Bill A2628 looks at amending the public health law to create “autism teams” within the hospital setting. Passing this bill would require the department of health to develop a pilot “autism team”. Some individuals on the autism spectrum can struggle with many different aspects of a hospital setting. Some of these ares of struggle are increased sensory stimuli, transitioning, new environments/people, and communication. The goal of the “autism team” would to help alleviate some of these struggles and to improve the individuals comfort/quality of care. The other goal of this team would be to educate the hospital staff on how to communicate better with individuals on the spectrum.

In recent times with the Covid-19 pandemic, hospitals have been putting policies into place that limits people from having a support person go into the hospital with them. This can be devastating for individuals on the autism spectrum. In instances like these an autism team would be important in helping individuals feel comfortable in the hospital alone and would help to make sure the individual received the best care.

By signing this petition it means you support this bill and are interested in bringing awareness to this bill to help it push through the NY state assembly.