This Canadian Father Hopes Our American Neighbors Pass The Combating Autism Reauthorization Act

US Capitol, Source: Autism Society of North Carolina

I am a Canadian father of two sons the younger of whom is severely autistic.  I hope our good neighbors in the United States pass the Combating Autism Reauthorization Act (CARA) before the Combating Autism Act expires at the end of this month.  Apparently the US House of Representatives may vote this week on whether to pass CARA. 

The Combating Autism Act has helped generate important autism research.  A guest column by Judith Ursitti of Autism Speaks is featured in the Washington Times.  She asks her fellow Americans to keep up efforts to have the US Congress, beset with many pressing issues, pass the CARA and provides helpful links to that end.  The Autism Society of North Carolina blog features much helpful information for American autism advocates and is the source of the beautiful US Capitol photo above.

As a Canadian I can only stand on the outside and watch. As the father of a severely autistic son who knows that most of the leading research that has helped our understanding of autism and how to deal with the challenges it presents for my son has originated in the United States I am hoping that, once again, the US leads the way in combating autism disorders and passes CARA.

This week this Canadian father of a son severely affected by his Autistic Disorder is, once again, waving the  American flag and hoping for passage of CARA.

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Dear USA: This Canadian Father With a Severely Autistic Son Says Thank You for Combating Autism

"in order to continue meeting the needs of people with autism, the Combating Autism Act

must be fully reauthorized. We still have a long way to go. Working collaboratively with
important partners, the Affordable Care Act and the Combating Autism Act will allow   
 us to research and develop and refine vital treatments

Kathleen Sebelius,  US Secretary of Health and Human Services, April 25, 2011

Autism is a severe and limiting medical disorder for which treatments and cures must be found through solid, focused research.  Autism is a disorder which should be combated so that those who suffer from it can live fuller, more independent, lives. Here in Canada we do not have a serious, focused national autism strategy or recognition of the need for a national effort to combat autism disorders.  We are lucky that our  neighbors in the US have had the good sense and determination  to try and address and combat autism disorders through research  efforts under the Combating Autism Act.

This Canadian  thinks of many things when I think of the USA.  Some of these things are negative. Most are positive, very positive. I think of our neighbors as confident, freedom loving people who constantly seek to better themselves. I think of Americans as people with strong commitments to family.  I think of Americans as people who are afraid of no challenge as amply demonstrated by the audacious and successful commitment by former President John F. Kennedy to put men on the moon by the end of the 1960's.  Autism is a serious disorder which impairs and restricts the lives of those who suffer from it.  The continued efforts in the US, under the provisions of the Combating Autism Act, have helped direct research toward understanding and finding treatments and cures for autism.  It is of great  importance for everyone affected by the serious challenges of autism, including Canadians, that those efforts, and the Combating Autism Act, continue.

This Canadian father with a severely autistic son says thank you to our American friends for the efforts made under the Combating Autism Act.  I  hope you decide to continue this important undertaking. It may not be as glamorous as putting men on the moon but, for many affected by autism and their families, it is of fundamental importance.

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