It is more important than ever to make sure autism research reflects what matters to all of us. Make your voice heard by submitting a comment to the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee by October 14th! Learn more about the IACC, and how to submit a comment, with our new resource!
The IACC advises on federal funding for autism research. They make recommendations on how autism research funding is prioritized. You can push the IACC to advocate for research that matters to our community by submitting a public comment telling them what kind of research you want to see. You can do that by submitting a comment using this form, and asking the committee to prioritize the research you care about.
Please try to be as specific as possible – for example, saying, “I would like IACC to prioritize research on how many autistic people have sleep disorders and what treatments are effective” is clearer than “I want IACC to prioritize research on sleeping.”
You can submit a comment using the form here.
Some of ASAN’s comments have included recommendations to support and prioritize research on best practices for supporting robust and effective alternative and augmentative communication (AAC) for autistic people, as well as cultural competency of alternative communication methods. We also regularly urge the IACC to include autistic people, particularly autistic people with co-occurring mental health or intellectual disabilities, autistic people who use AAC, and autistic people of color, in the research process as collaborators, not just in the data collection phase.
You can read more of ASAN’s previous recommendations here and here.