Autism and Gordon Campbell's Vile IQ Flip Flop

"We now live in a province that lavishes millions of dollars on bobsledders and junkies, but nickels-and-dimes those with autism, fetal alcohol syndrome, the mentally challenged . . . and the families who worry about protecting them."

Pete McMartin, Vancouver Sun

Pete McMartin is the Vancouver Sun columnist who produced, with Sun photographer Glenn Baglo, a series of articles called Faces Of Autism one of the most accurate and comprehensive presentations of autism in the main stream media. In It was wrong months ago -- and it is still wrong today McMartin rips British Columbia Premier Gordon Campbell and Children's Minister Tom Christensen for reversing their stated positions on the use of an IQ of 70 as a measure in assessing elgibility of developmentally disabled persons for receipt of government services.

This week, Premier Gordon Campbell and Children's Minister Tom Christensen signed an order making an IQ of 70 or under one of the criteria for receiving services. They did so to do an end-run around a B.C. Court of Appeal ruling that the province could not deny services to the developmentally disabled on the grounds of IQ. The reversal arises from legal advice following an appeal court decision and is described as "temporary".

McMartin crticizes the arbitrary reliance on IQ as opposed to more realistic assessments of ability to function in society ... or face real life challenges ..... and uses the examples of two autistic persons whose parents he worked with in researching Faces of Autism, one just below the 70 IQ cut off, will be eligible for services, and one well over that number who will not. The mother of the autistic son with the higher IQ points out that her son has serious problems with socialization and problem solving, alone he might have no idea what to do if a fire breaks out in his home. He needs life long support to be able to cope.

But being "smarter" means Schuman's son needs fewer services and is better prepared to face the world as an adult, right?

Wrong. Autism is uneven in its effects. A child with autism might be able to, say, recite long passages of poetry from memory, but the same child may not be able to tie his shoes.

Pete McMartin called the Campbell government decision vile. I fully agree.

autism

McGuinty's $2.4 Million Broken Autism Promise

[Image from Chris Peters Web Marketer site]

"success is largely about keeping your promises."

[Seth Godin's BLOG]

Forced by the courts to fess up the government of Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty has admitted that it spent $2.4 million in court costs fighting parents who were seeking the help for their autistic children that Mr. McGuinty promised on the campaign trail. Unfortunately Mr. McGuinty's actions were not unprecedented. In British Columbia Liberal leader Gordon Campbell condemned the decision by the NDP government of the day to appeal the Auton decision. Then, within 90 days of forming the government, the Campbell Liberals announced that its government would press on with the appeal in order to avoid setting a bad legal precedent. Apparently neither Mr. McGuinty, nor Mr. Campbell, considered the moral precedents they were setting by breaking their promises to the parents of autistic children. Is it any wonder that Autism parents have decided to GET POLITICAL and target swing ridings in the impending federal election? The Supreme Court of Canada has removed the Canadian Constitution as a meaningful protection for autistic children. And the Liberal Premiers of two of Canada's most populous and prosperous provinces have shown that their word can not be trusted. Political activity, hard cold, ruthless if necessary, political activity is all that is left for parents of autistic children seeking access to health, education and residential care services for their children.

NDP outraged over McGuinty's $2.4 million broken promise

    QUEEN'S PARK, July 17 /CNW/ - NDP MPP Shelley Martel is outraged that the
McGuinty government spent $2.4 million on lawyers to fight parents of children
with autism in court, instead of providing IBI treatment that Dalton McGuinty
promised them.
  "It's scandalous that Dalton McGuinty squandered $2.4 million of public
money on lawyers in a cynical attempt to break an election promise made to
children with autism. That money could have funded IBI treatment for
50 children for a year," said Martel.
  Martel said Dalton McGuinty should never have dragged parents and their
vulnerable children through the courts, at great expense to the public and the
families, just so he could break a promise.
  "It's appalling that Dalton McGuinty's priority was to waste millions of
dollars of public money fighting parents in court, instead of providing
children with autism with the treatment they needed," said Martel.

http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/July2007/17/c7369.html