Medicare for Autism Now! Rallies in Ontario October 9 and 11

Bracebridge, Ontario Medicare for Autism Now! Rally

Come and find out how you can make your vote count!

When: Thursday, October 9, 2008, 7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.
Where: The Canadian Legion, 168 Muskoka Rd. S. Bracebridge, Ontario

http://medicareforautismnow.blogspot.com/2008/10/medicare-for-autism-now-ontario-meet.html

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Oakville, Ontario Medicare for Autism Now! Rally

Medicare for Autism Now! Rally

Date/Time: Saturday, October 11th, 2008 - 2 pm to 4 pm
Location: Iroquois Ridge Community Center, 1051 Glenashton Drive, Oakville, Ontario, L6H 6Z4
RSVP to Jennifer O'Brien at jobrien116@cogeco.ca

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Ontario Failing Autistic Children - Canada Needs Medicare for Autism NOW

More proof that Canada needs Medicare coverage for Autism NOW can be found in the CP/Globe & Mail article Agencies decry Ontario's funding of child autism treatment by Maria Babbage. From Northern Ontario to Toronto and London non-profit agencies are underfunded and forced to cut services. Autistic children are losing out. Children are continuing to wait for a place on the lists to receive treatment:

Stacey Sayer, a 38-year-old nurse in northern Ontario, said she's waited two years for her 9-year-old autistic daughter Maggie to receive IBI therapy and there's still no end in sight.

“We're very worried, yes, that time is ticking away and we're not getting what we need, and she's not getting what she needs,” Ms. Sayer said.

“We're worried about her whole future and what's going to happen to her in the end.”

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Ontario's Autism Waiting Lists and the Need for a National Autism Strategy

In Autistic Children "Rotting On The Vine" In Ontario - Why Not Consider "the New Brunswick Autism Model"? I commented on Ontario's lengthy waiting lists for autistic children seeking autism treatment. In Breaking the silence Niagara this week tells the story of Riley Methot a 3 1/2year old with severe autism who is 14th on a waiting list to receive funding for intensive behavioral intervention training. Riley's parents are paying out of pocket for his treatment and he is fortunate that they can but it is creating debt for their family. The article also features Andrew Thomas whose family moved from Ontario to Alberta in 2006 when that province lifted its age restrictions on funded ABA treatment. Andrew could barely talk when he left Ontario now, at age 11, he has gone from severe autism to functioning autism.

The Harper government hides behind constitutional jurisdiction when pressed to provide financing so that autistic children and adults can receive decent treatment and care regardless of where they live in Canada. Mr Harper, Health Minister Clement and Conservative Autism Dad Mike Lake ignore the existence of a national medicare scheme and Canada's history of cooperative federalism in refusing to help autistic people across Canada who don't enjoy the good fortune of living in a province sitting on top of a large oil supply. When families have to move to Alberta to seek treatment, or when members of national organizations who have autistic children refuse postings because of lack of funding for autism in their home province the need for a National Autism Strategy, a real National Autism Strategy, is plain and obvious.

autism

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