The Glass is 3/4 Full & It Will Get Better

Let’s start with Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) or State Medicaid Agency which overseas all autism therapies and interventions for thousands of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. 

Where shall I start – maybe back in 2010 when I consistently and relentlessly testified at the State Capitol by asking the same-thing over and over until state legislatures were either annoyed or understood my points.

As you might know, you get 3 minutes (give or take depending on the chair) to testify for any public bill or policy going through the legislature and I would watch when DHS leaders were there, especially David or Alex and kept asking; what does MN DHS cover for autism, what does it call and who does it pay for? 

Then of course the chair would call Alex or David and ask them. They would then say we don’t cover ABA, pay for this or that. I would then say on the next hearing, they need to cover autism therapy and call it what it is.

To make a long – very long, really long advocacy short, state legislatures charged MN DHS to come up with autism specific benefit and voila the new ASD benefit that passed last year. Now, after that I got a lot of calls from Somalis and other minorities saying; if I were caucasian the new ASD benefit would be named after me or something. OK, maybe – well most likely, probably.

But my goal was never to be named after a bill or to even be known for it. It was simply ALL kids with ASD having EQUAL access to autism therapy including Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA). I think we have accomplished that.

Another area I advocated was MN DHS having someone specific for Autism, so I would call them and ask who I should speak to about autism. Initially, they were confused then they would assign me to someone – usually an assistant commissioner who quite frankly did not have time for my questions and my goal was to irritate them so they would have to get someone for AUTISM which they finally did Anne Harrington. DHS also contracted with Mariam/CSCM for Somali autism outreach which I am hoping will turn into a permanent collaboration. 

Here comes the bonus – MN DHS is hiring an autism policy adviser and just this week Anne Barry told me MN DHS hired an African American Assistant Commissioner Mr. Brownell. I know at first I thought – no way, really.

Yes, really Anne B assured me and viola he is listed on their leadership website which you can see end of this post.

In summary, I look at all of this progress at MN DHS as the glass being three quarters full and it will get better as they keep hiring diverse staff in middle and lower positions so that DHS can reflect the communities it serves. Now, who can ask for anything better of Commissioner Jesson and Deputy Commissioner Barry (who is by far the sweetest and most sincere person I’ve ever met in Minnesota state agencies).

Was getting here hard, of course. You all heard of driving while Black, then there is walking while Black especially in NYC with their stop and frisk policy. Well, now add advocating while Black, but with a good ending towards diversity, inclusion and fairness for all.

Now update from MDH (Minnesota Department of Health) Well – this is OK news because MDH only hired two Somalis for autism outreach and education including immunizations. We have not seen their contributions yet, but my hope is MDH will do better than that and look into cause research for autism.

Now update from ICI at UMN (University of Minnesota’s Institute on Community Integration and LEND Program) Now, this by far was the hardest and gave me the most headache advocating because there was so much resistance from Dr. Hewitt and UMN overall. But finally with the help of Denise, Diane and Laura from HRSA (Health Resources & Services Adminstration) as well as Dr. Wakefield and even Sec Sebelius (I told you this was very difficult) – they hired ONE Somali person at ICI, Anab, one Somali at LEND as community faculty, and had many minorities in their LEND program. This year alone they have four Somali LEND fellows, and added a minority person to their selection committee. This ideas was so good that even Georgia LEND program added one Somali fellow. How awesome and such a good feeling when diversity is the norm. 

So, despite the many endless days and nights of advocating for more diverse students, diverse workforce and equal policies – I feel happy and I think the glass is definitely 3/4 full. My hope is for those now on the inside to never forget who they represent and keep helping those behind them.

I really thank everyone that made this possible from the bottom of my heart and hope they continue to be mindful of their hiring and policies. 

God Bless!

As usual, above words are my opinion and do not reflect any committee or agency.

Idil – Somali Autism Mom & Minority Advocate