. So, I went there at 4pm. Guess what? doors were locked and no one was there. The first thing they start is lying about the start time. Yuk. They finally show up and start the so-called listening session an hour and 15 min late. Then they praise themselves, tell us how wonderful they are and how yuk yuk the other side is, yada yada. They give the microphone to school board members, city council, the new NE Mpls senator, house representatives, Somali caucus people, on and on. I thought this was a listening session. You just wait….and drum roll pls… then they say we are waiting for Sen. Fateh who was late almost 2 hours. This is the guy who wants to be the boss of Minneapolis. He can’t even show up on-time for what appeared to be a meeting for him.

Sen. Fateh says few useless and untrue words like – we are united. Who exactly is united, Mr. divide autism families. Then he says… Let me think, nothing to write home about or significant. Then he leaves without hearing from one single person.

The newly elected MN DFL chair was there and told us how the name of democratic farmers & labor name came out. He mentioned Sen. Paul Wellstone. They always mention him, but no one has ever measured to Sen. Paul Wellstone – he was a true human being who was approachable, humble and did his job with humility. I have never seen any dfler like him – ever. Then he said the DFL party is losing the farmers. What now? how does this relate to Somalis. We do not farm. How about you tell us what the ones already elected have done and/or will do about – oh I don’t know, autism, opioids crises, affordable housing, home ownership and education disparities. Nope, they did not talk about anything that is important to this community.

I have always wondered why the Somalis who have worked very hard for this party never graduate from community outreach and getting more votes. How come they don’t end up in the administration of the person they campaigned for. Let’s see Simba has been helping the DFL for almost two decades. Why can’t these crappy politicians hire him as an advisor or in their administration. Oh wait, we are only good for getting the votes not being successful in the dfl party.

The Mpls school board something was there. Let’s see Mpls public schools is soooo bad for black/brown and students with disabilities to the point they are sued by the federal government. The school board association constantly comes to education committees in the capitol and lobbies to suspend students instead of keeping them in the classroom. I tried to ask him why Mpls does not write a dissent opinion to bills like HF 1052 and HF 1436. You see, I am tired of preaching sugar while practicing salt. Mpls public schools despite having more black/brown board members still have horrible education gap and discriminatory practices. Furthermore, the idea of the dflers care about teachers of color shortage, oh please. They controlled all three branches of government until this year for years and did not move this issue significantly. The problem is they know most of us do now follow legislations and policies and believe whatever crap they feed us in Cedar. I sat next to a lovely African American dfl and she listened more than all of these Somali caucus combined. Sheeko iyo hadal baad haysaan, ee dadka dhagaysta. Qabtana howshii la’idiin doortay. Ha noo afmacaanaynina, oo qowda maqashii, waxbana ha qabanin naga daaya.

Waan codaynaa – waan seexanaa. Waan codaynaa – waan seexanaa. Yep.

On a good note, I saw so many people that I have not seen for years. It was yum yum seeing so many Somalis who are doing awesome work for the community. I just wish we learned how to hold elected officials accountable. I was also impressed by the leaders of the Somali DFL Caucus Ali, Ilhan and others. I have friendly unsolicited suggestions:

1. Make an election plan for the Somali community each election year.
2. Have a list of potential policies and/or funding those that you supported will support and hold them accountable if they do not.
3. Get the governor to appoint several Somali lawyers to be judges.
4. Help Somali lawyers to run to be county, district, court of appeals and MN supreme court. All of them are up for elections without any competition. If we want justice to be fair then we need to ensure the judges reflect those they judge.
5. Be constantly on media to tell people your accomplishments and what you are working on. In fact, I would encourage you to start a podcast and do it weekly.
6. Make sure the many young Somali professionals who campaign long and hard are hired in the winner’s administrations.

Thanks so much for what you do Ali and Ilhan!

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

Idil Abdull – Somali Autism Mom & retired advocate

Alright – so, if you know me or read my blog then you understand how I detest Dakota county. I have a surprise for you. Carver is in the running for being another sh….t county. They screw with autism families particularly black and brown ones. They are lazy, rude, intentionally heartless and could care less.

Recently more Somali autism families have been moving to Carver County especially to Chaska and Chanhassen. I have advocated and helped autism families of different races and ethnicities but the treatments towards them is night and day. For the non-Somali families, Carver County comes out quicker, addresses the issues by asking ONE time. For Somali families, they are slower, ignore the family’s needs, try to trick the family by excluding who they chose to help, etc. This is typical for racist counties. They will say things like – we are going to deal with the family directly even after the family signs and asks me to help. I have seen this in many counties as far away as Rochester and even Duluth. This tactic will not work, and I suggest Carver and others stop trying to manipulate the families. Any family has a right to bring whoever they want to any situation for help, guidance, and support. The county does not dictate this, the family does. Let’s get this to your thick and unkind head.

Just like Dakota, Carver is very pretty but the devil always wears Prada. While the land is beautiful, the county commissioners, most of its middle management and even some of their elected officials who narrowly won are just as bad, if not worse.

I remember a Somali autism mom called me last year’s election night and said, “Rep. Noor came with another person asking to vote for her”. Imagine that. Noor is from Mpls, and he was door knocking for a fellow dlfer in Chanhassen. This tells you how close elections in this district and in general most of Minnesota is. None of them have room to be rude, cold, or arrogant.

Now, the county commissioners as white as vanilla. They can use some tan. I am not sure if we are there yet. As you know, Dakota had a Somali ran last election. Scott had a Somali run couple of years ago. Neither won but I think they did not campaign hard enough and deep into the rural areas. I think there is hope to replace them. I also think we need to keep going to their public hearings and testify by telling our stories and maybe one day the gazillion Somali reporters will write stories of how horrible Carver and Dakota counties are to black/brown autism families.

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

Idil Abdull – Somali Autism Mom & Retired Advocate

Alright – so, Dr. Eric Larsson is arguably the reason we have EIDBI in Minnesota, and not in a good way. Here is a brief history of who this bastard is:

1. He is a racist shithead who never took so many Somali autism children and discharged fast and abruptly the ones he took.
2. He is jealous of the Somali community’s quick learning skills and adapting to the environment.
3. He is jealous of the many Somali autism centers in Minnesota because he thinks they are taking money from his pockets.
4. He campaigned, testified, and lobbied against medical assistance covering ABA which is what later became EIDBI.
5. He is good at using Somalis against each-other. Divide and conquer is his to go to.
6. He is a thief who stole Medicaid funds to the tune of $2,862,769.00. Imagine if a Somali stole this much. It would be world news.
7. He is a grass snake who is constantly looking for his next autism family victim.
8. He manipulates DHS, especially EIDBI staff.
9. He will divide a brother from a sister if it benefits him. He will take milk from a baby for his bloated ego.
10. He will lie to everyone about everything – that is his DNA. He stole employees from Minn Autism Center who helped him so much at the beginning, and they sued him and won. The fact that MAC CEO talks to him now makes me nauseous. Larsson met in a coffee shop with his employer’s staff (MAC) and solicited them to come with him to a new agency he wanted to start (Lovaas). In other words, not only does he steal millions in Medicaid but he is ungrateful SOB who will steal anything and anyone. Imagine if a Somali has done this.
11. My advice to the Somali community especially the autism and maybe the museum is again – qofkii walaalkii loo xiiroow – adna soo qoyso. Larsson is using you to his benefit. He has a cold heart and a colder soul. He is useless to the unth power.

If you are a Somali or even other Black and Brown person and you are thinking he is harmless. Think again. Learn his history in autism and Minnesota first then judge him. Do not believe a word that comes out of his yuk mouth. It is full of worms.

Qofkii walaalkiis loo xiroo, adna soo qoyso.

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

Idil – Somali Autism Mom & Retired Advocate

Alright – so, the chairs of human services in the Minnesota Senate and House (Hoffman & Noor) along with the state Medicaid agency commissioner (Harpstead) held a community town hall meeting on August 15, 2024. I know I am writing this blog a bit late, I am trying to retire and all.

Anyway, like an African wedding, they start unfashionably late. Then all three of them praise themselves on how good they are and have done. They tell us they passed this bill and that bill and they are yum yum. Most of the people, including me are thinking – what planet are they living. What now?

Ok fine, in the interest of fairness, they did pass some good legislation but not enough to praise them when they finally opened the mic to the public.

First, Noor tells all of us Somalis to make our comments short – I tell him – don’t dream. The commissioner tells us – thanks for your candid and frank comments. Well, her words were that, but her body language was saying to us “screw you”. No worries, we are used to this by now.

Finally, the public was allowed to speak. I had a long speech prepared for how racist and heartless DHS has been under commissioner Harpstead towards minority autism families and providers, then I heard so many others with real heartbreaking stories one after another, not that racism isn’t heartbreaking, but I bit my tongue and did not say what I wrote. Instead, I asked them to address clear disparities in DHS and hire more people who reflect the communities they serve. I also asked which is more important to me – lack of services for adults with autism. There is literally nothing for children like mine. When children age out of EIDBI and school, there are maybe less than 10 agencies that provide services – none of them look like us and they all have endless waitlists. This reminds me of the state of Minn before EIDBI when we had five agencies. Let me rephrase that – five blood sucking greedy racist crap autism therapy agencies. Ufta.

Sen. Hoffman said to me – Idil what is your deal with me, why do you keep writing negative blogs about me. What I find really interesting is when people are advocating at the state capitol, there are a lot of raw emotions and we all speak from our perspectives. However, when the session ends and you win some and lose some, it is all fair in love and politics. But when anyone who is black or maybe brown is advocating and says their opinions, white legislators and white state agencies take it personally, but they don’t take it personally when a white person does the same thing. I remember when I was advocating at the state legislator, I would see white autism families looked at as passionate and caring for their children. On the other hand, they would think I am angry, should have no right to have emotions or feel what I felt. Such double standard and they do not even realize it.

I also remember the level of disrespect they sometimes had for each other, but it was never personal – it was simply part of the landscape. One time, long ago, Rep. Thissen was in the health conference committee with Sen. Yvonne P Solon, and he told her “To come down of her high horse and walk on the ground”. I was sitting next to one of the health insurance lobbyists who said, “they are just tired now and insulting each other”. That was it, none of the legislators even noticed or commented on that disrespectful comment. Another time, maybe multiple times, the chair of the education finance committee in the house (CY) would scold and demean the members especially the republican ones and no one would blink or call her out. One time, she had a teenager meltdown and said to Rep. Peggy “not right now, I haven’t had my coffee yet”. Imagine if a black legislator said that it would make the news.

You see this double standard of I can say my feelings and my opinions as a white person, and they should be looked as my heartfelt opinion and perspective but God Forbid if a black/brown person says the same thing then – they have a meltdown.

Here is my say to Hoffman, Merz, Thissen and all those elite liberal white and privileged either publicly elected officials or work in a publicly funded agency – get over yourselves, it is not about you, if you want no one to be mad at your horrible policies then please find a job in a shoe store or maybe an ice cream shop. I am sure everyone is happy at those places. But if you choose to work in a publicly funded agency or are a publicly elected official then the PUBLIC in every race and ethnicity has the right to criticize, critique, and comment on your policies or lack thereof.

Now, I did say to Hoffman that I will write good review blogs if/when he does something good for autism. In 2024, he supported us when we needed to add QABA to EIDBI behavior analysis. Thanks for that. He also met with several Somali autism parents and promised them he will hold DHS accountable for their deliberate and subjective biased policies towards Somali autism centers and families.

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

Idil Abdull – Somali Autism Mom & Retired Advocate

Alright – so, I highly encourage every autism parent and provider to use their voice and always be in the know about current EIDBI policies and changes the state wants to make. If we are not at the table, we are on the menu. We need to be vigilant and alert about autism and our children. Recently, DHS sent as required by law comments regarding changes they want to make to EIDBI. Any changes that DHS wants to make to EIDBI usually goes to CMS for review and approval. CMS pays a percentage of this and has to approve the state’s plan amendments. Below are my comments on the proposed changes to EIDBI that I sent.

My name is Idil Abdull, I am an autism mom, retired advocate and an EIDBI provider. I have spoken on numerous occasions, with CMS offices in Chicago and Baltimore about Minnesota Medicaid agency’s inability to be inclusive. The changes Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) is requesting as usual have no community or stakeholder input.

They will claim DHS EIDBI advisory council was consulted. Please remember this council has no access to the public, nor do we have access to them. DHS ensures the council meets behind closed doors and we have no ability to communicate with them. In a nutshell, they are used by DHS to justify their racial disparity creating policies and amendments.

I respectfully ask the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid to reject this SPA and ask DHS to ensure public input and collaboration is included. As we all know, Minnesota has some of the worst racial health and access disparities in the country, underhanded tactics like this EIDBI amendment is exactly why such horrible and shameful record exists here.

Furthermore, EIDBI statute 256B.0949, subd 8 (1 and 4) state stakeholder input and collaboration are a must. DHS is failing to follow state law and keeps changing EIDBI policies without any input or collaboration from stakeholders which should include parents, advocates and EIDBI agencies. Sadly, no one in Minnesota holds DHS accountable. I am hoping CMS will or at least ensure bias and conscious or sub-conscious racism does not prevail again.

Sincerely,

Idil Abdull – Somali Autism Mom and Retired Advocate

As usual, the above words do not reflect any candidate, agency, or committee.

Idil Abdull – Somali Autism Mom & Retired Advocate