[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.16″ global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.16″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.27.4″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″]<\/p>\n
Wisconsin Board for People with Developmental Disabilities statement on federal autism report<\/strong><\/p>\n Sept. 22, 2025<\/p>\n Press Contact: Beth Swedeen, beth.swedeen@wisconsin.gov<\/a>, (608) 220-2974; Sydney Badeau, badeausydney@gmail.com<\/a><\/p>\n Over the last several months, people with disabilities, families, and advocates have grown increasingly concerned about leaders using public platforms to advance outdated and dangerous ideas that portray people with disabilities as burdens or of lesser value if they do not exactly match the metrics of success defined by able-bodied people.<\/p>\n \u201cLast week, the disability community was horrified as a host on a major media outlet publicly suggested \u2018involuntary lethal injection\u2019 as a policy solution for homeless people who also have mental health issues,\u201d said Beth Swedeen, Wisconsin Board for People with Developmental Disabilities Executive Director. \u201cThis week, people with autism are being identified as population of people whose existence the government seeks to prevent or change into people who are more \u2018normal\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n Autism is a complex condition that does not have a single cause. Autistic people share a diagnosis, but have a wide range of talents, abilities, and support needs that are individual to each person. Autistic Americans have the same unalienable rights as all Americans, the right to life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. We all find different ways to achieve these things, and it is the individual, not the government, who decides our own worth.<\/p>\n \u201cThe government should not decide whose lives are worth living or what criteria must be met to have a worthy life,\u201d said Sydney Badeau, Wisconsin Board for People with Developmental Disabilities Board Chair.<\/p>\n \u201cI know many people with autism. They do not want to be cured. They don\u2019t want to be targeted. They don\u2019t want to be told it is ok, or better, if they don\u2019t exist,\u201d said Badeau. \u201cPeople with autism have always existed. We are part of what humanity looks like, and we are amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Wisconsin Board for People with Developmental Disabilities statement on federal autism report Sept. 22, 2025 Press Contact: Beth Swedeen, beth.swedeen@wisconsin.gov, (608) 220-2974; Sydney Badeau, badeausydney@gmail.com Over the last several months, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":16271,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16260","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-feature","category-news","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wi-bpdd.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16260","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wi-bpdd.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wi-bpdd.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wi-bpdd.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wi-bpdd.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16260"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/wi-bpdd.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16260\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16274,"href":"https:\/\/wi-bpdd.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16260\/revisions\/16274"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wi-bpdd.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16271"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wi-bpdd.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16260"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wi-bpdd.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16260"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wi-bpdd.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16260"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}