The Affordable Care Act (ACA) made it easier to get health insurance for all Americans, including those of us with disabilities. But a lot of the information out there about the ACA and attempts to repeal it can be difficult to understand and navigate. That’s why ASAN is proud to announce the release of our plain language Affordable Care Act Toolkit for Self-Advocates, part of which was funded by the Special Hope Foundation.
This resource is the first of several that ASAN is developing to equip self-advocates to participate in important conversations about our lives and the services we rely on. The ACA Toolkit has three parts:
Part 1: A Self-Advocate’s Guide to the Affordable Care Act
This 15-page guide explains:
- What the ACA is
- How different parts of the ACA improved health care in America
- How the ACA could be repealed
- What could happen if the ACA is repealed
The guide also includes a glossary of important terms to equip self-advocates with the words and phrases we’ll need to talk about health care, including “high risk pools,” “individual mandate,” and “pre-existing conditions.”
Part 2: What’s the Problem with Repeal and Delay?
This three-page comic shows a Congressional representative talking to a self-advocate about the repeal and delay strategy. The comic illustrates:
- What “repeal and delay” means in the context of the Affordable Care Act
- Why some lawmakers support a repeal and delay strategy
- Concerns self-advocates have
- Why we need to take action
Part 3: The Affordable Care Act: What Can I Do?
The last part of the toolkit helps self-advocates take action to defend the Affordable Care Act. You’ll find answers to these questions:
- Who has the power to repeal the Affordable Care Act?
- Why does my voice matter?
- How can I contact my members of Congress?
- What ways can I use to contact my members of Congress?
- Are there other places I can share my story?
Every part of the toolkit is a screenreader-accessible PDF. Click on the title of each part of the toolkit below to download it:
The health care system in America is a complicated topic, one we could be talking about for months or years. The Affordable Care Act Toolkit for Self-Advocates explains in plain language all the different pieces of the ACA, what the proposed changes are, and what the impact of repealing it would be. ASAN also plans to release short videos on this and other policy topics.
We hope that you’ll use this toolkit to understand and participate in these important conversations over the next year. We encourage you to share it widely so that we can give as many self-advocates as possible the tools we need to talk about the ways that policies affect our lives. Nothing about us without us!
Please send any concerns, feedback, or comments on how you plan to use the toolkit to ASAN’s Director of Operations, Zoe Gross, at zgross@autisticadvocacy.org.
If you used this resource, please take our short survey!
The section “A Self-Advocate’s Guide to the Affordable Care Act” was made possible thanks to generous support from the WITH Foundation.
