ONTARIO’S AUTISM SHOWDOWN
Protest, rhetoric and angry families
Social Services Minister Lisa MacLeod says she can’t recall whether she said it would be a “long four years” for an association of behaviour analysts if it didn’t support the government’s changes to autism programming in the province.
The Ontario Association for Behaviour Analysis has alleged MacLeod told them it would be a long four years if it did not publicly support the revamped autism program, which the group contends will leave many children without adequate levels of therapy.
In the wake of calls for her resignation, the long-serving Nepean MPP took to Twitter on Thursday and said it had been “an emotional time” and “I apologize if my comments made anyone feel threatened or uncomfortable.”
Asked at a public event in Ottawa on Friday to clarify if she had made the original comments, MacLeod responded: “I can’t recall, which is why I put the apology out.”
“I’ll let my statement from last night stand,” the minister said at media scrum after she had finished singing Lean On Me with a choir during the launch of the annual Kindness Week at the Accora Centre. “I made the apology, but my goal right now is to clear that wait list and I’m not going to be distracted in trying to get that done.”
MacLeod announced last week that to clear the backlog of children waiting for publicly funded autism therapy, families will get as much as $140,000 to pay for treatment, though funding will be subject to annual caps that families and advocates say will fall far short of what’s needed for intensive therapy.
The funding is dependent on age, rather than individual needs for varying levels of intensity. Families will receive a maximum of $140,000 for a child in treatment from the ages of two to 18, also dependent on family income, but advocates say intensive therapy can cost as much as $80,000 per year.
MacLeod reiterated Friday that the government is doubling funding for diagnostic hubs to get children diagnosed sooner, eliminating waiting list and directing funding to parents for treatment, respite, caregiver training or technological aids.
The Association for Behaviour Analysis, meanwhile, has acknowledged her apology. The group says emotions run deep when talking about support for children with autism, but the issue is most emotional for them and their families.
The group says it acknowledges that MacLeod now regrets her comments, but it is confused that her office continued to criticize their association over the past few days.
(A spokesperson for MacLeod said this week the association had been “unwilling to work with the government.”)
Parents, Opposition politicians and critics have been calling for MacLeod to resign, but the behaviour analysts say they’re not interested in seeing the minister lose her job, only that children get the care they need.
The association, parents and advocates say that because funding under the revamped autism program is based on age and not individual need, many children will not get appropriate levels of treatment.