Autism in Election 2011? Vote Liberal ... OR ... Vote NDP

On Monday Canadians will cast their votes in Election 2011.  IF autism is a major concern in your life or the life of a family member I ask you to consider voting for either the Liberal OR the NDP candidate in your riding.

I make this request because the Conservative Party has consistently opposed any substantive role for the federal government in addressing Canada's national autism crisis. Some Liberal and some NDP  party members have made statements in support of either official inclusion of autism in Medicare or programs and legislation aimed at working with the provinces to ensure that autistic Canadians participate fully in our health care system and receive treatment for autism regardless of where they live in Canada. Strong autism motions have been brought forth previously by Liberal MP Shawn Murphy and by NDP MP Glenn Thibeault. Both motions were supported by members of the Liberal and NDP but were defeated by the Conservative-Bloc Quebecois coalition.

If the Liberal candidate in your riding is the best bet  to defeat the Conservative candidate then please vote Liberal.  If the NDP candidate in your riding is the best bet then please vote NDP.  Vote autism on Monday, vote Liberal or NDP in your riding.

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Liberal and NDP Autism Advocates in Election 2011

Glenn Thibeault            Peter Stoffer           Ruby Dhalla           Brian Murphy

Although our federal government has done very little to help autistic Canadians receive effective evidence based early behavioural intervention, autism specific education and accommodation or decent residential care for autistic adults it is not for lack of trying by several members of parliament who are running again in Election 2011.   Peter Stoffer,  a Nova Scotia (Sackville-Eastern Shore) NDP candidate,  has been involved in national autism advocacy for many years and co-sponsored, with former Fredericton MP Andy Scott, a motion seeking to implement a national autism strategy.  Glenn Thibeault an NDP candidate from Sudbury Ontario also brought a private members motion in support of autism.  During debates in the House of Commons  both New Brunswick (Moncton)  Liberal candidate Brian Murphy and Ontario (Brampton-Springdale) Liberal candidate Ruby Dhalla gave strong speeches on behalf of autistic Canadians. 

This autism dad and advocate hopes that all of these strong autism advocates are re-elected on May 2. 

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Election 2011: Medicare for Autism Now! for Autism and Medicare Coverage

If you are concerned about autism treatment and services in Canada I recommend the Medicare for Autism Now! site as your first information gathering stop about autism and medicare. During this election MFAN is the best site to find  information about autism and medicare in Canada. The MFAN site  provides important information about how to advocate for medicare coverage of autism during Election 2011.   

The major media and experts in Canada have done little beyond telling Canadians that we don't really want an election, that for some bizarre reasons unknown to me Canadians are concerned about a coalition government or whatever trick the Harper Party is using to occupy an easily distracted mainstream media.  What the media doesn't often mention, if at all, are the social issues that make Canadian society a decent place in which to live including our national medicare system which Stephen Harper has long opposed.  With a minority government Harper could only play defense, refusing to address serious national health issues like ... autism.  If Stephen Harper wins a majority government look for our national healthcare system to be dismantled.   The increasingly Harper Blue  CBC has commented on the issue of health care on its web site in a dismissive, superficial manner, but has provided no serious analysis and does not acknowledge the Harper Party contempt for a strong federal healthcare system.

Canada's national autism crisis has grown under the Harper government with a postponed, then rigged, sham national autism symposium and little in the way of real autism awareness.  If your only source of information about autism spectrum disorders was the Harper government you would be seriously ignorant about the realities of autism disorders, the lives restricted by autism or even the fact that Canadians with autistic children who  can choose move to provinces where some autism services are available.  New Brunswick, thanks to a strong parent advocacy movement and some conscientious political leadership from both the Conservative government of Bernard Lord and the Liberal government of Shawn Graham, has a better early autism intervention service than most Canadian provinces.  For that reason some military families with autistic children have requested postings to CFB Gagetown, New Brunswick. Autism is very much a national issue in Canada and the "see no autism, hear no autism, speak no autism" policy of the Harper government can't change that autism reality.

Given the lack of serious media attention  to health care and other social issues during #elxn41 the internet, blogs, Facebook, twitter and other social media are the major source  of discussion of medicare and specific health issues like autism.  This blog will attempt to provide some information and commentary to help.  The best site to follow autism and medicare issues though will be the revamped Medicare for Autism Now! site. 

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Time for a REAL National Autism Strategy! Time for Medicare for Autism NOW!

Autism is rising. Autism has been rising for the past decade.  Since my son's autism diagnosis 13 years ago the numbers, as recognized by the CDC in the United States, have changed from  approximately 1 in 500 to 1 in 110.  It is long past time that Canada had a REAL National Autism Strategy, one which recognized the need to deal with autism seriously, across Canada, and stop using it as just another political football.  Autism disorders are exactly that, they are neurological disorders listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric Association. Autism disorders restrict the lives of many who suffer from them. Some autistic Canadians, on the high functioning end of the spectrum, need little or no assistance and can function well in any capacity from postal worker to researcher but many need a REAL national autism strategy and this election is the time to start serious efforts to provide one.

It is time that evidence based effective interventions for autism disorders, soon to be combined under the designation Autistic Disorder in the DSM5,  be specifically covered under our national medicare scheme. Canadian children with autism should not be disadvantaged by the particular province or territory in which their parents reside.  Canadians should not be forced to choose which province to live in based on which province offers the best treatment services for their autistic children.  In THIS federal election it is time to move forward with our thinking and specifically and expressly provide funding aimed at provision of autism treatment services in every corner of Canada.  If you are a concerned parent, family member or friend of an autistic child raise the issue of Medicare for Autism with your federal election candidates. 

The numbers of autistic adults are growing in Canada and a real national autism strategy must also address the need for appropriate, decent residential care for many of them. Our national attention has very appropriately been focused more and more on the need to provide accommodation for our elderly population. It is time to pay attention to the nearly 1% of Canadians with autism disorders and those of them that will require residential care and treatment. 

 

Speak up now for Medicare for Autism in Canada.  Speak up now for a REAL Canadian national autism strategy.

Take action.  Do it now. In this 2011 Canadian federal election.

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