NDP response to Minister Re: #Autism Support & IBI Funding (Video)
QUEEN’S PARK, ON – At the legislature, the NDP’s Children and Youth Services Critic, Monique Taylor, delivered remarks outlining concerns of thousands of Ontario families whose autism services are being cut by the Liberal government.
“I’m honoured to rise in my role as the Ontario NDP critic for children and youth services, and as the MPP for Hamilton Mountain, to speak to World Autism Awareness Day. I have to say that I am also very honoured to wear my pin in the House today.
I wonder if the government is aware of the turmoil and the devastation that they have caused to families of kids with autism spectrum disorder across the province. Last November, I raised the issue of families languishing on wait-lists for essential autism services. I never in my wildest dreams imagined that I would be responding today to a situation where some kids are actually worse off than they were before.
Linda DiMambro and Kara Onofrio came here and shared their stories of their sons languishing on wait-lists for services that they so desperately needed. How did this government respond? By ensuring that Justin and Anthony will now never receive funding for IBI therapy, because they are over the age of five.
They are just two families. I have heard from hundreds and hundreds of families from right across this province, expressing their complete devastation with this government’s decision. I delivered those letters today to the Premier and to the minister. If they think that they are truly doing the right thing, they should personally respond to each family, and explain to families why they don’t think that their kids over five deserve access to life-changing therapy, explain why families who were told just last week that their children were ideal candidates for IBI are now, at the stroke of a pen, not eligible, and explain why they decided to reduce the wait-list by simply kicking kids off the list.
They should listen to parents, to what parents are experiencing while they’re languishing on the lists or having to sell their houses to pay for private therapy, all because the government failed them, failed to appropriately invest in services for children with autism, and failed to ensure that parents have the supports they need best to support their kids with ASD.
They should listen to parents who have seen the extraordinary success of IBI for their children over the age of five—a sentiment that has been backed up by a number of behaviour specialists who work with their kids and have contacted me. They should hear the joy that they experience when their child says their first words at the age of six, or the relief they feel when they no longer have to rely on diapers.
I do not dispute that early intervention is crucial. I have made that point several times in this House. But that doesn’t mean that later intervention is meaningless—far from it. It is very unfortunate that this government is choosing to put that spin on this announcement.
Now they are failing those same kids—who have been stuck on those wait-lists—all over again. Parents are contacting my office, talking about a lost generation of kids with ASD who waited and waited for services, never to get them. This is the government’s legacy and it’s nothing to be proud of.
Liberal members need to ask themselves what they would do if it was their child being kicked off a wait-list because the government needed to make an announcement. They should speak to the devastated families in their communities. I know they are there, because I have heard from them, and they need you to hear them as well. Those parents, who have already given everything that they have, now have to lead this fight once again for their children, for all children with ASD.
But it doesn’t have to be this way. At the very least, the government should ensure that kids who were on the wait-list at the time that the government made this decision are grandfathered in. It’s the least thing that they could do for families. How many parents need to come forward, begging this government to help them?
I ask the minister today to respond to parents and ensure their kids get access to life-changing therapy. Kids with ASD touch our lives in the most significant ways. They teach us a new way to look at the world. Let us make sure that they get the support they need. It’s one decision away.
On autism awareness day, I ask this minister to immediately stop kicking kids off the wait-list and to do the right thing for all of us, because when kids with ASD have the support they need, we all benefit.
On behalf of the NDP caucus, we urge the minister to please stop these changes.”
