Harper Majority Means No Real National Autism Strategy 4 At Least 4 More Years

Photograph by: Blair Gable, Reuters

Canadians are waiting to see what Stephen Harper does with the very solid majority that Canadians voted to give him on Monday.  One thing they will not have to wait for during the Harper majority years is a Real National Autism Strategy.  I am not a fan of Stephen Harper and I do not trust him on important issues like health care.  What I do not question is his opposition to any serious role for the federal government in ensuring that autistic children and adults across Canada receive effective evidence based treatment for autism,  a real education or decent, autism specific residential care. 

Citing Constitutional grounds Harper's team led by Mike Lake, father of an autistic son,  have consistently refused to get involved in any meaningful effort to help autistic Canadians.  The recent declaration by prominent British Columbia Harper cabinet minister James Moore that autism is not a disability calls into question Mike Lake's autism awareness efforts within his own party but leaves no room for doubt.  There will be no help for autistic Canadians, no Medicare for Autism, no Real National Autism Strategy during a Harper administration.  Any efforts to bring about a Real National Autism Strategy must look to the future until after the Harper majority has run its course.

Liberal Stewart McGillivray Also Confirms Conservative James Moore's Autism Is Not a Disability Statement

More Confirmation!

Liberal Stewart McGillivray, who also participated in the candidate's forum in which Conservative James Moore made his "autism is not a disability" statement, has, along with NDP Mark Ireland, also confirmed that Moore did indeed make the "autism isn't a disability" statement. The two candidates confirm the information posted on the Medicare for Autism NOW! message board  by Elaine Willis, who was at the forum  and asked the autism medicare question that led to Mr. Moore's statement.  Mr. McGilliivray's confirming email was forwarded to my attention:

Harper Government's Autism Awareness Regression

I have attached an email and  blog comment I posted on May 9, 2007 addressed to Prime Minister Stephen Harper in which I expressed the hope that he would open his heart (I assumed he had one) and his mind (I didn't know it was locked solid) and help autistic children wherever they reside in Canada. 

Since this comment in 2007 the numbers of children estimated to have an autism spectrum disorder have increased, by CDC estimates, from 1 in 150 to 1 in 110.  

As recently as this election campaign James Moore of BC, a cabinet minister in the Harper cabinet, has expressed the views that autism is not a disability and that persons with autism are simply an interest group.  

Notwithstanding the presence  in the federal Conservative party of Mike Lake,  a dedicated father of an autistic 15 year old son,  the Harper government  understanding of autism disorders has regressed since my 2007 letter.

May 9, 2007

Prime Minister Stephen Harper

Dear Prime Minister

I am writing to you as the father of a severely autistic 11 year old boy living in Fredericton, New Brunswick and as an autism advocate for the past 8 years here in New Brunswick. Recently I was disappointed, bitterly disappointed, by two actions by your very tightly controlled government – the rejection of MP Shawn Murphy’s motion to amend the Canada Health Act to ensure autistic children, wherever they reside in Canada, would receive government funded treatment for their autism. Canada as a nation has long ago rejected the notion that accidents of geography should determine whether Canadians receive life sustaining or life enhancing medical treatment.

The arguments about constitutional jurisdiction advanced in justification are specious and you sir, with all due respect, know that. Canada has long operated on the basis of a model of cooperative federalism which has developed many legislative tools to ensure that narrow constitutional boundaries do not impair the quality of life in this great country. I will mention no specific examples because there are far too many for this to be a serious issue of contention.

Autism is a serious neurological disorder borne by 1 in 150 Canadians by currently accepted estimates. It also impacts on the lives of parents, siblings, grandparents and other caregivers. There is no known cure but there is a widely acknowledged, evidence based treatment available, Applied Behavioural Analysis, or ABA, which is supported by literally hundreds of studies, including recent studies, which document the effectiveness of ABA in improving the IQ, the linguistic skills and comprehension, the ability to function in the real world, of children with autism. In my son’s case, even with the limited ABA therapy which was available in New Brunswick at the time because of a shortage of trained personnel, he has made tremendous gains. From a child who could only scream and tantrum he became a child who can communicate using words, who is reading, albeit at a level below his chronological age, and who in fact almost daily pulls out books on his own initiative to real aloud for his own enjoyment. This is the ABA which parents seek across Canada, the USA and the world for their autistic children.

There are those who oppose ABA based on personal preferences, outdated and ill founded misconceptions about what ABA involves and quite simply on the basis of paranoid, conspiratorial beliefs that somehow they as human beings, as functioning adults, will be deprived of their personalities if someone else’s autistic children are taught fundamental living skills by use of ABA. They make stretched and tortured arguments about ABA turning children into robots. This is nonsense as they happy joyful pictures of my son which I will provide a link for in this letter can rebut with finality. They also make disingenuous attacks on the studies which have documented ABA based gains for autistic children ignoring the fact that literally hundreds of such studies exist all showing substantial gains. Critics also focus on costs of providing ABA ignoring the studies that have shown the huge financial savings to government in reduction of service provision over the lives of autistic persons who have benefited from ABA.

I do not actually expect you to personally read this email Prime Minister. I hope though that a conscientious staffer or, through the marvel that is the internet, a family member or friend, will see fit to read this and implore you to take action on behalf of Canadians with autism. You can make a difference in the lives of 1 in 150 Canadians Prime Minister. You can make a difference in the lives of their loved ones and care givers and you can save Canadian governments enormous sums by reducing the level of services required as a result of early intensive ABA intervention.

Please open your mind Prime Minister, open your heart, and do the right thing.

Respectfully,

Harold L Doherty
Fredericton New Brunswick

Autism Ignorance: Conservative James Moore Says Autism Is Not a Disability

UPDATE: NDP Candidate Mark Ireland who was present at the forum has twice CONFIRMED in a message below that James Moore stated that autism is not a disability.  Mr. Ireland also confirmed that Moore made the statement in a twitter discussion with Ben Brisebois that I have posted on Facing Autism in NB.

Conservative candidate James Moore was asked at Riverside Secondary All Candidates Meeting  in the  BC riding of  Port Moody–Westwood–Port Coquitlam whether he would support legislation to amend the Canada Health Act to include autism treatment (ABA/IBI) under Medicare.  

His reply, as reported at Medicare for Autism NOW,  demonstrated Mr. Moore's fundamental ignorance of autism disorders:

"No, autism is not a disability and The Canada Health Act is not for Special interest Groups."

Mr. Moore obviously knows nothing about autism disorders when he states that autism is not a disability.  He might want to visit web sites of agencies such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee in the US.  Or he could talk to officials at the Canada Revenue Agency who do consider autism a disability for Disability Tax Credit pruposes and specifically mention autism at page 7 of document  RC4064(E) Rev. 10  Medical and Disability-Related Information.    

As to why James Moore would define persons with autism as a special interest group or why the Canada Health act does not apply to them his brief dismissal of this serious issue provides no illumination.