NDY’s Director of Minority Outreach, Anita Cameron, was featured in some important news pieces about medical bias against autistic people and proposed cuts to Medicaid. We applaud Anita for her incredible advocacy and we are so grateful to have her on Team NDY!
“For queer and gender-diverse autistic people, their gender or sexuality may have a larger impact than their autism on their medical treatment.
“It would literally be unsafe to disclose that I’m a lesbian,” said Anita Cameron, 57, a longtime disability activist and director of minority outreach at Not Dead Yet, a disability rights group.
“You literally get treated different…. It’s a little safer to be autistic than to be a lesbian, to be queer these days,” said Cameron, who lives in Rochester, New York. “Autistic people are six times more likely to be trans and non-binary.”
Cameron, who is Black, added that Black autistic people may be perceived as threats, due to others misinterpreting their behavior as dangerous. She notes the deaths of Black people with developmental disorders in encounters with police, making her careful of how she presents herself to health workers, even while living with chronic pain.
“If I go up in that emergency room crying and screaming … at the very least, I’ll get mocked,” Cameron said. “At the very worst, I will be escorted out of the emergency room or even arrested.” ”
“Anita Cameron, of Rochester, is visually impaired, and has issues related to autism and diabetes.
The 57-year-old currently qualifies for home care under the state’s Medicaid rules because she needs help with medications, house cleaning and bill payments, but would not qualify for one of the seven approved activities under the new law because she’s mobile.
Advocates worry the changes will force more people into nursing homes or adult-care facilities.
“Although I have mobility issues, I can transfer, I can maneuver — I can turn myself over in bed,” Cameron explained. “So under the proposed changes, I wouldn’t even get attendant services. I wouldn’t even be able to attempt to apply for services.”
Cameron, who works as a disability rights activist at events across the state, says the cuts will likely result in her being sent to an adult-care facility when she spends time in the hospital for medical care throughout the year.
“I have a job part-time, but I have a job,” Cameron added. “I wouldn’t be able to work from a nursing home.” “