Autism Spectrum Disorders Advisory Board Meeting April 8, 2025

001I'm going to just just going to give a brief overview of the agenda for today and then we'll get right into it before I go into the agenda. I was just curious to know. Who's in the room because I know that we do have a new member to the advisory board. And so maybe we could just do introductions of who's in the room and who's on by computer before we get into the agenda. So, again, I'm Courtney Burke, I'll turn it over to Rachel to go around the room. Great thanks Courtney. So, Rachel Baker, O. P. W. D. D. O. P. W. D. D. Jennifer dominelli and I believe I'm the new member that you're speaking of today. So I'm glad to be here. Thank you. You are welcome. Associate commissioner office of special education,

002state education department. Good afternoon. Everybody. Self advocate. Self advocate. Self advocate. I guess I'll go Josh and self advocate. Hi. Good afternoon. Chris and I'm with the council on children and families. Hi, everybody, uh, my name is Andy sink. I'm, uh, the director of the New York employment services system at the office of mental health and I'm here presenting with the office of the chief disability officer. Hello. I'm Mary Beth Schneider. I'm the inclusive internship coordinator, and I work with both the chief disability office and the New York state department of labor. That's everyone in the room Courtney. That's great. And, um, are there any other folks on by video that we should introduce. Good afternoon. My name is Jessica James. I'm a self advocate out of Syracuse, New York. Welcome, Jessica. I am Kim

003Perry from OCFS. Good afternoon. Jill Petzer, LPWDD. And Myla Harrison from the Department of Health. Great. Anybody that we missed? All right. So, I think you all have the agenda, but just to review today, we're going to go over some logistics, but then we're going to have a presentation from the chief disability officer Kim Hill. Very glad that she could join us today. Then we will have a presentation on the partnership for inclusive internships. And I should have started off by saying happy autism acceptance month. So Rachel's going to talk a little bit more about. The importance of the word acceptance that's been modified to autism awareness and acceptance month. And then we'll go to open discussion and public comment. So, at this point, Rachel, I'm going to turn it over to you. Yeah, thank

004you Courtney. Um, so for those in the room, my face might look familiar having been here, but usually not the person helping facilitate the meeting. Um, so, as I think all of, you know, Alexia Holden, who had been facilitating this meeting for, I think a couple of years left the agency at the end of the year last year. So her last meeting was the last one we had. Um, and I am here for for this meeting and for future meetings. I also wanted to introduce Caitlin. This is her 1st meeting with all of you and she's going to be. taking on more of a role as as the months go on and helping facilitate, you know, answering questions anyone has about attendance questions about the meeting and helping helping run them when we as we

005go. I think something else I wanted to share is we started to get a lot of outreach to the autism board email inbox for people interested in. Engaging with the board, learning more about the board and participating in the board. We're going to be putting together or we're in the process of developing an interest form. So we can collect that information in a more standardized way. And once we have that, we'll share it with you all. So you can share that out as well through your networks and help identify if there's more people who would love to learn more about the board or participate in the board. And the last item I had before we turn it over to our guests. Was just an update on the report. I wanted to thank everyone for the

006work they did at the last meeting that we had going through the report identifying what recommendations we wanted to modify change continue. We're still working on incorporating all of your feedback and hope to find a lot of a final draft before our next meeting this summer. And. Courtney, just a quick update on the agenda. Kim could not make it today. So we have Andy Sink from OMH who's going to be doing the Chief Disability Office updates. And we don't have a bio for Andy like we did for Kim. So I apologize to Andy in advance. Hey, Andy, I know you do such great work. Would you mind saying a couple words about yourself? Because I can't. Yeah, sure. So, um, hi, everyone. Hi, Courtney. Um, so my name is Andy sink. I'm the director of

007the New York employment services system employment policy at the office of mental health. The way we pronounce that acronym is nice, which is convenient. Um. And, uh, nice is essentially an employment 1st resource and has been since its inception in the, uh, around 2012. And so we, we play a very unique role within a state agency in which we're, um. While our primary focus is on the office of mental health programs, and that's population that it serves. Um, uh, it, we also focus on the system as a whole. And so, you know, our, our, our core mission is to improve employment outcomes for people in New York and to assist them and their families to navigate what is a very robust, but very complicated system. Um, and, uh, personally, I've been in the employment services

008field since, uh, I think 2001. so it's been a little while for the 1st half. Uh, I was on the provider side. Um. Running designing, delivering employment services for various folks and, uh, and then, uh, I'm incredibly grateful to be working in the role for nice and, um, why I'm here and bad news. I'm not Kim Hill. Sorry. Um, is, uh, um, we do. A lot of work with Kim and Mary Beth and the team at the office of the chief disability officer, not limited to employment, but that's our, that's our wheelhouse. Um, and so when we're talking about a big topic, we're going to talk about today is employment 1st, um, and related initiatives. A lot of things fall under that umbrella. Um, so Kim asked me to, uh, to come talk about those

009things. Thanks, Andy, I just wanted to briefly in the, in the room, we were joined by assembly member, Santa Barbara, and I think I don't know if you wanted to say anything or just wave to the room, but you're welcome. We're happy to have you assemblyman this this I don't know if everybody on the autism spectrum advisory board knows, but you're really the 1 of the main drivers behind the existence of this board. So, thank you for that. Thank you. Thank you. I appreciate that. And I just wanted to come in and thank you all for the work that you do. This is important work. And as you said, when we passed the bill more than 10, 10 years ago now. This board has come forward with a lot of good recommendations, a lot of

010things that are turned into legislation initiatives for funding and making people's lives better. That's what it's all about. We just had our, I think our 13th annual autism action day and well attended new bill package that we talked about. But a lot of the ideas and things behind the bills come from your reports and the things that you sent to us. So we really appreciate the work that you're doing. I got to say hi to my friend Mike that we see back home as well. But it's great to see this group working together and driving these initiative forward. This is exactly what I had hoped for when that bill was passed. And it's great to see it coming to fruition now. So, thank you from me, from my family and all the families out there

011to count on you to talk about these issues and bring these important things forward for us. Thank you. Thanks. Thank you. Great. Okay. So, um. And I will say that that any of the things we're talking about today could we could I could spend all day talking about I know no, 1 else would want to, but I'd be happy to, but everything's going to be pretty high level. So, if there are certain subjects that you would like to talk about afterwards, I'll be around and I can, we can share my contact information with the group. So, 1st, just a couple of quick facts about, um, uh, where some of this work is coming from, uh, when the office of the chief chief disability officer was created by governor in 2022 and Kim Hill Ridley was

012appointed as the chief disability officer. Um, employment was identified as 1 of the biggest priorities. Um, and I'm gonna see if I can get this quote, right? Uh, this is a quote by governor Kathy, Kathy, and when you think about the fact that our employment levels for people are not what they should be look at the fact that 35% of people with disabilities, 18 to 64 living in New York state are employed 35% employed that puts us at 38 out of 50 in the nation. That's not the category of statistics that I'm real proud of. So I know we can do better there. And 1 of the, the really unique things for those of us who have been employment. And Mary Beth, and I were just discussing this both the, I think the chief disability

013office and my team at the office of mental health, the nice team, we get to advocate within. within from the inside, which is which is pretty cool and we can be a bridge for for people with disabilities and their families to connect to essential resources and to talk through some of these really complicated things. And so I think that the establishment, this establishing the office, the chief disability officer was was a clear statement. From governor whole call, and she can talk employment. Well, Rachel, and I were just talking about the jargon that we use for some of the things and soon after governor was was elected. I got a call from somebody. I'll just say upstairs at and they said, Andy. Do you know what is an is an evidence based model of support and

014employment and we have it throughout our program structure and I said, yes, who's asking and he said, the governor's asking I said, well, yeah, how does she know what is that's amazing. And she, it turns out that she's, she's fluent in some of this stuff. So, which is just absolutely fantastic. Um, next slide. Great, thank you. So, firstly, I'm just going to cover a couple of things. I think that probably most of the folks that are part of this conversation know this stuff, but these are some of the key factors that drive this work. So, lack of employment is a key social determinant of health, as is poverty, and both lead to poor health outcomes. And as we know, as we talked about a little bit, low employment rates are pervasive for people with disabilities

015and the compounding effects are more significant than that of their non-disabled unemployed peers. And I think what when we get to employment 1st, and how we change these things, it's what will improve those outcomes is the weaving of employment principles and practices into the day to day service delivery within our program models within our service models to demystify and normalize the employment conversation. And that that that statement in itself, we could talk about for a long time. Employment is very often. Or has historically been. Um, and also program, so we do, you know, we air quotes for state agencies. We do essential services that may include this for office mental health. It could be clinic and housing and our rehabilitation programs. All of which are absolutely essential, but we often miss. The employment piece, and

016that may be, um. A less than primary outcome and its benefits as a social determinant of health, not necessarily taken into consideration as much as it should. And that's what all of these things you're trying to do. They're trying to change that to, uh, to make sure that employment is a, um, a primary outcome. Uh, next slide please. So, on the on this slide in the next slide, I won't go to too much detail, but these are statistics from the University of New Hampshire disability statistics, statistics, compendium, and they're a little bit old. I just got the new and delivered to my desk last week. It's a whole book of stats and data, which is fantastic for me. Um, uh, and what this is talking about, um, is the, uh, employment rate. Uh, for folks

017who are living in community settings and, um, for people without disabilities, um, that employment rate is close to 80%. And for people with disabilities, this is back in 2021. Um, and so there have been changes since then, but that that's down. It's about half. Right it's it's like 40% and depending on what measure you're using, um, and there are different ways to do that. There are different published numbers on the employment rate for people with disabilities. That's as high as I've ever seen. Right? And so some current data could be anywhere between 20 and 30%. However you measure it and whatever data set you're using, it's bad. So this is the foundational point at which we're trying to improve from. Next slide. And when we're talking about employment, we're not talking just about jobs so

018people have something to do. That is part of it, but it's a multifaceted problem and it has multifaceted impacts. Most of the folks who are not working and have a disability are supported by public benefits, right? SSI, SSDI perhaps. And those programs are essential, but if folks stay on those benefits. And don't go to work, that's a life of poverty. Right and so if we look at this, this, um. Uh, the, the statistics I have up right now, um, it is the poverty rate for people with disabilities and, uh, that is much closer to, um, trying to read the slide from here. I think it says 26%. Is that right? Right. And, uh, people without disabilities is, uh, looks like it's about 12%. And so the numbers themselves don't matter that, but they're bad. Right?

019And so when we're talking about social determinants of health, and what is a lack of employment mean? Um, these are key. Rachel, what time am I looking at? Just so I don't so I know. Yeah, okay. Well, I've got plenty more, so I just want to, um. How much do you have? I think. Okay. All right. Cool. Great. Thank you. Okay. Next slide. Thank you. Okay, so I'm going to talk a little bit about employment first. Employment first is a national framework. It's a systems change framework centered on the premise that all individuals, including, and this is a big part of it, including those with the most significant disabilities are capable of full participation in competitive integrated employment. And competitive integrated employment short speak just means regular work for for regular wages, not sub minimum

020wage. Um, it is not segregated work. It is integrated and above minimum wage. In practice, this means that competitive employment is considered the first option and preferred outcome in the planning and delivery of services. And that kind of goes back to the point that I was talking about, about how, how we design and deliver services. Um, and this also includes it, and this is important. This includes an acknowledgement that that our services system has not historically been good at prioritizing and understanding the benefits of employment. Um, and is often a big part of the problem. Okay, so I'm going to skip this. This is just a little bit more detail on competitive, integrated employment. Uh, next slide. Okay, so I am going to talk about this. So, in 2024, in October of 2024, governor signed

021the employment 1st, executive order, uh, number 40, establishing New York as an employment 1st state. And as part of that process. There was a collaborative collaborative effort to establish what what are our employment 1st principles if we know that employment 1st means that we prioritize employment as an outcome within, you know, for the way that we design and deliver services for folks. Um, and that competitive integrated employment is the goal. What are the principles that are driving those things? And so a group of folks, both state agencies and other stakeholders had worked under, um. A grant that I'm going to talk about in a little bit, the, uh, the neon grant, the national expansion of opportunities network that is led by, um, and establish this set of principles. So I'm just going to walk through

022them very briefly. Um. And these are listed as read in the executive order. Disability in no way diminishes the rights of people to live independently in their communities. Dignified workforce participation is a fundamental aspect of life for people with and without disabilities. People with disabilities, including those with the most significant disabilities, can obtain competitive integrated employment within the general workforce. Competitive integrated employment is the intended and expected outcome for all working age New Yorkers with disabilities. All students with disabilities should receive the education, training, and services necessary to achieve competitive employment as adults. Next slide. Oh, thank you. Person-centered planning and valuing of individual voice are priorities and should be incorporated into policy, program design, implementation, and service delivery. That's a big one. It's a relatively short sentence, but a very complicated thing to get

023into place, and that's what some of the employment-first activities will get us to. This is 1 of my favorites. This is a, um, something that we've, we've referred to as cultural modeling and that is that the work for the workforce should reflect the diverse makeup of the community in which it resides. Public awareness of the value of employment people with disabilities should be increased, including engagement with the New York business community, um, informed choice, respect for privacy and confidentiality availability of assistive technology and the inclusion of evidence based practices in the pursuit of competitive integrated employment are essential. People with disabilities receiving public benefits should be supported in efforts to work towards financial independence. Excellent. Okay, so thank you for bearing with me while I actually read through those. I won't do that again. But

024I think it's important to get it out, get those out as spoken. So here are some of the key components. Under the chief disability office, there are 3 positions that were established for this executive order and this is cool. So that there are there over the years there have been lots of employment initiatives that kind of they come and they go and maybe their short term grants or their short term projects. And many of us, uh, Rachel, Mary Beth, myself, our counterparts who have, um, who are focusing on lots of different things. We'll add that to the list of things that we're doing. Um, and what this does is actually create a dedicated team to work on employment 1st, and it doesn't have a, there's no time limit here. This is establishing a team because

025employment 1st is a, um, uh, is a new thing within New York and it's not going anywhere. So, uh, there's the employment 1st director. There's a data manager who will work with all of the essential stakeholders and a business liaison, and those will all report to Kim Hill Ridley in the chief disability office. New York state agencies will adopt the employment 1st principles and develop a plan. I'll talk a little bit more about that when we get to the next steps. An employment 1st steering committee. Be established comprised of agencies with the primary responsibility of providing and delivering services or financial needs based assistance. And so I think that's 7 or 8 primary agencies. Um. And for for our state state agency partners, or for those for the, for those of us who recognize the

026redundancy that happens within state within, um, uh, state government often, uh. The existing collaborate, uh, collaborations and initiatives will be incorporated into employment 1st, wherever possible. Um, so, uh, 1 of the things we're going to talk about is executive order 31, which is state is a model employer. Um, the most integrated settings coordinating council, the MISC employment subcommittee is, uh, an existing, uh, group that, um, has been, um. working on this stuff as well. So those are just a couple of examples that not just the work that's being done within those groups, but also the reporting, because there's going to be reporting that's necessary by all the parties. And we'll be, short version, taking some of that reporting and it'll be multi-use. So if it's good for MISC and it's part of the employment, it'll

027be worked into how we're reporting on employment first as a state. And I think this is a really, really big 1. so we're talking about a very large public health system long established. It has its own silos. Um, and as we had said, historically hasn't been, um, might have been part of the problem to our, our, um, our lack of improved employment outcomes, um, in employment 1st, and we fought for this in the executive order employment 1st is not limited to supported employment programs. Or employment programs, or, or, for example, rehabilitation programs that have an employment component. This is all programs. So, within the office of mental health, that's going to be, um, taking into account the full universe of what we consider the population. And that's everybody that goes to our clinics. That is

028in our housing programs is in our, our support programs of any type. Um. And the key here is that what we will, of course, be focusing on and supporting those supported employment programs to, to, um, to do their work as well as possible. But even if we got everybody in those employment programs into competitive, integrated employment in the next year, we still wouldn't make much of a dent in that overall number. So, it's how is our public health system actually impacting this issue issue on a broader level? Not just program specific. Next slide so, as a tentative timeline, um, we are just about to send out a state agency self assessment to, um, all of the primary agencies. I was actually working on the draft of that this morning. Um, and, uh, pretty excited about

029that. And then later on in the year that each 1 of those agencies will take the information that was learned from that self assessment and work with the employment 1st team to develop an implementation plan for adopting the principles and mitigating the barriers to that implementation. The stakeholder committee will also be established and that's going to be what what what the, the goal is with the larger stakeholder committee is beyond the steering committee, which is the, um, you know, the primary state agencies is incorporating, um, different stakeholders from throughout the community. And so that'll be providers, people with disabilities, their families, advocacy organizations, et cetera. Um, and annually, there's going to be reports on progress and outcomes as you would expect. Um, and we actually have some. Uh, what we think are interesting ideas about

030how to how to publish that every year and what voices to highlight. And so, of course, there will be data and outcomes and number of folks supported and and how is that changing and how are folks in implementing employment 1st? Um, but there should also be some stories to write to make that tangible rather than just a very high level report. Next slide. Okay, in the interest of time, we can skip that 1. So, this is this is a couple of key things, right? Um. There was another employment 1st, executive order in 2014, which was good and it established. Um, the employment 1st commission and charge that commission with coming up with a plan. Right, but what that employment 1st, what that executive order didn't do was create an infrastructure. Um, and that wasn't its

031charge at the time. It was trying to figure out the problem. Now, we have an executive order that includes. Agency responsibilities and a staffing infrastructure and so we talked a little bit about employment 1st, being a national movement. Um, and actually an international movement, what we hear from many states. Um, who have done this work is that yeah, we have some employment 1st legislation, or we have an executive order or we have this, you know, but it's got no teeth. It doesn't have anything tangible. That holds the state accountable. Um, and so I think that we are, uh, incredibly lucky that this executive order, um, has tangible efforts that will be measurable. That'll be long term. And it's got a team that's going to be focusing on that. Um, we talked about it not being

032limited to employment programs. Um. Another key too, is that as we're as we're raising expectations for all of these things within a state agency, um. As the expectations rise, the technical assistance and the support needs to go with it. Right? We clearly don't. All of us within this, this public health system don't know how to do this. Well, right and there are a lot of unknowns and so that means that we've got to provide some training and technical assistance and figure it out together. Those things have to move, uh, in tandem. Right? We're trying to change some very deeply embedded cultural habits, um, both within our agencies and socially. Right? And of course, it'll be data driven. So there's going to be the data liaison, especially will be working with the state agencies to figure

033out how we're measuring. Firstly, from a foundational standpoint, like, what's our present status? So we talked a little bit about the employment outcomes and poverty outcomes. What are the other things that we're going to need to measure in terms of measuring that change and knowing where we're starting? And that will be, you know, various aspects of that will be absolutely front facing. And so we often get questions about what are actual employment outcomes for people with disabilities in New York? And there are, we don't answer that question. Well, currently within our given data infrastructure, um, the, um, so short version, um, and so we'll be establishing a way to do that in a much more comprehensive way. Next slide. Okay, so a couple of the other things that are related to employment 1st, um, uh,

034firstly being, and this was a major victory for Kim and the chief disability office. Uh, and this was approved through budget, um, in New York, uh, but is pending approval. And so these things are, um, take these with a grain of salt right now, as we wait for the approval, there's a program called the Medicaid buy in. For working people with disabilities, 1 of the greatest barriers, if not the greatest barriers to improved employment outcomes is the complexity related to earning wages while receiving public benefits. Right see some nods around the table. Ssi ssdi, Medicaid, Medicare. It's incredibly complicated and it's and as somebody who's been in the field for a long time, I can say you can work while receiving public benefits. Yes. It's a good idea. You'll have more money in your pocket

035at the end of the day and be able to keep free Medicaid and almost all scenarios. That's very easy for me to say it's a complicated thing to get done though. And so there's a lot there will be lots of resources pertaining to this, but specifically what I'm talking about here is that the expansion of the Medicaid buy in. And so currently, and I'm just going to catch up on my own slides here. So I don't get any of these numbers wrong. Currently, in New York, we have the Medicaid buy in for work people with disabilities and an individual. Can have assets of around 30,000 dollars, which is well above the cap and earn over 70,000 dollars annually. Those numbers aren't specific. Those those are rounding. Um. But what, uh, what Kim was able to,

036uh, work through the state and, uh, we're waiting on federal approval of is an expansion of that to remove the age cap, which is currently at age 65. um To raise the asset cap, which is currently at 30,000 to around 300,000 dollars. And that does not incorporate certain assets like, like, uh, um, and again, I'd have to look at the details of this, but a car and a house individuals can be married. That's been a problem for for this type of Medicaid for a long time. Um, and the income limit, this is massive. So currently the income limit is about 74,000 dollars. That income limit is being raised to, um, around 320,000 dollars. Okay. And so the Medicaid-Myan expansion itself is a huge, is a game changer for people who are working and earning and

037need to keep Medicaid for essential benefits that probably aren't covered by traditional employer-sponsored health programs. A lot of times that comes up. Like, well, if they're making that much money, why don't they just buy their own insurance or do it through... Through their through their employer and the and and the point is that. Traditional employment or insurance programs don't cover a lot of the things that people need that are covered through Medicaid. Right? Can I just ask a quick question? Sure. Well, those numbers, those, those, uh, that's the proposed recommended or those are the numbers now. Those are still pending approval by, but they're approved by New York. Thank you. Yep. And they're part of a waiver package. That's that's with CMS currently. Thank you. I have a question. What's CMS? Oh, that's the Center

038for Medicaid services, I believe. Is that right? Did I get that right? For Medicare and Medicaid services. So they approve like all Medicare and Medicaid. I mean, Medicaid change that a state wants to make. Definitely call us out on the acronyms. Thank you. And call me out on the same too, when it comes to disaster and stuff, we love our acronyms and our alphabet soup. Great. So another related executive order is state as a model employer, which commits New York to being a model employer for people with disabilities. And that goes back to that cultural modeling principle within the employment first executive order that our workforce should reflect the diverse makeup of the communities in which it resides. So Mary Beth, do you want to add anything on the state as model employer now? Okay.

039All right, great. Another cool thing is the Disability Rights and Employment Awareness Month Symposium. So that acronym is fun. That's DREAM. And the third annual was held last October, right after Governor Hochul signed the Employment First Executive Order. It was right here in the plaza. And that's a really cool event. And it's growing. It's been growing since its inception in... a few years ago. Right now, it's a two-day event that highlights New York's Employment First efforts. And also is intentionally in October to celebrate national disability employment awareness month. Um, and it's targeted for job seekers with disabilities. There's a huge job fair for families for businesses, providers and policy makers. And so there's a mix. So there's a job fair, there's training and technical assistance sessions. Um, there's, uh, there are sessions from researchers and,

040uh, for, um, pertaining to emerging policy, like employment 1st. Also some of the fun stuff is the Special Olympics demonstrations and interactive events And and I see I have a tag on this one that was from a previous slide, but Definitely think about it for 2025 mark your calendars. I think the event will be even bigger this year. So next up A couple of the other, uh, collaborate initiatives that we just wanted to highlight, um, in, uh, now aspire is, uh, advancing state policy for integration, recovery and employment aspire was, um, um, it closed out in the beginning of the summer 2024, but I think it's still important to highlight. And all of these things are talking about how our state is, um, our state agencies are collaborating. Um, it is true that we are

041still, um. As a large state with large bureaucracies, we have silos and sometimes it's tough for those to work. But I often think that some of the collaborations that are going on get missed. And so aspire itself was an, or an officer mental health led. And funded by the U. S. Department of Labor's office of disability employment policy. And short version is that aspire for New York was aimed at. improving and enhancing the relationship between the Office of Mental Health and Access VR vocational rehabilitation. There's a very good relationship there throughout the state and what we're doing is expanding upon that, especially pertaining to the expansion of IPS, which is individual placement and support. Neon neon is still currently going. I believe it's in at least year 2, if not 3. And that's an led

042offers people with developmental disabilities also funded by office disability employment policy. Neon, so Lynn Tibdu at OPWDD is organizing and running NEON for New York and there are a handful of states that are participating in it. It's a technical assistance grant, which means that it doesn't necessarily come with dollars, but it does come with subject matter expertise. And Lynn is organizing it in a very interesting way that's allowing For various things, so 1 of them is efforts to support employment 1st implementation. 1 of them is to support the development of inter agency agreements for the state agencies that provide supported employment services working towards what is referred to as a chapter 515 agreement. We also, we being also leveraged neon subject matter experts to expand our local benefits advisement resources to bolster already robust state

043and federal benefits advisement. So, nice. You know, the, the team that I work on, we've got a work incentives navigator, um, uh, network. Throughout the state, and so folks can find a benefits advisor in their community or connect with 1 remotely. Um, and there's a huge focus on Medicaid. Um, and of course, on local benefits, like snap and TANF, um, and other, uh, needs based resources. All of which is we discussed before are can be really complicated when you're earning dollars and their needs based. Right? Next slide and that might be it actually. Okay, there are a couple more so, um, I promise this is almost it. Um, so, uh, 1 really great collaboration that's led by the Department of labor is the, uh, New York sign. That's the systems change and inclusive opportunities network.

044Um. Let's see, what's the short version there? The short version there is that so, um, most folks are probably familiar with the career centers and 1 stops throughout the state, right? Those are the front. Facing Department of labor resources, so staffs, a disability resource coordinator, a in all of the participating. And so there were in a, in a handful of over the last 1012 years through through different through different grants. But science expands that to be statewide resource. And the cool thing about is that it's, um, it's aimed to support people with disabilities to improve their employment outcomes and connect to a set. resources. But it's at the workforce center. It's not at a program. Folks can come in and talk to a disability resource coordinator. And it might not be the DRC that's providing

045those services, but they will likely be the one that's connecting them to essential resources. And they're all certified benefits advisors as well. And I think finally, uh, the, uh, um, this is a new program and it's, uh, so the New York, that's the equitable transition model, um, is a 5 year research demonstration project, um, project aimed at improving outcomes for disconnected, multiply marginalized transition aged youth and multiply marginalized basically means that there are various barriers that they're facing. And so it could be disability, uh, justice involvement, housing challenges, et cetera. Um. We, uh, this is building on a previous research demonstration that New York participated in and that I was a part of called New York promise. Um. And so again, this is a, it's, it's led by the Department of labor and partnership with

046the office, mental health and access VR. Um, and of course, there'll be lots of other federal state and local partners who are who are participating in that. currently just about to start implementation in the capital district and then we'll expand to Columbia Green Hempstead Long Beach and Monroe later on this year and so that was a lot of information that I just read out to everybody so I'm happy to field any questions or talk about any related stuff So, thank you very much, Andy, and particularly for pinch hitting and standing in last minute. Um, I had 1 question and then, and I want to open it up to everybody, which was about the plans that the state agencies, the implementation plans that that they're going to be putting together. I saw the rough timeline. Is

047it possible once they submit those plans to have someone come back and talk more about what is in the plans? So people know more about you can take advantage of whatever is in those plans. Yes, short short answer. Yes. And I think that throughout. I think Kim would be interested in updating all stakeholders on on progress and what we're learning through the, uh, the 1st step there is the agency self assessments, which we're really excited about. I think that's going to be really interesting to see what, um, how folks articulate the different parts of that and then working towards the implementation plan, like, how they're looking to actually start affecting change. Um, so, uh, yeah, that'll be. Absolutely, it'll be here, um, you know, would love to come back and talk about that. And I

048think we'll be certainly be talking about it at dream and other statewide events. Great, I see Charles Massimo has a hand up. Did you have a question Charles? Okay, maybe maybe not other other questions in the room or from anybody online. Yes, Chris, just a quick question about the self assessments. Do you, um. Probably coming out this month to the state agencies. Correct. Yeah. All right. Because I just think there were earlier on the presentation, there was a bullet around students with disabilities being having the skills necessary for a successful. And competitive employment, and we're doing a lot of work in that space. Plus, did all the changes around the new graduation measures, um, is on the list of state agencies that are going to receive that. Correct. Okay. Perfect. Thank you. Yep. Other questions

049anyone. Um, actually, yeah, so I want is this is this. Primarily focused on, like, state agencies and state employment or is it for just a broader. Because, like, I know a lot of. Autistic adults have found, like. Starting their own small business by the best employment for them for me when I was running my own company. That was. The best for me, yeah, I'm doing a job. I like. I used to do for free of the volunteer, but, um. But it was tough to kind of navigate, like, you know, I wasn't eligible to get. Medicaid, so I was paying 700 dollars out of my pocket a month for terrible insurance. Like, is there anything in this program help with that at all? Or is it more. Like, for established, like, larger. Um, let me see

050if I can cover the different parts of your question. Because I think I can, but let me know if I missed something. So, to the 1st part, um, uh, it's definitely not limited to state agencies. Um, and so, and I think you're talking about, like, what kind of jobs are we connecting. Right. Yeah. So, no, definitely not. So executive order, we're talking about a lot about executive orders. So 31 is state as a model employer. And that acronym is, we pronounce that as SAME. Okay. So SAME, the intent of SAME is to help New York be a model employer for people with disabilities. That in itself is focused on employment within the state, within civil service, say, right? Employment first as a whole is, includes. state agencies as employers but it's certainly not limited to

051and would also include self-employment opportunities and entrepreneurship opportunities a big part of it is also connecting with the business community not only to make the case for why this is a good make the business case right but also to learn from them because there are many very large Private sector employers who do this work very well for their industry. And so what can we learn from that as we incorporate things into state agencies? What did I miss? Good. Okay, cool. Yeah, go ahead. Andy can tell me if I'm wrong, but I think to be successful in a lot of this work, it requires cultural shifts too, right, in government, in the broader community, that even if you're not someone that's in receipt of that Medicaid service that's going to help you get that job, hopefully

052the work that we can do through our services to change and shift culture can help people outside of those directly in those services, Mike. Yeah. Yeah, totally agree. I mean, it's, it's a, it's a type of labor movement. It's civil rights. Right? So it's absolutely deep, deep, social and cultural change. No doubt. I could speak from my own employment. Um, I had to apply for my position 38 times. 38 times it took it took a yeah, I, so I was being shipped out to manage large scale disasters as a volunteer. However, though, because kind of develop a wrap. Around my autistic traits. That it took it took years of turnover and culture shift and paradigm change before I could actually found got hired. Do the job, so the position I'm in, I applied for 9

053times. We went through 9 different disaster program managers. And each time I was their volunteer partner, because they wouldn't hire me. Wow. Yeah. Well, congratulations. I was going to say this even happens and like. The community of people that are supposed to be serving disabled people. So as somebody that is I'm a special education teacher by trade I Ran into my own issues with ableism Working in school systems and working for agencies that specifically serve disabled kids So yeah that that shift needs to happen and it Part of it, I think, is that we don't have any representation on any. Boards of those spaces, so. Many many nonprofits are supposedly serving our community, but we are not represented at all. Great. Yeah, that sounds like somebody else has a question. Courtney, I believe this is

054Charlie. Yes, hey, Charlie. Hey, how are you? Good. And thanks for that presentation. Very exciting to see how aggressively you're adjusting this, but I do have. 2 concerns and wondering if you comment on them briefly. You know, it seems that unfortunately, you know, speaking more from an autism standpoint, which my 2 boys have. And the working certified agencies, it just seems that this. Perverse incentives in the system that may unintentionally discard some certified agencies from prioritizing employment for adults with autism. Because if my voice is a day hat program, the agency is not getting paid. And unfortunately, in this day and age where funding is very tight for these agencies, they rely on that funding. And the 2nd, part of that is. Finding supports in certified. Homes are very, very difficult. It takes them sometimes

055months to be able to find enough help for one house. And when you're talking about labor intensive, how intensive taking someone with autism and having a job coach every day, which takes staff away from those agencies. So just wondering how you're addressing those two issues, because I do see that as an obstacle to something that's so sorely needed. So, let me, I'm gonna, I'm gonna try and, uh, say back to you what I think the question is your audio is going in and out a little bit. So 1 is, um, a system that may, uh, in itself be a disincentive to for better employment outcomes. Is that number 1? Yes, that's number 1. And the 2nd, being the fact that for folks who may need significant support, that's a challenge for the system and especially

056for the provider agencies who are supporting them. Yes, those both of those are correct. At least for my questions. Yes. Yeah, excellent points. The 1st is, uh, um, I totally agree. And as somebody who has both been on the provider side, and on the state side, um, we, uh, you know, a lot of what we do is driven by the way that we design our billing and where funding is going. And so while there may be very well intentioned. Aspects of, say, a program model or components of a program model, if a provider needs to be able to keep the lights on the essential services that are going to give them the most reliable funding can be prioritized, especially when when times are tight. Right? So. So, I think that there have been investments, certainly

057in the last 3, 4 years on and I'm going to use as examples and Department of labor. There has been more investment into employment programs to allow for a more diverse funding structure for those programs. For example, within we. One of the things that we've done as a state, which is which is good and bad is as many of our programs are based on Medicaid and there are limitations with what you can do for Medicaid in terms of employment. And so for the office mental health, what that means for us is we have stayed aid. Supplemental funding for our rehabilitation programs that have an employment component to allow them to do the full menu of employment services. That is still a complicated fix. And I think that through the, um, the self self assessment. When

058we're asking agencies to describe barriers, I mean, I'm going to be helping with the one and I know that that's 1 of the barriers the way that we pay for services for folks. What are we actually prioritizing? What portion of funding is being committed to to this is a priority outcome. So. Absolutely heard there. Um, so I think that there's improvement already, but it needs to be, you know, um, that infrastructure needs to continue to improve. Um, and I think that impacts the employers, the providers ability to provide job coaching and those intensive services for the folks that need them. Um, the, the design for any employment specialist or supported employment person, helping somebody get find. Um, must incorporate the ability to be untethered from the office and, uh, and untethered from a 9 to

0595 work day to be able to support people when and where they need to be. Um. And so I don't know that that's necessarily an answer to your question, but I think that the, the 1st implementation, I mean, I think we would be doing this anyway. Like, I think office mental health and office. Developmental disabilities commission for the blind access fair. We will be, we would be focused on these things anyway. And I think the advent of employment 1st, um, and prioritizing these things means that the agencies wouldn't really need to take a harder look at how they're designing and funding that infrastructure to solve the things that you're talking about. Hi, this is Kristen Thatcher. I have I've got a, I, I have a comment. What are we what is about the places that

060doesn't accept people with disability because of the disability? How we're going to change that. So are you talking about like businesses and employers that you feel that won't hire people with disabilities? Yes. Yeah, that's a great question. So on the Employment First team, there's a business liaison. And this person is not going to be able to do it all on their own, but they're going to be leading this work. And ideally, what's happening is we're creating a place for a conversation where employers that... that know and value employing people with disabilities share that with their peers with their other businesses who may not have either learned or experienced the benefits of that yet and may have reservations about liability about reasonable accommodations and the optics of employing people with disabilities and so there will be

061there's a there's a person on the team that's funded to improve the business's capability to do that and so i don't think there's a single answer there but it's definitely going to be a primary focus of the employment first team i hope that helps Yes. One more question. What about when people, like, if they accept the person with disabilities and don't accept a job coach, how are you going to handle that? That's a great question. I love that question. So, a job coach is a reasonable accommodation under the ADA. And there is no single answer as to how that could and will be addressed. It really has to do with who's the business. Is it a large business? Is it a small business? Is it a... Does a provider have a relationship with them to

062be able to talk to them about what it means to have a job coach? Are there legal implications of having somebody who's not an employee on site? That happens sometimes. But I think that goes along with the support and technical assistance that's available for For providers and through existing infrastructure to access VR, Department of labor, office, mental health officer, people with developmental disabilities. We all have staff who are dedicated to working with with both the providers and the employers when necessary. Thank you. Great questions. Great. Any other questions. From the advisory board. All right, well, I think we're ready to move on. Thank you again. Oh, 1 more. Sorry. Yeah, hi. I, 1 of the big issues, you know, in regards to, um, employment is under employment and we see that under appointment is. Very

063high for our community and it's something that's just stubbornly there and also people that are working part time, you know, who, you know, have the ability potentially to work full time. But, you know, they just haven't been connected to that opportunity. Can you comment on on that issue? Absolutely. So, I think, um, I think there's lots of reasons for that. right i think one is public benefits you know folk the the um myths about well i can only work 20 hours a week or i can only work 19 hours a week and that those are totally real things in terms of they're challenging um and it's really scary to know that your public benefits may be impacted by your wages and so i think that results in um not just um employment outcomes in general

064but under employment like you're talking about i also think it's our services system probably not limited to, but our services system, because of its historical lack of valuing full employment and somebody working towards their greatest level of self-sufficiency, there are a lot of bad habits. Right? Bad habits about telling people who we might who were supporting and I say the global we have the services industry supporting people to say, I don't know. I don't know. You don't really want to work full time. You don't really want to go over that 20 hours. That's really, you know, that could be, um, which is, you know, that's that's bad habits, you know? Um, and so ideally what we're doing is we're helping people both, uh, job seekers. their families and the folks who are supporting them to

065understand that yeah working towards your greatest level of self-sufficiency means you know not having a five hour a week 10 hour a week 20 hour a week cap it's you know it's to the greatest extent possible um and that is that's just you know it ticks all those boxes right like the medicaid buy-in for working people with disabilities that expansion Is massive for folks who have kept their earnings at a certain level, because they're, uh, justifiably worried about losing their Medicaid. Right and so having incentives like that, um, and the culture change to go along with it, I hope will impact that. Thank you and I just have to say that to me is huge because I never thought I could potentially be ever eligible for Medicaid. And with this, I'm like, oh, this is

066actually fine. Work for me. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. The question is the actual navigation of the system and getting it. Well, that's a really good question. We could talk about that, but no, that's that's a good point. You know what? Actually 1, very quick thing about that. So currently the Medicaid buy in application goes through your local or office, right? Which can be really challenging for lots of reasons. And we have benefits advisors who can help folks and help offices navigate that as part of the enhancement. The, um. The application for Medicaid buy in, I believe is planned to be part of the, the marketplace and so it won't be encumbered by some of those challenges that go along with being part of and. And so, you know, streamline it. Just like everybody else's insurance, this

067is where you go through it. Yeah. Which would be huge because, I mean, and, you know, just working with navigating and helping people navigate the system just after disasters. Yeah, I just got back from Kentucky for a month. Almost a month and a half helping people register for assistance. And I couldn't even navigate it and I'm the 1 who's providing me. Yeah. Yeah, good real time real life experience. Yeah, thank you. Rachel. I think we, we have a guest that you want to have another guest stuff. I, Senator, he, who's the chair of the Senate. Committee on disabilities, I got that a little bit wrong, but close enough for sure. Thank you. And thank you chair Courtney Burke. Wonderful to see you on screen assembly member Angela Santa Barbara, who whose legislation led to the

068formation of this advisory committee mentioned you were here. Sorry I did not have it in my schedule and, but I wanted to stop by to also. Thank you. Thank you for the work and to let, you know, as the new chair. of the senate disabilities committee i welcome the chance to work with all of you and um and i have to say as somebody whose children went to school now my youngest would have graduated now eight years ago so it's i feel like i'm increasingly removed from the elementary secondary world But to see how much, um. We have raised awareness, uh, and it's, uh, it's not just the, um, the conferences that were held in the well last week, the autism awareness conferences. Um, but it's also what we've done in the public safety realm,

069uh, with just training, raising awareness and really educating people, um, on a whole host of, uh. Of factors and and what it means in in public safety in the job market in the health care market for sure, which is getting more challenging. And I just want to add to say, I think it's great that is here. And if there's 1 thing I'd like to do over these next couple of years as the new chair, it really is to focus on jobs. Courtney's known me for a number of years and if there's 1 thing that. really gets my attention it is uh i i it is jobs and education so the better we can educate all people whether it's awareness or just breaking through the uh the barriers i was at the shelmont uh school board

070last night as i've been going around to a host of school boards in my new district and talk to another uh mother whose child has uh some many barriers uh in including um some autistic ones and the the the difficulty that families parents and others have navigating our education system but it's the exact same in navigating Uh, the world of work, so if there's 1 thing, I would love to focus on these next couple of years, it's really breaking down those barriers in the workforce. So I look forward to hearing more and I, um, our conference started at 1 o'clock. So I'm already late and you're going to see me walk out. Um, but I didn't want to when Angelo alerted me, uh, I didn't want to miss the opportunity for you to put a

071face with a name and for me to put, uh. Uh, names with faces as well. So, thank you. Thank you for stepping up. I know you're doing this, um, because you care and that means a lot and I really do. I, for me, the glass is very much half full, even though there's always more to do. So, thank you. Everybody pleasure to pleasure to meet you. Thank you. Thank you chair. Thanks for allowing me to interrupt to say hello. Thank you. Absolutely. We appreciate it. Senator. Thank you. Absolutely. Great, that was nice. And I just wanted to thank you again for a really great presentation and it's very exciting all that's happening and it's good for us to know about all this because it is a lot. Thanks again. If there's no further questions for

072Andy, I was going to move on to the next item in on the agenda, which is the partnership for inclusive internships. So hearing nothing, it's my pleasure to introduce Mary Beth Schneider. Many of you know her. She's had over 35 years experience working for people with disabilities. She currently serves on the New York State Chief Disability Officers Team and on the Career Development and Inclusion Team, which is part of the New York State Department of Labor. Her main focus is to create pathways for employment by identifying internship opportunities for New York State agencies and creating a pipeline of qualified candidates with disabilities. She's had titles. She gets the most satisfaction from helping someone find a job, which I love that part of your bio, Mary Beth. And if you don't know about her background a

073little bit more, she has a bachelor's degree in sociology from Texas State University and a master's in public administration from Sage Graduate School. I just wanted to share this one last thing about Mary Beth. She often shares her favorite Irish quote, which is, it's in the shelter of each other that the people live. The importance of building community where all can flourish. So Mary Beth, thank you for joining us today. I'm going to turn it over to you. Thank you, Courtney. Oh, can everybody hear me okay? Yes. A little. Oh, you turned it off. Okay. Hi, thank you so much for having me here today. I really appreciate this opportunity to kind of drill down on some of the policy things that Andy was talking about in terms of 40 and executive order 31 again,

074state as a model employer. Is the 31 because my position sort of came. About because of executive order 31 again is. New York State wants to be a model employer. We want to demonstrate to private industry how we want to include people with disabilities. And so my job was really to kind of start to create those pathways in state agencies. So I think, Mike, before you mentioned, somebody mentioned, is this just state or is it, you know, employment in general? My focus is definitely on state agencies. So if you could go to the first slide. My, um, the program I work with is called partnerships for inclusive internships and you can call it pie for short. Uh, and it is really based on a, um, a model of, um, that was created by New York

075City. And could you just link on that? Just really quick. I just wanted to share with you. Um, the, uh, website for the New York City program, because they were. They're really the creator of this model and they've done some fantastic work and, um, for anybody who's downstate, I just wanted to to let, you know, that this resource is out there. If you're in New York City, and you're interested in internships is a great resource for you. Um. In this program, in particular in New York City, they were focused on a partnership with local city government to create opportunities for people with disabilities to find internships in local city government. They primarily worked with Department of Social Services, had some great, great success there. I believe in the six years that they've been, they have

076been functioning, they've worked with over 200 interns. And worked through that, and those interns were both able to some leverage that internship into a full employment opportunity with the agency where they were interning and some using that experience to move on to another another full time opportunity. I was brought on in, um, in April of last year. So I'm coming up on my 1 year anniversary to take that model. And roll it out statewide. So, um, and the reason we're doing this work is, um, we want to again. Great that, uh, we don't create opportunities for people. We want people with disabilities to have that pathway. We want to, um, encourage, uh, um. The opportunity we want to have people have the opportunity to demonstrate. Their skills and abilities in the workplace to learn new

077skills and abilities in the workplace and to help. You know, every employer, whether it's state or private to understand the gifts and talents that people can bring. So, we, uh, again, we started in April, uh, 2024. And, um, really my job is to kind of work both ends of this equation as to 1 is to create is to kind of. Help agencies craft these internship opportunities. And 2 to develop a pipeline of, um, interns. So, I just want to say a brief thing about who the interns are. Um, normally when we hear the word intern, we're thinking student. But broaden that to anyone who has a disability who's at least 18. And who's either supported by access the R. Or commission for the blind, so this really opens the door for many different people. Um,

078to participate in lots of different levels of employment and, um, in state government. Um, so, for example, I have. Interns that I'm working with who had a career, had a degree, but had a disability later in life and can't return to their previous employment. I have some interns who just getting out of high school with no work experience. So it's a really broad and diverse pool of people that I'm pulling from. And so I'm looking for really creative opportunities in state as well. The interns are paid, they're paid for. By access VR through access or commission for the blind. Through a local service provider or vendor. So, essentially, the. The local service providers paying the intern. They're billing access for service for for those wages. And they can be. Generally, the internships last about 320

079hours over a 3 to 5 month period, depending on. Whether it's a full time or part time opportunity and. There's these internship opportunities are structured around any meaningful. Work of a state agency or in demand position. So, 1 of the strategies that I've been using, and I think you can go on to the next slide. Thank you. Caitlin. 1 of the strategies that I've been using with state agencies is looking at that where they're recruiting. What are the helps positions that they have available currently and helping kind of craft an internship opportunity around those positions because ultimately people don't come to me to say, hey, I want to work for 320 hours and I want to be on my way. What they're looking for is an employment opportunity. Right? In state government, so we're really

080trying to mirror those internship opportunities based on an actual position. In the agency, so that, you know, the person could be considered for hire at the end. I'll just kind of give you a rundown of what we have going on right now. So far. You know, in a year, we've had 5 interns. I know that doesn't sound like a lot. It doesn't sound like a lot to me. I'm used to working in private nonprofit. So this is my 1st, state experience and realizing it's running. Not as quickly as I wanted to, but the 1st, intern I had worked in civil service. He worked in the, uh, in the employee health services clinic. Did a fantastic job got hired beautiful, beautiful 1st outcome and I'll tell you 1 of the reasons that I that I like

081to. Have people think about when I'm talking to state agencies is that the reason that works so well is that they were able to. Customize an opportunity for this man, they recognize he was bringing a skill set. To the position that normally would have had to been had to be done by a clinician. So, because he came in with his administrative skill set, they didn't have to pull a clinician to do an administrative task or clerical task. That was crucial to success there. I have on currently, uh, we just had an intern, um, working in, um, at, excuse me office for people with developmental disabilities as a project manager. Uh, he completed his intern. He was hired. He was offered a position, but, um, unfortunately, due to benefits and other things had to decline that

082opportunity. Um, oh, did somebody have a question? Okay. Um. I also have an intern working at Office of General Services as a kind of an internal facing customer service position. One intern working currently at Department of Motor Vehicles who is on the DEIA team fielding calls about accessibility. One person just started at Office of Family and Children Services working on the recruitment and retention team. And I, as you see, I have several other opportunities on the near horizon on. Office of mental health division of Homeland security, dormitory authority, the city of rents layer, the city actually reached out. I know it's not state, but city reached out. So we're happy to partner with them. Office of general services and their events planning. And the, uh, SUNY upstate medical so, you know. SUNY upstate medical be

083the 1st opportunity we had to work kind of outside of, um, capital district. So we're excited about that. So all those positions now are developed and I'm in some stage of recruiting. And I just want to say 1, a little bit about the development piece. Um. Because I've. Been a job coach, I've been a job developer in the, you know, in a previous life. Um, you know, I pay a lot of attention to meeting in person when possible going to a job, potential job site. Um, meeting the supervisor. Sitting down with an intern, um, even though I'm not a service provider, I find that all those things really help make a good match. You can't. You know, I have to be in the room with people, I have to see what the environment is like,

084in order to make a good match. So that part has been really, really important to me. Um. As we, as we roll this out, um, and currently I'm able to do that. So it's really exciting. Um, I just kind of included a few quotes here, um, from supervisors in terms and I think. I'll I'll say that the. Receptivity and state agencies to do this has been phenomenal. I get calls every day, you know, and we try to work that out, you know, whether it's a. A clerical position, um, an attorney, you know, some agencies looking for, you know, attorneys to intern to building maintenance, you know, they're all valuable opportunities and we can work with, um. We can work with, uh, all those kinds of all those kinds of, um, positions. It is still a

085challenge. I'm not gonna not gonna lie. You know, we still have things to work out and things to work through with, um, you know, moving a system like this is big. You know, but I'm, I'm very happy that this is a pathway that's. That was created through the chief disability office and supported through the Department of labor to start to move this. So, I will be a little quiet now. I know we've had a lot of. We've given you a lot of presentations today, but I will be happy to take your questions. Thank you. Any questions from anyone? First of all, it's really exciting to see your early success and the places that you're placing people, but anybody have questions? Go ahead. Right. So you mentioned building maintenance. I was just curious, like, you know,

086because I think. You know, thinking about intern, it might sound like predominantly like, what traditionally like, white collar jobs are there like, you know, or, you know, like, again, you mentioned like, building maintenance because, you know, a lot of people, you know, are good with their hands. You know, make more more mechanical more on the, uh, the trades side of things. And, um, how's the reception been with that? Because, um, there, you know, there must be, you know, there's a big demand. For those type of careers out there. Um, but, you know, I'm just, you know, wondering, like, with the state agencies, how that works. Yeah, actually, um, that. Very good reception there. Those are, you know, sometimes those positions are difficult to fill and. You know, again, while we, we want to, we want

087a whole diverse array of opportunities for people. Those are jobs that some people really want and, you know, they might be doing that job in a private industry now, but really want to move into a state. System, so I think, you know, I'll, I'll just kind of site, um, uh, the dormitory authority. At this moment, because that's 1 of the 1 of the agencies I'm working with to create an opportunity like that. They have difficulty with those positions, keeping people in those positions, recruiting for those positions. So they were thrilled that there may be another resource where they can, they can get talent. Thank you. But you're right, you know, I think typically when you think internship, you're thinking. You know, on the, the management side, or the accounting side, the clerical, you know, I

088think that's typical, but there are plenty of people that are looking for, you know, in the trades, for example. Yes. There was a very successful intern that was offered a position, but due to limitations, are those the limitations that are currently looking to be approved through CMS that would open up. That opportunity, or were you referring to something else now? 100% but yeah, he was just very, you know, 1 of the things that, you know, I think. You know, we've all experienced over the years that worked in this field at all. It's very. Fear for someone to, you know, 1 gentleman I'm working with currently has a lot of medical issues on top of. You know, and disability and the thought of losing that security. It just doesn't doesn't work, you know, but, you know.

089So, this particular person who declined the position, and he was kind of in that same situation. Thank you. You're welcome. So when you know Andy mentioned the disability resource coordinators that are funded through the part the New York Scion project Again, those are all really helpful Resources that I can refer interns to To be able to work through some of those issues Great any other comments? No Hi, this is Chris from the Council on children and families. 1st, and foremost, I just want to thank both and the for the presentation. So very informative. And I'm also interested in like the transition from perhaps supported education programs to meaningful employment opportunities. And I was just wondering if there's any collaborative initiatives between supported education programs that support individuals with disabilities in college programs, vocational training programs.

090and then supporting them to transition into meaningful employment opportunities where they can put those skills into practice. Yeah. So that's a great question, Chris. And I do a lot of outreach in our SUNY and CUNY systems and independent colleges and universities for that very reason. i've also done uh you know i've also been connecting with um boces and even high school counselors that are working with kids that are in transition so absolutely great any other questions all right well mary beth wonderful presentation doing great work thank you so much for joining us today really appreciate it thank you happy to be here and please reach out anytime you see my contact information is there i'm happy to answer any questions Great. Great. All right. Well, yes, I'm going to turn it over to Rachel to

091talk about Autism Awareness Month. Thank you, so I'm probably going to be fast. So we have time for some discussion, but I just wanted to give folks an update on some of the activities that have taken place so far on the state side. So, on August. Oh, man is April 2nd. I somehow got us into August, April 2nd on world autism day. We lit all of the buildings as you can see in that picture blue. And then we're also for the month of April. We're flying the. Neurodiversity flag in all the locations that are on that map. Um, I'm wearing my pin today too. Um, and it's just, I think a way that we're, we're trying to help support, you know, getting. Getting, you know, information out about the flag generally. Right. Which I know

092was a big thing for this, this committee, and then just awareness about autism and acceptance generally. And the last thing I had was there's an, there's an event that's next week where there's actually going to be the commissioner of and the parks commissioner at let's restate park where there is a specific autism trail where there's going to be a flag raising and then a tour of the tour of the park. It's, I think, at 2 PM, and anyone that wants to come is welcome to come. I'm sorry, which park? Letchworth it's, uh, I can send it after we can send it to you guys after too. It's out in Rochester. It's far. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I thought it was Rockland. Yeah, this is what the state part. Yeah. Yeah. For you, just as a point

093of note. A lot of autism groups are not in favor of the lighting in the blue. So, okay. I think that's something to be mindful of in the future. It's good to know. Thank you. I don't care, but a lot of self advocates get really angry about that. Okay. Light it right instead there's or the goal. Part of it's the blue has the connotations of certain groups that have added that history with the actual watch of the community. Also to see. Promotes the fact that it's more of a voice issue. Yeah, there's some of the reasons I put those colors on the flag is because I always saw on mine. I was a light older light up red all the time. So I'm happy someone brought that up. I think to make a conservative effort

094to maybe light up red and gold instead of blue, because that is a huge thing with the actual autistic community. Forms and you read the comments. It's insane. Well, that's really good that you're making everybody aware of this issue. So, thank you for giving all that background on some of the concerns. Appreciate that. So, I'm just wondering if there's going to be a plan in place next year to make sure that everyone's on the same page when it comes to what. Is going to happen for autism acceptance month because it looks. For lack of a better term messy. Um, he is an autistic person when I see lighted up blue and I make a comment on these Facebook page and I get railed by parents with a comment. Um. When we have the flag, right?

095I mean, Josh created that that's his voice. That's from him. Lighted up blue was not. That was not developed by an autistic person. So, like, I feel like. The flag is definitely more inclusive and sends in my opinion, a more. Future forward message and the message that New York state should be wanting to send when we're thinking about autistic people. Thank you. Sorry go ahead. Josh. I think that was Josh. No, yeah, I know I just want to say thank you. I agree and thank you. I appreciate that. Yeah. One of the another reason why I designed and came up with the idea. as well is because so many people always are complaining, especially online, always about the light of the blue. And I think it's a real shame because, you know, these people, they

096communicate very well online, but no one's listening to the voices. So you always have a state saying, we care, we care, we're going to light it up blue for you. And then the very people they're lighting up blue for say, please don't do that. Don't do that. We don't want to do that. And then you have people say, no, no, we're doing it for you. We're doing it for you. And so there's a massive disconnect there. So you always see again online, they always say the infinity symbol, gold and red. So now that we have this, I think we should have a. Massive massive effort to roll this thing out and let the not just the state, but also just regular people. I have a statewide campaign to. Push this out so people all over

097know that. Okay. The days of the puzzle piece and the days of lighting up who are now officially over. This is a new era and this is what we are doing because. Again, another reason, like, tongue in cheek, when I came up with the idea for Flag, it was also as a way to kind of, like, stick it to the puzzle piece and say, you know, like, we're done with you. We aren't, like, kind of held hostage as you're the only mainstream voice anymore. Now we're our own mainstream voice. So I think we have to get this into the mainstream. And I want to build on that too and also, by the way, the Red Cross, we're going to be doing a photo with the flag. Going to try and get on our national website

098for the right. Oh, beautiful. Yes. So, uh, I'm going to, we're going to do it and I'll let the board know too. If you want to come to our office when we do that. Can you guys tag me? The flag has an Instagram page at neuro diversity strength flag. Can you tag that page? Yeah, neuro diversity strength. Yeah, at neuro diversity strength play, but the other thing too is that, like, so, like, being coming from the fire world. And I think this is kind of where, I mean, I see the board needs to take a little bigger. You know, really to celebrate this month is the use of the puzzle piece on, like, fire patches and bars and. You know, if somebody is rolling up, you know, there is a very still a very bad

099relationship. Between emergency services and. Um, and again, the training still is not sufficient. It's still not being delivered by out of the. But also to this whole message of lighted up blue. The puzzle pieces that all over fire. And. You know, this might be where really we can make that change is. Promoting like the flag and stuff like that during this month. And it's really into getting rid of some of these very harmful. That have a history that are triggering to a lot of individuals. April is not the month for me. I mean, by right now, I'm stressed. I don't even go online. Yeah, yeah, but we have the control to not light up. W. D. D. does not need to light up. I hope changing the actual month. Yeah, I mean, sorry go ahead.

100I don't want to turn to you. Oh, no, but I'm saying, but that's the thing is like, we can. Need to be elevated this. When oftentimes when the reason why a lot of people don't like this month. Is because we hear about how much we're a burden. Yeah, hear about, oh, you know. Oh, you're not like my son. Oh, you're really, you know, that stuff really. And I mean, and it's it's form. And it really, I mean, it's like all my friends in the stuff advocate community all dread this month, but it's also kind of like. The Super Bowl of advocacy for us, this is what people are actually paying attention. And so this is the opportunity that maybe next year we turn this more into. To really make sure that we're elevating our voices.

101Especially around the self advocate, but that, um. You know, and doing these events and like, you know, when we were talking in the well. That was great, you know, we had a broad representation. And that's kind of what we need to ship this month with kind of more focus on. Is is that broader, you know, like, and talking about the fact that blue has very. You know, it kind of still find onto them to that 7 year old boy diagnosis. From the suburbs, it doesn't represent a large chunk of the community. That has been missed. I think right now we have a once in. Once in a lifetime opportunity to relinquish that we could take back April. We could reclaim it and not just reclaim and take it back, but make it our own as

102a community, really. And honestly, for those who are on here who... Dread April, and I completely understand that. You can one day say, I love April because it's a victory story. It's something where at first it was said it was ours, but it really wasn't. But then by our own way, we took it back and now we make it ours. So we are now in the phase where we can, if we so choose and do so now, we have the tools where we can take it back and we can then make it ours. So then April can be a victory story. So then it's like, look at what we did because we took action. We didn't just let like an organization which doesn't speak for us, like say that they are. And we made great

103societal change so that one day in the history books, they'll say, oh yeah, I can't believe we used to light up blue. Oh yeah, I can't believe they used to actually use the puzzle piece. And we'll see this flag everywhere and it'll be like a victory flag for this community because we did that. So, honestly, I think that this is like a calling card and this is a challenge. We see the problem. We identify the problem. We know we have a flag. I did all the hard work. I got us the plan. So we got a flag now. It's up to us as a collective unit. Do we wish to take back our month? If the answer is yes, let's do it. We're in the right state. There's this, there is a culture within the

104state government. Which is very receptive the board, the fact that the board exists. um is we honestly i could tell you on the government perspective i have people both um in democrat and republican parties who are very receptive to this the mayor glenn cove who's republican believe it or not um is flying the flag and just made a post on her social media i have a democrat congressman i was supposed to meet with today but i couldn't get down to dc so i'm meeting with later on this month who supports the flag we have flags flying all over the place So it's bipartisan support so we can really do this. We can really take back April. So I'm honestly excited for all of this. And I think everyone in the autistic community should be excited

105too, because the future, if we so choose to it, we will look back at this and say, this is our victory month. I hope people agree with that. No, it sounds like there's a lot of in the idea of taking back April and making it more true from from all of you. So, I, I think it's great. I think it's been a great conversation and sounds like. We have a plan for April will look like next year when we have our meeting. And I actually do have a question kind of. So that's my background for 3 natural resources. Um. Is there any talk about making more trails some somewhere on this side? And if not, I actually have a very good suggestion. Of property that is owned by, uh, to me. Yes. That's important. It's

106already set up as an ABA trail. It'd be great sensory trail. And, um. I'm just going to throw it out there. You might have something in the Adirondack. I don't know anything on that 1 specifically Mike, but we can take it back to our colleagues at parks. The only event you mentioned Rochester, is there going to be anything more downstate or at least Albany South. Not this week and not this month. I mean, I think for for us 1, I just want to say, thank you for the conversation. I mean, the reason we have this board is to inform us and when we do things wrong, you tell us and we react right? And that's that's fine. Um, I'm just saying, it's not that convenient for most people. Yeah, I mean, I think we're starting

107small and the, the, the idea is that you grow each. Each month, and I think we can probably talk about it more specifically in the lead up to next April. So we're not talking about it while it's happening though, but before it happens right. Um, and what can be done differently, um, sort of next year, but I, I hear you Michael. That's not that it's not convenient for for everyone to go to Rochester. Yeah, I like the idea of making it sort of a bigger deal next year by proactively planning. And this, this conversation has been very helpful for that. I think if there should be ones all over the state in New York. And on a personal level, it would be much easier for me to get to them in Long Island to to

108speak that have to drive. I think it's like, for this speech for about 4 plus hours. I mean, I'm happy to do it, but we need more of these facilities. I'm going to throw it out there. I don't know what their structure, but it's possible that maybe form a sub committee planning subcommittee and start the planning process. For next year now, and, like, have celebrations all over the state and. I don't start it out there. I don't know if that's a thing or that's a good idea. I would love to get an idea. And maybe even having like, resource fair, like, we can maybe couple this with job there as resource fair. You know, other types of advocacy, there's no real national autism convention. I know the studies to throw on they were going through

109this year, but then they made it all virtual and it's all virtual and nobody goes to it. Like, we know I had words over that. Yeah, but that's where we met. You know, a lot of us met. And that can be filled by New York state. We have the resources and yeah. And there's topics we could cover, like water safety. It's a huge topic. And next month's water safety month, there's no autism and water safety conference, but when I went to the national aquatics conference. The association of aquatic professionals, a lot of the talk about that, because the driving rate is so high. You know, emergency management and disasters. I think that just, you know, we can close to kind of lead the nation in this. They'll take planning, we'll take resources and I'll take

110money. But I think the chair of state, and this board can be the vehicle to really set that example and make that change. What about what about. Like, uh, for people who, like, oh, my God, I can't speak right now. Wow. I had an idea and I can't think it on. What about people who. Oh, my, maybe we should do something like, talk about what stemming is and. In this conversation, like, like, we're having the autism spectrum, like. Meeting or whatever, whatever you're talking about. I can't talk right now for some reason, but what do we, but we should also talk about why why is important and not judge about why we do it. You know. I was doing also throughout there too, like, you know. And I can be very frank about this who

111also know that the landscape's going to look like next year. I, for 1, I'm scared. There's a lot of negative talk around off with him now, like, we're going to put them in camps apps and us and then I have other groups. Yep. Yep. We're included in. Any neuro emergency, you know, vaccine that would now study saying that vaccine is causing autism that becoming a thing again. All the guy doing the study, they're cutting resources. You know, so it's kind of important that, you know, we. That we can kind of leave that charge to celebrate. Our community, you know, there's a lot of negative. That's coming back out about that. Because they look at our disability, they don't look up, they don't look at our strengths or super powers. That's what my mom always said

112that our. Where our states are is our super powers. That's what we should also celebrate. A while back with the advisory board had our own meetings. A few times a year, it was great because we could bring up the topics that we wanted in the more public meetings. So, yeah, I mean, 1 of the topics. That's of concerns to me that I think was just touched on a little bit. Does New York state Medicaid Medicaid is there a contingency if that. And if it's got cut, okay. Um, is it. Or thinking contingency. Yeah, no, I, I think this. The state is waiting to see what happens at the federal level. This budget's still under negotiation, but at some point, something's going to happen at both federal and state level and it would be important for

113us to be talking about that. In the future. It could happen next week. I mean, they're pushing it. Yeah. It was stuff like this, there needs to be people we can get active a sense of urgency because literally we don't know what's gonna happen tomorrow. Things happen. Quite frankly, some of them happen quickly and what, like, literally what happens is it pulled out from us tomorrow. Like, in a hypothetical scenario, which may not be like, literally, like, what will we do if tomorrow 24 hours from now we find out that the rug pulled out from us and what will we do in that scenario? If it happens literally tomorrow, like, what will we do? Well, I could propose that if there's enough of these things start, they're happening more rapidly. I don't think there's anything

114gathering group of subgroup from this group to say, you know, what, what should be our next step or how should we be responding? I don't think there's anything that prevents could we be involved in the process of making it like a game plan? I know that's like, maybe an unconventional ask, but I think we should considering the fact that it would affect us directly and considering we have this board here. I think that we should definitely be part of the process and coming out with a contingency or something. Because again, we're coming from 1st, 10 experience. It's not like, oh, I have a relative friend. What's going to affect? It's like, oh, it's going to affect us. Like, gee. I think that we should probably be part of the process. I think a lot of

115people on the board of problem, I think it's safe for me to assume they agree to that. We should part of the process to making second tendency. Police if anyone disagrees, please let me know, but I think it's important that we're part of the process. No, I totally agree with you. That's a great idea. I didn't think of that. I'm going to say as a catastrophic emergency planning professional on the international level. Yes, we actually please involve us and be more than happy to help myself too. So, it's good to have a plan B plan C and a plan D. Yeah, I think the entirety of the board should be involved. Quite frankly, I think it's important, but also, I mean, you know, there's a saying, I think. It's or something forgive me. Nothing without

116us or something that with us without us. It's a good catchy saying, but the gist of it is, is like, you know, if you're gonna do something for us, like, include us, you know, and this, this is a. This is a big thing. This isn't like, 1 of those little things. This is this is a big deal. And these are like, important times. And it will really also on top of making it the most effective contingency plan that could possibly be in these situations. I mean, it will really be showing to everyone in the state. Like, you know, that we, we need a serious opportunity that wow. We're like, you know. There's this is going to affect population a, so what we're doing is we're taking the. The state board full population a, and putting

117them here. Building this contingency plan with them for the entire population. So, it comes from that mindset. So, I think that'll be extremely beneficial. Again, if anybody on the board disagrees with me, just please let me know. And the phrase is, it's not about us without us. That's it there we go. Yeah, love that love that saying nothing about us without us. Yeah. Yeah, well, I think I think maybe what we'll do and Rachel, let me know if this sounds good. You know, I think what we're waiting 1 of the things we're waiting on is. As we all know is debating some potential significant changes to the budget. And we don't know exactly when that's going to happen. There's 2 different versions in the House and Senate for, you know, I know a lot of

118you are following this. So, forgive me if you know this already and after Congress comes back from the holiday recess expected that they're trying to negotiate something by Memorial Day. So we could keep an eye on what's happening there and if it looks like some of these cuts to Medicaid, which I think might be 1 of the biggest concerns are going to happen. We could set up an ad hoc meeting to talk about what what's the best way for us to address this. And also use that meeting. I don't know whose suggestion it was. I think maybe Mike to talk about proactive planning for next April to, you know, to be able to just do that. Informally with some type of outreach to the board if that makes sense. I agree we, we are, we

119belong in the community, not in a box. We belong with long with everybody else. We don't belong in include not be included in things. Okay, well, why don't we agree to do that to be in touch? It would probably be in May when we have a good idea of what's actually. Going to happen or not happen, although who knows and at least some of us informally get together to talk about some ideas and then propose there's more to the, to the whole board. And then also just get moving on what we might do for next April. So. I think that sounds good to me and I don't I don't want to shut down the competition, but I know that we also have a public comment period. So I want to ask to see if anybody

120else has any other parting thoughts before we move on. This is really great discussion. I would actually like to just say something quickly about. Autistic people have higher support needs and require. Assistive communication devices. So, as some of, you know, I'm a special education teacher as well as an autistic self advocate and I work with many children that have been diagnosed autistic level 3 that are non speaking. So, I just want to talk a little bit about that and bring some attention to the fact that we have some work to do in this area in New York state. And since this is our month to talk about it, I see the consequences of this and children as young as 3 and 4, not having access to communication device. I see their frustration, their shutdowns, their

121isolation. Children who are misdiagnosed pathologized are written off not because of their neurology, but because. They've been trapped in systems that fail to presume competence or provide the tools they need to express themselves. We must stop making children prove they deserve to be heard. We must stop waiting for them to behave neurotypically before we offer access to communication. Because when we don't, we cause harm. And that harm often presents as co-occurring conditions. including anxiety, depression, trauma responses that are mistakenly viewed as inherent to autism rather than as a result of being unsupported and misunderstood. There is a no one size fits all approach to communication. We need a flexible, informed, trauma aware framework, especially one that acknowledges that speech is not the only valid form of language. Movement differences, apraxia, sensory processing, emotional regulation and

122relational safety all play a role in a child's ability to communicate. And we cannot talk about communication without talking about intersectionality. Black autistic children are more likely to be labeled as defiant than dysregulated. Autistic girls and trans youth are overlooked or dismissed. Children with motor planning differences are assumed to lack understanding. These layer these layered identities matter. The way a child is perceived by race, gender, class and disability directly influences the supports they are given or denied. We need systems that see the whole child, not just their diagnosis or behavior. And we need to listen to those who are so often left out of the conversation, especially non speaking individuals who have been advocating, innovating and leading this movement despite immense barriers. That brings me to the symbol of Josh's flag, which I just wanted

123to talk about quickly because I don't know if people know the words that go with his flag. And I believe that it captures the spirit of what we're working toward. So the flag that he created when Josh created his own words that go with the flag, a flag born of the neurodivergent mind to symbolize the greater neurodivergent spirit. A spirit that refuses to be broken, a spirit that always gets up. A spirit full of iron will. In red we see power, the immense inner power neurodivergent people possess. In gold we see first place and glory. We are done being seen as second class. In the diamond we see value just as society values diamonds. We proclaim our own. This flag is more than a symbol. It is a reclamation of voice of space and of

124power. It wasn't created for neuro divergent people by others. It was created by someone who lives this experience. That distinction matters deeply. The flag represents the essence of this movement, autistic pride, autonomy and agency. It's a visual affirmation that we are not broken not less than, but a vibrant community with immense worth. Just as Josh's flag honors neurodivergent strength. Our systems must honor neurodivergent communication. We must shift from asking for awareness to demanding justice from symbolic gestures to concrete change. And that includes removing barriers to communication access and evaluations, funding trauma, and for neuro diversity, affirming services, ensuring representation of those with the most intersectional identities. Listening more than we speak and using our positions to transform systems, not just maintain them. Throughout history progress has always come when those most affected by injustice are

125centered in the fight for change from the civil rights movement to the act. The neuro diversity movement is no different. We must move beyond awareness. We must lead with humility and we must keep asking the most important question. Who is not being heard and what are we going to do about it? Nothing about us without us. Thank you 100% agreed. Good job. Thank you. Kate. I think we only have 2 minutes left in the meeting today. No, it's fine. That was beautiful. I think something that I may do, instead of having the live public comment is we have an email address where people can send written comments. I think it's on a slide coming up. It's for something else, but we're going to say that it's for this. So this is the email that if

126anyone has any comments, we can leave this up for a little bit after the meeting officially closes just so folks can take it down and send things to us in writing just because I want to be respectful of everyone's time. I know others may have commitments shortly after 2 p.m. These are the next two meetings that we have coming up. And as Courtney said, I think if there's something that calls for an ad hoc meeting, we can. We can work on that. I'm sorry to take over the last few seconds Courtney, but yeah, no problem. And I, and I do, I have to go to a, uh, a 2 o'clock meeting, but this was a really, really good conversation today. So we will be in touch, um, about, you know, the issues that were brought

127up today was a really great conversation and, um, thank you to everybody who contributed. So, Rachel toss it back to you and, um, I look forward to seeing everybody hopefully in person next time. Yes, and the next meeting is July 23rd in this same room. So I'm going to be in this room for the for the future and look forward to seeing seeing you all of you again. Then. The meeting is adjourned. Thank you have a good night day.