Steelcitygrit [in exile]

Ruminating on all things Canadian and political.

 

Friday, July 07, 2006

Ontario "wins", Ontarians lose

Restrained jubiliation today as the ruling is handed down. No longer will the parents of children over six years with autism piggyback off of us hardworking, honest types.

Now, it isn't all good news. The children are still able to access the social and health services they need - after their parents surrender them to Children's Aid Societies. So to my compatriots at the National Post I say: it is a bittersweet victory. Make no mistake - we haven't yet reduced Canada to a pre-Hobbesian state of nature. Much work still lies ahead of us.

Perhaps the Canadian Taxpayers Federation should mark this as another national holiday - "Freedom From Helping People With Serious Medical Special Needs Day." I can imagine the gradiosity of the tickertape parades now. After all - some things are worth spending money on.


On a serious note, when I'm Prime Minister I'm going to levy a head tax on every card-carrying member of the CTF. Let some other PM apologize for me 100 years later.

posted by SteelCityGrit at 9:33 AM

6 Comments:

Blogger S.K. said...

Autistic parents want the province to pay for unproven one on one behavioural conditioning. This is not education and it is highly questionable as treatment.

Parents should never have to surrender their children, but group homes are a much more effective way to monitor severe special needs individuals while giving parents a break.

And what do these parents think will happen to their severely disabled children when they are no longer able to care for them, other than they will be placed in care?

I needed phsio and massage therapy for a severe back problem that could have incapacitated me and put me on disability for the rest of my life. You know what, I paid for it.

Behavioural conditioning as a treatment for autism is much more expensive aprox $50,000 per year per child, less proven and efficatious and cost reducing than chiropractic, physio or massage all of which are not covered by provincial health care.

If parents want special "training" for their children they can pay for it, just like hockey lessons, or physio therapy. All children are entitled to education in the public system, and parents can access relief programs, but not one on one training at 50 grand a year.

Sorry.

3:10 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I have a relative whose kid suffers from Autism. They are Australian and the province/state where they live funds this treatment, and it has worked wonders for the kid. I would rather the province fund this kind of treatment for those that need it rather than spending billions on changing trillium logos. And SB, if you genuinely had a back problem that required massages, I would rather the gov pay for that as well.

5:41 PM  
Blogger S.K. said...

wonders means what please? Its behavioural conditioning. I've seen it.

Its not education and at 50 000 per child per year is too expensive for the public to pay for and the courts agree with me.

Sorry.

6:56 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Wonders =
- the person is now toilet trained. Imagine a 26 year old in diapers, not knowing when to go and when not to. How hard it was for the parents.
- the person is now in sync with reality. They can interact with other people, not get angry easily on something small, and can work simple jobs such as in the library, a receptionist at a dentist's or even be a tour guide at a museum. All jobs which my relative's kid has now done.
-50K is peanuts compared to the money the gov misspends. They can pay for bogus consultancy (I m thinking the TO Unlimited tourist campaign), be in an illegal war, change the logo of the province unnecessarily.. and so on. The money is there. 50K is not too expensive.

8:40 AM  
Blogger noone said...

It is much more helpful hearing from someone like Dennis, who has personal knowledge of all aspects of this. I have to wonder whether the government even heard stories like his. Too often, a blind eye is turned to save money today. That only results in much greater expense down the road. Not to mention the damage to the family and the lack of care for the child.

Cutting the funding was a bad move, for the children, the parents and our society.

9:05 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Very pretty design! Keep up the good work. Thanks.
»

12:29 AM  

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