Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Advocates Establish Autism United to Offer Community Services; First Efforts Based on Long Island

Autism United, a new coalition of advocacy groups and service organizations based on Long Island, N.Y., announced its plans to provide community-based services, information and fund-raising for research in a press release June 12. Read the press release here, and see the group's new website AutismUnited.org.

The first two projects are to create a resource center (named in honor of a state legislator, Harvey Weisenberg), and to perform "a comprehensive study to provide an accurate count of the number of people with autism living on Long Island." Plans also call for projects in other states with money collected through fund-raising walks. The first event is scheduled for September 30 at Belmont Lake State Park in Babylon, N.Y.

Participating organizations include Long Island chapters of the Autism Society of America and the National Autism Association, as well as A-Champ (Advocates for Children's Health Affected by Mercury Poisoning) and Lifespire, a non-profit organization that helps people with developmental disabilities to live in their communities.

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