Thread by @ottawa_asd_mum

1/ Today, the autism community is desperately scrambling to their mailboxes hoping that the post(wo)man may deliver a cheque. Others are taking to social media looking for clarity: is their child on a waitlist? How do they check? Do they need to reapply? Are they waiting on a

2/ letter? Is their cheque lost in the mail? While others are receiving cheques, without direction, a start date, list of eligible services or a phone number to call.

On July 7, one quarter of the way through the 2019-2020 fiscal year, 260 families have received their Budgets.

3/ Cheques have only started arriving in the past week, after having been promised to begin reaching families April 1, and response rate in application is reportedly low.

Today, the community is faced with the implementation of a flat rate, age based policy no different than

4/ That which was force fed to us on February 6 by Minister @MacLeodLisa save the addition of eligible services (note: adding SLT, OT, PT was long overdue and well supported). Children in service have received extended contracts, thereby admitting that no bureaucracy could

5/ Implement MacLeod’s Childhood Budget plan in that period of time. On the edge of our seats for 5 months, ignored, and antagonized, desperate for *any* type of communication, we are gifted with a new Minister, who largely seems approachable and genuinely concerned with

6/“Getting it right”. As the expert panel continues to secretly work away on their recommendations, without any publicized timeline, families continue to wait. We hope that new Minister @ToddSmithPC receives the necessary input, and professional advice to know truly what “Getting

7/ It right” means.

We are a community in limbo, still struggling with a lack of information that directly impacts our financial security, our ability to plan. Information that will ultimately be our lighthouse in a storm; a guiding light in the dark. Information that may very

8/ Well alter the course of our direction in life; our children’s opportunity for success. Today, we are faced with promises, which is no different than where we’ve been before, again and again. Today, we still wonder if *someone* is doing right by our children. So today,

9/ We continue to do what has brought us here, desperate for information and cautiously hopeful that @ToddSmithPC, @JillDunlop1, @JR_Ottawa and @AmyFeePC will heed the advice of an Expert Panel and not only deliver us a Needs Based program that our children deserve

10/ But do so quickly. There is a gaping hole in the delivery of autism services in Ontario, and each day that passes is a day lost, and a day where the @DougFord govt has turned its back on children with autism. So today, when our ability to be patient has long past expired

11/ We’ll rally. We’ll remind the government, our local MPPs, our neighbours, friends, family and voters that we are still waiting on a promise. We’re still hoping that someone will possess the empathy required to deliver appropriate needs based therapies for our children.

12/ That someone will recognize that parents are hurting. That parents are scared. That we need a hand to hold and not simply a finger pointing to a website. We want someone to understand the message that we’ve been trying to deliver for 150 days.
We will rally. We will protest.

13/ And we will do the only thing that is within our power until a promise is kept, delivered and trust begins to rebuild.

If the plan we are waiting on is Lisa MacLeod’s Plan topped with an “enhancing” bow, the protests, the rallies will continue.

14/ If the plan we are hoping for is delivered with age caps or flat rates, the protests, the rallies will continue.

If the plan we are desperate for comes packaged as a Childhood Budget with a “Needs Based COMPONENT”, the protests, the rallies will continue.

A component is a

15/ Far cry from a program. Ontario needs a solid Needs Based foundation to build its program on. A “Component” has no place in the OAP. A “Component” undermines our children. A “Component” turns its back on vulnerable families in Ontario; families who are prepared

16/ To buy out their local Dollar Store of their Bristol board and magic marker supply and stand out front of their local MPPs offices, rain, snow or shine until someone hears our desperate pleas for our beautiful children.

17/ The Ontario Autism Program *needs* a fresh start, so please, please, start fresh. Step away from the Childhood Budget scheme and build something on a strong, needs based foundation. Something that acknowldges that every child

18/ with autism has unique needs, something that respects Ontario tax dollars, and something that you and I, as Ontarians, can be proud of.

#AutismDoesntEndAtFORD #ScrapTheAgeCap #NeedsBasedFunding #NeedsBasedTherapy #onpoli #protestswillcontinue @fordnation @ToddSmithPC

@tylerwhat16

@fordnation @fordnation @fordnation

@JoelHardenONDP @JohnFraserOS #onpoli