Autism made me a single-issue voter

When discussing the recent presidential campaign with two professors I know, one asked me who was more “favorable” when it came to autism. He assumed that I would probably support the Democrats because of their association with support of civil rights (IDEA and the ADA are civil rights statutes at their heart).

As I continued to consider that query and followed the debates and politicians’ jockeying around support of various autism legislation, I developed an idea for a political information website that recognized the primacy of autism in my life and the lives of so many families and extended families like ours. Do I vote Democrat? Do I vote Republican? No, “I vote Autism.”

I guess I’ve become a single-issue voter. And, at least for now, I see it as critical when confronting the actions and policies of other interest groups: doctors, teachers, auto union workers, post office employees, and frankly anyone else. It’s not any less legitimate for me, and every autism Dad and Mom, to speak for our children in the same voice as everyone else speaks for themselves.