Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) was recognized by the Autism Society on Thursday as “an amazing champion for individuals with autism and their families” at a reception on Capitol Hill.

“Rep. Smith doesn’t just care about people with autism at home,” said Linda Walder, Founder and Executive Director of the Daniel Jordan Fiddle Foundation, who introduced Smith. “He has been very involved in numerous initiatives to help people with autism worldwide. Rep. Smith, thank you for coming to this event to be with us today and thank you for all that you have done for people with autism in New Jersey, across this nation, and worldwide.”

Smith addressed the Autism Society’s Day on the Hill on Thursday, which included several New Jersey Members of Congress, and thanked the organization for its work on behalf of children with autism and their families and caregivers. “Thank you for what the society does, what you have done for decades on behalf of persons with autism,” Smith said. “You have made a remarkable difference.”

“We are going to be doing a reauthorization, hopefully soon,” he said, noting that for youth with autism who are transitioning into adulthood, “we’re going to have more, not less, in terms of employment, housing, and all the other challenges we face. 50,000 individuals on the spectrum matriculate from being minors to majority-age every year. And to me, education should not fall off the table simply because of chronological age. That’s absurd. So we need to have a much better answer, and we are going to do it.”

Smith, co-founder and co-chair of the Congressional Autism Caucus, has consistently fought for more funding and research of autism spectrum disorder, and has authored four major laws on autism: the Autism CARES Act (P.L. 113-157), the Combating Autism Reauthorization Act (P.L. 112-32), the Autism Statistics, Surveillance, Research and Epidemiology (ASSURE) Act (P.L. 106-310), and Kevin and Avonte’s Law, provisions of which were signed into law in March as part of the omnibus bill.

In 2014 Smith authored the Autism Collaboration, Accountability, Research and Education (CARES) Act after meeting with constituent parents of children with Autism.

This law set up an important report by the HHS to Congress on the services available to young adults with autism spectrum disorder, and the challenges they face in the health care system as they transition into adulthood—the “Young Adults and Transitioning Youth with Autism Spectrum Disorder” report. “We did require that the federal government do a full assessment,” Smith said, to “leave nothing out.”

“We also talked about housing, employment,” Smith said. “I held a whole series of hearings on companies like SAP that at first they hired a number of persons with autism on the spectrum, and did so thinking ‘well we’re trying to be very compassionate, inclusive.’ And all of a sudden they came back and said ‘wow, these are great employees. They’re focused, they do a tremendous job.’”

Another issue Smith mentioned is “how police forces across the country deal with persons with autism.” In Monmouth County, NJ, he said, “they train the police officers, the Sheriff’s officers and others, to know how to approach someone who has autism. And what a difference that makes.”

Smith told of how his work with autism increased after a 1997 meeting with the Gallagher family in New Jersey, who had told him of a spike in cases of autism in Brick, NJ.

“We looked for some way to discern why there were so many instances, prevalence of autism in Brick, NJ,” Smith said. “I invited the CDC, who were reluctant to come up.” After the CDC looked into the matter, they found other spikes in cases of autism as well in nearby towns. This resulted in more federal funding for research of the possible causes of autism.