A Self-Advocate’s Guide to Medicaid

The Autistic Self-Advocacy Network (ASAN) recently published A Self-Advocates’s Guide to Medicaid, a plain language toolkit developed in collaboration with the Autism Services, Education, Resources and Training Collaborative (ASERT)​ ​with funding from the Special Hope Foundation.​ ​Medicaid is an important part of the United States health care system and information about Medicaid and attempts to change it can be difficult to understand. This resource is the third of several that ASAN is developing to ​help self-advocates participate in important conversations about their lives and the services they rely on.​ ​

The Medicaid toolkit is available in two versions:

  • Easy Read Edition. The Easy Read version is divided into six parts, each containing one subject discussed in the toolkit: Medicaid introduction and background, Who Can Get Medicaid?, What Does Medicaid Pay For?, Medicaid Funding, What Could Happen to Medicaid?, and a summary and glossary explaining the terms we use in the toolkit. The Easy Read version uses pictures along with text, and has more white space.
  • A Plain-Text Version for either those with vision-related disabilities or those who would prefer a version without accompanying graphics. The Plain Text Version is available as one document, or in individual parts.

​The Autistic Self-Advocacy Network is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization run by and for autistic people. ASAN was created to serve as a national grassroots disability rights organization for the autistic community run by and for autistic Americans, advocating for systems change and ensuring that the voices of autistic people are heard in policy debates and the halls of power. ​ASAN work​s​ to educate communities, support self-advocacy in all its forms, and improve public perceptions of autism. ASAN’s members and supporters include autistic adults and youth, cross-disability advocates, and non-autistic family members, professionals, educators, and friends.​