I received this from Meg Evans of the Autistic Self Advocacy Network (ASAN) on the 12th. Sorry for the delay in posting it. Ari Ne’eman (of ASAN) has been nominated by President Obama to serve on the National Council on Disability. This nomination was approved by a Senate committee and will now go on to the full senate for a final vote.
Nominees for Disability Council, Other Federal Boards Approved by Committee
The following seven nominations for members of the National Council on Disability were approved by committee and will go on to the full senate for vote:
o) Gary Blumenthal, the executive director for the Associated of Developmental Disabilities Providers. Blumenthal previously served as director of the President’s Committee on Mental Retardation under President Clinton.
o) Chester Alonzo Finn, a special assistant with the New York State Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities. Finn is blind and developmentally disabled and is president of the national board of Self-Advocates Becoming Empowered, according to the White House.
o) Sara A. Gesler, a state representative in the Oregon State House of Representatives and the youngest woman in the Oregon State Legislature. She founded the non-profit FG Syndrome Family Alliance, which serves families dealing with the rare developmental disability FG Syndrome.
o) Ari Ne’eman, the founding president of the Autistic Self-Advocacy Network. He also serves as vice chairman of the New Jersey Adults with Autism Task Force.
o) Dongwoo Joseph Pak, vice president and loan officer of the Farmers & Merchants Bank and board member of Acacia Adult Day Health Care Services. He has also serviced on the Special Needs Advisory Board for the Orange County Transit Authority and on the California State Rehabilitation Council.
o) Carol Jean Reynolds, the executive director of the Disability Center for Independent Living. She is also a member of the governing board of the National Council on Independent Living. She has faced several mental health and substance abuse issues and has been in recovery for 26 years, according to the White House.
o) Fernando Torres-Gill, the associate dean for academic affairs at the UCLA School of Public Affairs. He was the first assistant secretary for aging in the Department of Health and Human Services, and is a polio survivor, according to the White House.
Left Brain Right Brain 
AoA, of course, had to have a tizzy over it, so I’ve rebutted their letter to Obama. Ari is a good choice and will do a fine job.
This is a good nomination by President Obama. Getting the word out on autism will bring autistic people one step closer to the same access, rights and opportunities as everyone else.
Predictably, the nominations have provoked a tirade of abuse from Age of Autism. They are such nasty, nasty people.
One is tempted to sink to the level of ones adversaries and proclaim out loud
“Eat dirt, you mercurian maggots!”
At the very least you will be eating a pie made of offal http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/eat-humble-pie.html
And now Mr President, I hope you get the health bill through, just in case the Mercurians find humble pie too indigestible and can’t afford the bills because they have squandered all there insurance on paying quacks.