Meet Camille.

Camille has been a Direct Support Professional for four years. She works with three adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities in the Greater Baton Rouge area — helping them navigate daily life, manage routines, get to medical appointments, stay connected to their communities. She knows how Marcus takes his coffee. She knows which grocery store aisle triggers a sensory response and which one doesn't. She knows that Tuesday afternoons are hard and Wednesday mornings are better, and she has learned, over four years, exactly how to help someone move through a hard Tuesday into a better Wednesday.

Her clients trust her. Their families trust her. The agency she works for trusts her. She is, by every measure that matters, exceptional at her job.

She is also doing the math. And the math has stopped working.

April is Autism Acceptance Month.

Not Autism Awareness Month — that’s the old name, and the shift matters. Awareness means you know autism exists. Acceptance means you’ve actually made room for autistic people in your community, your workplace, your healthcare system, your city.

Those are very different things.

House Bill 352 shows what happens when systems don't coordinate. Families pay the Silo Tax—120 hours/year managing care that should be coordinated for them.

Take a look back on 2023!