Kemp and Waitlist for Disability Services

The Politics of Autism includes an extensive discussion of insurance and Medicaid services for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities.  Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS) are particularly important. 

Autism Speaks:

Autism Speaks is urging action after Governor Brian Kemp directed the state agency to implement only a fraction of the waiver expansion approved by the legislature, limiting progress on Georgia’s growing waitlist for disability services.

More than 8,000 Georgians with autism or other intellectual or developmental disabilities (I/DD) are waiting for home- and community-based services (HCBS), which help people live at home, access therapies, build skills, and participate fully in their communities. This year, following strong advocacy from families and individuals across the state, the legislature approved a budget allowing 900 individuals to move off the wait list for services. However, Governor Kemp is directing the state agency to use funds for just 100.

“For individuals with autism, access to home- and community-based services is a lifeline,” said David Sitcovsky, Vice President of Advocacy for Autism Speaks. “The legislature put forward a plan to begin addressing the waitlist for these services, but the Governor’s decision to scale back support will have lasting consequences for families across Georgia.”

Medicaid waiver programs such as Georgia’s NOW/COMP waivers are the primary pathway for individuals with autism to access essential services, including behavioral therapies, daily living supports, employment services, and respite care for families. These community-based services can also help prevent more costly outcomes, including crisis response, institutional care, emergency treatment, and caregiver burnout.

Autism Speaks is grateful to Senator Blake Tillery, Senator Ben Watson, Rep. Matt Hatchett, and Rep. Katie Dempsey for championing additional waiver slots in this year’s budget. We are committed to supporting their continued leadership and urge state leaders to build on the legislature’s proposal by identifying opportunities to increase waiver capacity before the next full budget cycle and making this a top priority in the next legislative session.

The state has identified 1,217 individuals who are in critical need of a waiver, and a recent statewide study showed that increases of up to 2,400 slots for three years would be needed to fully address and keep up with demonstrated need. “The Georgia legislature has already recognized both the scale of the need and a path forward,” Sitcovsky added. “It is critical that leaders act with urgency to build on that foundation so fewer families are left waiting year after year for services they urgently need.”

While Governor Kemp’s directive represents a setback, Autism Speaks remains committed to working with state leaders to ensure that Georgia makes meaningful progress toward reducing its waiver wait list. We stand united with other advocates to elevate this issue and invite Georgians affected by autism to join us in this work by

sharing how Medicaid services impact them.

CDC: 982 Measles Cases in 2026

  In The Politics of Autism, I analyze the myth that vaccines cause autism. This bogus idea can hurt people by allowing diseases to spread.    Examples include measles, COVID, flu, and polio.  A top antivaxxer is HHS Secretary RFK Jr. He is part of the "Disinformation Dozen." He helped cause a deadly 2019 measles outbreak in Samoa.

From CDC:

As of February 19, 2026, 982 confirmed* measles cases were reported in the United States in 2026. Among these, 976 measles cases were reported by 26 jurisdictions: Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Kentucky, Maine, Minnesota, Nebraska, New York City, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin. A total of 6 measles cases were reported among international visitors to the United States.

There have been 7 new outbreaks** reported in 2026, and 89% of confirmed cases (870 of 982) are outbreak-associated (73 from outbreaks starting in 2026 and 797 from outbreaks that started in 2025).

There have been reports of measles exposure in the worst possible places:  international airports.  St. Louis, Philadelphia, and  LAX 

Profound Autism 2026

 In The Politics of Autism, I write:

The most basic questions trigger angry arguments. For instance, into what category do we put autism in the first place? In 2013, President Obama said that “we’re still unable to cure diseases like Alzheimer's or autism or fully reverse the effects of a stroke.” The language of “disease” and “cure” offends some in the autism community. “We don’t view autism as a disease to be cured and we don’t think we need fixing,” says Ari Ne’eman of the Autistic Self-Advocacy Network. “We do feel comfortable with the word disability because we understand what it means.” From this perspective, autism is difference that requires accommodation, not an illness that requires eradication. Adherents of this position liken autism to homosexuality, which psychiatrists once deemed to be a  disorder. Conversely, some parents take offense at opposition to a cure. “Anyone with the mental and verbal ability to challenge autism research is not autistic on a scale that I care to recognize,” writes autism parent James Terminello. “Opposition to finding a cure is particularly hurtful to parents who still mourn the loss of the child that could have been. A line has been crossed.”

Laura Ungar at AP:

There’s now a growing push to separate profound autism — in which people need constant care for life, have a certain level of intellectual disability and are nonspeaking or minimally verbal — into its own diagnosis. The hope is that it would help ensure that people like Connor and Ronan get the support and services they need and that research includes them.

In the United States, an estimated 1 in 31 children have autism spectrum disorder. Researchers estimate around a quarter have “profound autism,” a term introduced in 2021 by a group of experts, the Lancet Commission, to describe people most disabled by the developmental condition.

But some in the autism community worry that creating a separate diagnosis would reduce attention on the broader spectrum and the individual needs of everyone on it.

Andy Shih, chief science officer for Autism Speaks, said no matter where people fall on the debate, “there’s absolutely no doubt that we need to elevate awareness about the needs of this group.”

...

Judith Ursitti, president of the Profound Autism Alliance, is among those who now want profound autism separated out. People in this category lack appropriate treatments, supports and enough providers trained to handle their level of care, she said. And the vast majority of clinical research doesn’t include them.

“If you don’t have research, you won’t have treatments. You won’t have achievable services and supports,” said Ursitti, whose adult son has profound autism. “There are people across the spectrum who have high support needs that are intermittent. The difference with our population is they’re constant.”

But Dena Gassner of Drexel University’s autism institute -- an autistic senior research scientist and mother of an autistic adult with moderate support needs -- said she struggles with the idea of assigning someone the label of profound autism. She said it could be stigmatizing.

She said there’s nothing wrong with being autistic; the problem lies in “the massive lack of supports and services” in our society. “We need to come together in a unified voice to talk about services for the entirety of the spectrum.”