Otto Lana, a college student and self-advocate who champions the right to communicate. He has presented at a multitude of conferences across the nation and served as a Department of Rehabilitation Youth Leadership Delegate in 2021. He shared his voice with policymakers in the Disability Rights California, Build Back Better Summit For Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in 2021. He has joined the Self Advocate Speakers Bureau at Disability Voices United, a non profit advocating for the rights of those with speech related disabilities, which led to an invitation to Sacramento to lobby for increased funding for communication access and support in the Governor’s Office and the Offices of the Department of Developmental Services.

He is serving a three year term as a member of the Office of Administrative Hearings Advisory Committee for the Department of Developmental Services. He is a Youth Advisory Board Member for the Center for Applied Science and Technology for Universal Design Learning, focusing on projects for inclusivity and accessibility in any learning environment. He is a Youth Ambassador for the California State Team partnering with Disability Rights California, U C Davis Mind Institute, and Disability Voices United for the national organization, Center for Youth Voice and Youth Choice, a resource center for youth with disabilities providing information on alternatives to conservatorship. He spoke on a panel discussion with Disability Rights California and UC Davis Mind Institute for the Family Voices of California Webinar for Supported Decision Making, California Law AB 1663 in September. He has just added CalABLE Youth Ambassador to his list as well.

He has been a guest speaker in college classrooms (San Francisco State University, Cal State San Marcos, San Diego State University, UCLA) for graduate students and virtual classrooms for professionals and educators explaining access and support to a robust system of communication is vital to a successful existence, with an emphasis on Alternative and Augmentative Communication (AAC). He presented at the U C Davis MIND Summer Institute 2022 on Neurodevelopmental Disabilities. In 2021 he had the honor of presenting at the Summer Leadership Institute with the OG of Disability Rights, Judy Heumann and equally famous Elijah Armstrong.The topic was inclusive environments for all students. Inclusion is more than a table in the back of the general education classroom. Special education students are students first and foremost and must be integrated and included in the community of learners in a school setting. Separate and segregated is not equal.

This year he was a keynote speaker with his best friends, Bella Santoyo and William Del Rosario also known as the MOD Squad, at the El Dorado Charter SELPA, TACA, CAMA, Cal TASH, and Summer Leadership Institute. They partnered with Diana Pastora Carson’s Go Beyond Awareness Campaign and spoke at Corky McMillin Elementary School. They were also featured on Doug Blecher’s podcast, Autism Stories in April for Autism Acceptance Month. The MOD Squad has formed an LLC and has a website www.modsquad4access.com They are taking their advocacy seriously. You can see their latest activities on Instagram @modsquad4access. They presented at the Do Good Business Conference in October at the Prospector Theater in Connecticut. The conference highlighted disabled owned businesses and sought to inform employers at large on how to build a more inclusive and accessible workplace. 80% of Americans with disabilities are unemployed. Thinking about universal design in the workplace and in general taps into a huge underserved and underestimated population. They are a resource that has discretionary funds and lots of talent. Creating accessible spaces is doing good business. The MOD Squad is more than just friends, they are an enterprise, a force for change.

Vice-Chair Terra Lawson-Remer surprised Otto with a proclamation from the San Diego Board of Supervisors that April 12, 2023 would be Otto Lana Day for his advocacy and volunteerism. He provided a keynote speech at the Inclusion Connection Conference in Waterloo, Iowa in June with Tracy Thresher from Wretches and Jabbers fame. In September, he presented a keynote address at the CAPTAIN Conference at Point Loma Nazarene University.

During the pandemic he co-created a book club for Autism Tree with his friend Danielle Levy. It was included in the 2021 Global Neuroscience Conference and has been more than 150,000 views of the online recording so far! The book club continues to grow and now is a who’s who attending the little virtual corner of the world. Anthony Doerr, yes the Pulitzer Prize winner, dropped by to join in on the pithy discussions. Janelle Brown and Angie Kim are the latest award winning novelists joining in on the fun. He served as a beta reader for Angie Kim’s newest work, Happiness Falls, and consulted on her character Eugene, a multi-modality communicator.

He has also received some accolades from big names in the disabled community. He is a recipient of the inaugural Heumann-Armstrong Award for Excellence and overcoming ableism in education (yes, that is right…Judy Freaking Heumann) and the Harry Servidio Memorial Leadership Award for his work with the Department of Rehabilitation.

He is learning new skills for content creation for social media networks and youth outreach with his internship at Kindred Communication. When he’s not busy with his internship, honors courses, and public speaking he runs a successful e-commerce website www.ottosmottos.com with his unique brand of wit and positive energy, selling waterproof letterboards he designed for his active lifestyle and apparel sporting the motto “Everyone Belongs Here”. Nothing is more important than the sharing feeling of belonging. And everyone loves merch with a meaning and a message. He does this all using text to talk software. Otto has autism and apraxia. These diagnoses describe him but do not define him. He is on a mission to change the descriptor non-verbal and non-speaking to multi-modality communicator. The “non” words are not only derogatory and harmful, they are simply incorrect. Proceeds from his website fund non-profit organizations that support the right to communication for individuals with speech related disabilities and provide letterboards to people who cannot afford them.

His work involves changing the depictions of disabled individuals in the media. One of Otto’s Mottos is “Be the type of change you wish to see in others.” He collaborated with Hollywood’s best to change this image of disabled people on your screens. He wants leading roles for the neurodiverse community, not victims of bullies or caricatures of disheveled nerds. Check it out www.hollywoodonthespectrum.com or @bethdubberphotography on Instagram.

Check out Otto’s Instagram too @otto_types for all the latest breaking news on OttoNation News Network (ONN), it’s always ONN.

His latest collaboration is with Elaine Hall and The Miracle Project. Let My Typin' Let You See -- A TMP Original Music Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EyG_WqC_eRA If a picture paints a thousand words, then a video slays infinite myths. Music is the ultimate medium for connection. Check out their music video on YouTube. You will be amazed. He and his friends in the Express Yourself Troupe write lyrics, create costumes and sets, produce and direct the music videos. Every video has a social justice vibe with a message of presuming competence and the importance of access and support to communication. He invited Elaine Hall, creator of The Miracle Project to join last year’s Neuroscience Conference and debut their music video. He continues to work alongside Elaine and presented with her at the Autism World Summit in September. Oh that’s right, one more thing, he is an award winning poet. The KidsWrite! San Diego poetry contest is sponsored by the San Diego Writers and Editors Guild and he has won four years in a row. In fact, they now have a perpetual award for young poets, known as the Otto Lana Award. If you write movies you can win an Oscar, if you write plays you can win a Tony, and if you write poetry in San Diego, you can win an Otto! https://sandiegowritersfestival.com/kidswrite/