Information Session: Autism Insurance Reform (HB 498)

Hear from special guest speaker, Lorri Unumb, Vice President, State Government Affairs, Autism Speaks, the world’s leading autism science and advocacy organization, and learn more about autism insurance reform and find out what you can do to help pass House Bill 498.

About the speaker:

Lorri Shealy Unumb is a lawyer and the mother of three children – Ryan (12), who has autism; Christopher (9); and Jonathan (5).  In 2005, she wrote ground-breaking autism insurance legislation for South Carolina (“Ryan’s Law”) that passed in 2007 and served as the catalyst for the national movement toward autism insurance reform.

Lorri began her work in autism advocacy as a volunteer.  In 2008, she was recruited by the New York-based non-profit Autism Speaks, where she now advocates full-time on behalf of individuals with autism.  As head of state government affairs, she has testified more than 80 times on health insurance issues in legislatures around the country.

A frequent keynote speaker, Lorri still teaches a health care law seminar at George Washington University Law School called “Autism and the Law.”  She and her husband Dan wrote the first-ever comprehensive textbook on legal issues related to autism, also called “Autism and the Law.”  Lorri and Dan recently founded the Autism Academy of South Carolina, a non-profit center in Columbia serving the year-round educational and therapeutic needs of children on the spectrum.

A Parent’s Perspective:

Read one mother’s letter to her legislator about what autism insurance reform would mean to her family and others like hers.
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