$ 5 million in budget for entire province is clearly not enough, parents say
QUEBEC The Couillard go vernment’s plan, announced in the budget, to spend $ 5 million this year to help autistic people and their families is peanuts, parents said Friday.
Lori- Ann Zemanovich, whose 16- year- old son Pietro is autistic, said the waiting list for autistic adults to get into a group home is seven to 10 years.
“If I had an option to tell that minister what to do with that tidbit amount of money, I would ask her about subsidies for these types of group homes,” said Zemanovich, who plans to keep caring for her son full time at home.
“I’m living in absolute financial destitution,” she said. “I’ll never have the means to be able to save some money to take him on a vacation, because the very limited resources the government is already giving me, family support, disability credit and welfare basically pays the rent and the food.”
Resources do exist — Pietro attends Summit School in the St- Laurent borough and Miriam Home and Services in Town of Mount Royal part time — but they’re not enough to accommodate the growing cohort of autistic children, added Michel Labonté, whose son Thomas is in a specialized classroom of seven autistic children in Quebec City, but is not guaranteed to have adapted services in high school.
“It’s obvious that $ 5 million for the entire province is not enough … it’s a drop in the ocean,” he said, estimating the money could probably help open 10 new specialized classrooms.
In February, the first forum on autism spectrum disorder organized by the Quebec government was told that more than 11,000 children in the province are autistic, a 700 per cent increase from 2000- 2001. Health officials say it partly stems from better screening. That number is expected to double in five years, Manon Noiseux from the Montérégie health agency said, way more than what the system can currently process in terms of providing services.
Statistics show that parents of autistic children in every part of Quebec struggle. The forum heard that 68 per cent of families deal-
ing with autism experience major financial difficulties, which often lead to divorce.
On Friday, Bianca Boutin, press attaché for Public Health Minister Lucie Charlebois, said the government hasn’t yet decided where the $ 5 million will go. “I’m certain parents will be satisfied when the minister tables the action plan ...
based on priorities voted at the forum,” she said.
Carmen Lahaie from Autisme Montréal said $ 5 million probably won’t be enough to reduce waiting lists for families seeking an early diagnosis, which can lead to specialized care.