On behalf of Youth for Neurodiversity Inc., a youth-led nonprofit dedicated to empowering neurodivergent youth through advocacy and policy, I request your urgent intervention in establishing a direct government communication channel for young voices like ours, especially given the recent layoffs, ongoing government shutdown since October 1, 2025, and highly polarized media communications.

Nearly 7.5 million students with learning differences of autism, ADHD, dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia, dyspraxia, and others rely on timely critical services overseen by OSEP and RSA. The layoffs affecting 121 employees at OSEP and RSA have left only a handful of staffers amid the government shutdown that began on October 1, 2025. Protections to youth guaranteed under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), such as individualized education programs (IEPs),

There was a time when I struggled to understand why the world felt so overwhelming. The lights were too bright, the noise too sharp, the conversations too fast. I saw patterns where others saw randomness, I focused where others drifted, and I felt deeply, sometimes too deeply for my own comfort. I knew I was different but didn’t always know what that difference meant. I used to think my differences were obstacles, barriers that separated me from others.

Aashna Parsa, Founder, Davidson Young Scholar Growing up, I watched my brother, endlessly curious, turn his voracious reading into a spark that lit up his future. He'd spend hours researching teen healthcare access issues, not because he had to, but because he needed  to know more. My mom, his fiercest champion, fought against whispers in our community that labeled him "different." Being undiagnosed herself, she saw his strengths, his hyperfocus and brilliance, where others s