The main “product” if you will of the IACC is the “Strategic Plan”. This, not surprisingly, is a plan to coordinate the research directions that the government funded agencies should undertake.

As part of the process, they have published a “Request for Input“, or RFI. They want comments on the draft version of the Strategic Plan.

This has already been discussed at Neurdiversity, LeftBrainRightBrain, and Action for Autism.

This is different than the recent RFI from the services subcommittee, which we discussed and AutismVox has discussed.

Basically, send an email to iacc@mail.nih.gov. Put “NOT-MH-08-021″ in the subject line. Tell them what you think of the Strategic Plan. This document will have an impact on the future of research spending withing agencies like the NIH, NIMH and CDC.

The RFI notes:

Please organize your comments by the sections of the draft Strategic Plan:

Introductory Material (including the Introduction, Vision Statement, Mission Statement, Core Values and Cross-Cutting Themes)
I: When Should I Be Concerned?
II: How Can I Understand What Is Happening?
III: What Caused This To Happen And Can This Be Prevented?
IV: Which Treatments And Interventions Will Help?
V: Where Can I Turn For Services?
VI: What Does The Future Hold?
Development Process for the IACC Strategic Plan for Autism Spectrum Disorder Research
References

You may not have the time to read the entire Strategic Plan and put together comments according to the structure. Look for the parts that interest you most. Are you interested in children’s issues? Early Interventions? Adult issues?

How about general concerns like–”please stay with the strengths of the NIH and NIMH and use the peer-review process to determine projects which are likely to have a good likelyhood of success”.

Now is the time. Don’t put this off. Make your voices heard.