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i'm so glad you cut it short. sometimes the introduction is somewhat longer than even
how i speak. but first of all i just want to say thank you. and thanking each and every
one of you. because what you do every day makes such a critical difference in terms
of the lives of people with disabilities. and ari, i don't ever wanna follow you as
a speaker again.
[laughter]
but thank you for inviting me to join you here tonight on your fifth occasion to do
this. i'm absolutely thrilled to be here. i want to commend asan for everything that
you have done over the past five years. you have really and truly changed the landscape
of self-advocacy for adults, and for kids with autism. asan is recognized as a leader
across this country in public policy initiatives, advocating for greater support and understanding
for adults and children on the autism spectrum. all of asan's efforts have paid off because
you really and truly have improved the lives and quality for countless people across the
country. thank you for everything that you've done and will continue to do in the future.
you know, whenever i talk to groups, i always wanna put it back in the eyes of the people
for whom we're, you know, we're responsible for. i wanna tell you about a success story,
of which there are many--ari, you are a great example of a success story--but the one that
i wanna talk about tonight is eric duquette. he's the salutatorian of his high school.
he's an honor student, a musician, and he is autistic. eric, who could not say a word
until the age of five, is now 18. and he delivered a commencement speech at his high school graduation
ceremony in smithfield, rhode island. his speech, funny and touching, was met with enthusiastic
applause from his peers. and part of what he said, "my parents were told i would most
likely end up in an institution," said duquette. "i stand before you accepted into every institution
of higher learning i applied to." what an outcome. eric graduated from smithfield high
school with the second highest grade point average in the class of just under 200 students.
he will attend rhode island college in the fall, with plans to study biology, and eventually
he wants to become a pharmacist. eric's mother judith began working with him early to break
down his communication barriers though speech therapy. in addition though--and this is what
is so many of you parents do all the time--what his mother did is she taught him sign language.
and he taught--used cards. she used cards with pictures and symbols. despite his early
struggles with speech, today he speaks both english and spanish. he's a member of the
spanish national honor society, and he placed 93rd in the nation on the spanish five exam.
what an incredible, you know, achievement for him. eric's words in the commencement
speech offers wisdom for every single one of us. he said, "do not allow yourself or
others to be defined by your limitations, but rather abilities. never underestimate
yourself." eric is just one of the countless success stories of students with autism. but
we can never stop what it is that we're doing. parents, teachers, students, and leaders play
an incredible role, fulfilling the promise that the education door unlocks for every
single one. just think about this, in 2010 we served almost six million kids in this
country, ages six to 21, who have a disability. three hundred and seventy-thousand of these
kids are kids who have autism. this equates to just over a little of six percent of students
who receive special education services under idea. since 1992--think about this--when we
really started collecting information about kids with autism, we served in 1992, 15,000
kids with autism. and how many do we serve today? the 370 thousand. an increase of over
41%. as the incidence of autism continues to grow, we know that there are challenges
that lies ahead of us. we know that providing students with the services and supports that
they need for success has the ability to result in tremendous outcomes, just as it did for
eric. one of these services includes supporting students as they transition from one setting
to another. youth with autism, as you're well aware, have a right under idea to appropriate
transition services that include instruction, related services, community experiences, the
development of employment, and other post-school adult living objectives. incredibly important.
and probably one of the most significant things we prepare kids for, and that's for the future.
careful transition planning is critical for youth, especially youth with disabilities.
in 2009, wayman, smith, and shaw recommended five different guidelines or practices for
youth with autism who, as they transition from secondary to post-secondary or the world
of work, the five things include: we need to be focusing in on implementing positive
behavioral supports to address the behavior challenges. matching the iep to a vision for
the future--how critically important that we have a vision for where we wanna head.
capitalizing on truly inclusive experiences. providing a variety of community-based job
and life experiences. and finally, coordinating a smooth transition to new resources and service
providers in the community. by concentrating on these five areas of practice, post-secondary
education has truly become one of the primary post-high school goals for more than four
out of every five secondary students with disabilities who have transition plans. between--just
think about this--between 1998 and 2009 the post-secondary enrollment for students with
disabilities increased by 38%, and four year college enrollment increased by 13%. now it
doesn't mean we've reached what we need to, but we have reached at least--and we're achieving
more and more every single year. we know that in order to achieve transition and post-secondary
goals it's crucial for students with disabilities and their families to be involved in issues
that relate to that. success is absolutely contingent on working together. families are
critically important in part of this equation. we realized this a long time ago. we nosers
have funded 107 parent training and information centers throughout this nation. these centers
are designed to provide resources for families of individuals, especially for those with
autism. information on how to access the systems, and how to access the financial resources
available. and there--tremendous trainings, webinars, and one-on-one consultation. in
addition to providing these external supports, one of the greatest ways we can prepare students
for the future is by building their self-advocacy. as asan is absolutely--they understand. self-advocacy
is invaluable to supporting a successful transition for students with autism. ralph abernathy,
a civil rights activist said--and i think he said it very well--"i don't know what the
future may hold, but i do know who holds the future." and he said, "in the hands of the
people themselves." the development of self-advocacy skills is seen as a key catalyst for achieving
success in post-high school outcomes. we at the education department really believe that
every student--and i meet with arni and president obama and we talk about it. we are saying
every student should graduate from high school ready for college and a career, regardless
of their income, race, ethnic or language background, or disability status. the secretary
has outlined, as i'm sure many of you are aware, a very comprehensive education agenda.
it includes a focus on early learning programs because we know that we need to start long
before school--long before kids even start school. that elementary and secondary schools
need to keep children on track to graduate from high school with the knowledge and skills
that they need for post-secondary success. and a higher education system that really
provides every individual the opportunity to attend and graduate from a great program.
this agenda applies to every child, including children and youth with autism. our goals
for meeting the needs of students with autism are further supported by arni's comprehensive
reform agenda, which spans from cradle to career. and in the line of work that i'm in,
not only cradle to career, but to the end of life. we need to address the needs of all
students, and we need to build the capacity for systemic continuos improvement. every
day, headlines in the news remind of us of the challenges facing our social services,
of which education is one of the major areas. and i see that the only way to solve these
challenges and to continue to improve the services that we provide is to work together.
we need students with disabilities to be involved in every single reform effort that we talk
about. i have really come to believe in the african proverb that says, "if you want to
go fast, go alone. but if you want to go far, go together." i don't know about you, but
i wanna go far. so it's time for us to renew our partnership--as we always have--in keeping
this promise to our youth. thank you very much for coming.
[applause]