Volume #72, Report #225
--Friday, November 21, 2003
GOVERNOR NAMES AUTISM TASK FORCE MEMBERS TO HELP FINDS WAYS TO IMPROVE
SERVICE DELIVERY
Governor Bob Taft on Friday named his appointees to a task force whose job
it will be to find ways in which to improve the delivery of services to
individuals suffering from autism. The Ohio Autism Task Force also is
charged with studying the growing incidence of the disease in Ohio.
Mr. Taft's appointees to the 21-member panel include: Sondra Williams, Effie
Davis and Charles Arndt, of Columbus; Douglas E. Krinsky of Westerville;
Rick Schostek of Dublin; Rory R. McLean and John Opperman, of Broadview
Heights; Denise Kissel and Denise Sawan Caruso of Akron; Nevada Waugh Reed
of Hudson; Rebecca Morrison of Gahanna; Georgia J. Backus of Youngstown;
Patricia Manning-Courtney of Wyoming, and; Joseph D. Napoli of Toledo. House
and Senate leaders Members are not compensated.
The task force is charged with submitting a report to the governor and the
Senate and House within the next year. Rep. Jon Peterson (R-Delaware), whose
youngest daughter is autistic, won support for a budget bill amendment that
created the task force. The lawmaker was also successful in adding
provisions that: create a pilot voucher program for autistic students that
provides parents with $15,000 per year to seek services outside districts,
and; gave permissive authority to the Department of Job and Family Services
to seek Medicaid waivers for autistic services.
Some
are the melody, some are the rhythm, some are the harmony