The Campbell government has done it again, last summer just before Campbell flew to Bejiing on a private jet with his developer friends(Jack Poole) in a back room deal he and Coleman changed the criteria for people with Autism to get funding, today the assault continued.That backroom deal last year cut off funding for people with Autism, Campbell chose a number out of a hat, anyone with an IQ of 71 or more would not get funding, so if the government deemed you had an IQ of 70 and less you could get help, but can anyone with a straight face explain the difference between an IQ of 70.....against an IQ of 71 ?
But it wasn`t just that, the province changed the testing criteria, even people who were at 70 or lower were retested by government, in fact there were many that were retested and retested and retested, eventually many of these people scored 71.......And then their funding would vanish, I heard there was a legal challenge to their testing methods and the medical community stated that the Campbell government arbitrary number of 71 or more was flawed, I have been waiting for Campbell to back down on this policy, he hasn`t,he won`t, Gordon Campbell is one mentally deranged person.
And the assault on the autistic in this province has continued,I heard rumours of more cuts in that area and they were announced today,and I have to say that for the first time in my life I feel ashamed to live in this province.
The result of the IQ changes and retesting was to take hundreds and hundreds of autistic adults and leave them with no source of funding.
The announcement today by Mary Polak was that the program of early intervention was CANCELLED, that`s right,cancelled, so a good program in giving autistic children early specialized training and education has been cancelled, Mary Polak went onto say that if parents still wanted this early intervention they would have to cough up a few bucks....
And just what amount is a few bucks? 50.000.00 $ per year
Mary Polak said that because Autism is on the rise the government cancelled the early intervention program in order to serve more clients.
I can`t write down what I want say without getting ANOTHER phone call from Gordon Campbell`s security team, your a very sick child Gordon Campbell and the rest of BC Liberal MLAs there is something in this world called karma and you all with get what`s coming to you.
P.S. Sorry folks, I`m going fishing for a few days, my mind is ready to explode, I need to go recharge, I had no idea how much of a mental drain this blog would be, I put my heart and soul in to all these words and stories, I refuse to write black and white pablum articles like Michael Smyth or Les Leyne, I will continue to report and tell stories in full colour regardless of how they turn my mind black and blue.....Go visit the house of Infamy while I`m gone or Alexandra Morton`s new blog, the links are on the right, talk to ya in a few days.
The Straight Goods
Cheers-Eyes Wide Open,even as my salty tears flow
5 comments:
Excellent blog! Go catch one... hook, line, and sinker! ;)
I percieve you needed me to do a Google on early autism intervention and found several years ago & farther back that was the big kick. But according to About.com, "While there are solid practical reasons for early intervention, there are -- so far -- no research studies that show that earlier intervention offers more hope of improvement than later intervention. In fact, Geraldine Dawson, Ph.D., Professor of Psychology and Director of the University of Washington Autism Center, makes the following point: "For all we know, a child with a developmental delay may have a longer window of opportunity for growth. I think it's not helpful to alarm parents in that way. I've seen kids who start late and quickly catch up -- a lot of kids with intensive early intervention who progressed slowly and then took off in elementary schools.""
Moreover, the Brits are finding out that parents are the key link in waging the good battle on autism via Play and Language for Autistic Youngsters (PLAY) on the ideal that;
"...The people who spend the most time with the children – their parents and carers – are the ones who can make the biggest difference. Children with autism find it difficult to process the sensory information coming at them and adapt by concentrating on one thing, such as running a toy car back and forth or jumping up and down, says Janert. She calls this a comfort zone activity; the actions are repetitive because the child can’t think what else to do. They are solitary and if you try to stop them, they get anxious and do it even more.
That children can focus on one thing means that they can tackle other things and learn to share and communicate, she says. “Don’t try to stop him but join him,” she says. “Tackle the solitary behaviour by giving him a taste for interactive play. Engage him through shared pleasure, not coercion.”"
Sorry for the long comment, but I felt best to give the best information. There are many good websites pushing early intervention in an institutionalized setting. I challenge the opponents of Minister Polak, MLA to come forward w/ their own data please.
In the meantime consider this: If the parents can do it for less than professionals, then enable the parents. It's the Polak Doctrine on Poverty spelled out last Tuesday in the BC Legislature - "
When it comes down to how you support those families, it's by making sure they have more money in their pockets. It isn't about making sure they have an additional government program. For people like my parents, who struggled to raise a family on a limited income, they didn't want another government handout. They wanted to be able to have the power over their own destiny and to be able to make the choices for their families. I'm proud that that's what our budget does."
Piece by piece this government is dismantling the way government is supposed to work. It's the people who pay all the taxes and the government who stewards those taxes into programs to better life for those taxpayers. Not stripping the poor and disabled to pay welfare to corporations (who pay less and less taxes every year in BC) or to pay for photo-op mega projects that are destroying the environment.
An IQ of 71, really? Does bclbfan really think these people are being served? Catch some nice fish Grant, better go to the west side of the island!
Save the Children
You know we are living in dark days indeed when the government begins dismantling the therapy funding for helpless children. I suppose it is a smart move by the government as these children can’t voice their concern over the negative impact this will have on their future and huge increase in cost it will later have to society.
Is this the type of government we voted for?
Approximately one in a 150 boys is diagnosed with Autism and this continues to rise at an increasing rate.
In a recent 50 million dollar Lotto 6/49 jackpot, the odds were one in 13,983,816. Hundreds of thousands of parents bet on this jackpot. Your odds are considerably better with an Autism diagnosis.
Save your lottery money, you will need it if your child is diagnosed.
The government of British Columbia offers these families $20,000/year to cover therapy up to the age of six. Therapy costs approximately $80,000/year. This therapy is scientifically proven to be effective and is well documented. This means families who have a child who has been diagnosed with Autism have to find $60,000 from somewhere. This is often debt.
Most of these parents divorce. Selling the family house to fund therapy is common. The sale of most items of value to generate funds for therapy is a given. A life of guilt and depression is to be expected. Alienation from friends and family will occur.
Their life as they knew it is now over.
If they are lucky their child won’t bolt and get lost for days. If they’re lucky their child will learn to refrain from self damaging behavior. If they’re lucky, their child will learn not to throw up after eating. If they’re lucky, their child will learn to speak a few words. If they’re lucky their child will not be teased, ridiculed, beaten up and harassed on a daily basis at school. If they’re lucky their child will graduate from high school.
Most won’t be that lucky.
Last week, without any consultation or warning, the Mary Polak (Minister of Family and Children Development) pulled the rug out from under these parents who are already enduring so much by eliminating their ability to control these funds. The government, who have consistently failed to understand the needs of these families has taken it upon itself to eliminate the option to do Direct Funding (direct from the parents to the service providers) and has instead dictated that these parents have to tow the line of mandated Invoice Funding where the government pays the service providers. This will increase overhead costs, delay the payments, reduce the quality of care and will make paying these service providers extremely difficult therefore reducing the amount of usable funds and discouraging assistance.
The frustration in the Autism community lies in the fact that these parents, who are on the brink of financial collapse, already spent precious funds to fight the government in the courts a few years ago to protect their children and won the Auton lawsuit (Auton vs BC Gov). The government at that time did finally put Direct Individualized Funding into place. This allowed parents to fund their child’s ABA programs and since that time parents have built a strong, quality base of ABA service providers that is making a real difference to these children. The ABA program takes a child who would otherwise be lifelong financial burden on the society and in many cases makes him/her self sufficient.
In these financial times are we prepared to sacrifice the children? Do we want to go down this low moral road? Are we prepared to make the small amount of funds these parents receive that much less and that much more difficult to put into action? Why is the government spending more tax money just to make it difficult for these parents?
For all that is good and decent, please spare the children.
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