The statistics are staggering – alarming, even.
One in 100 Canadian children lives with autism, a neuro-developmental spectrum disorder that affects a person’s ability to communicate and socialize. In Hamilton, some 5,000 individuals are caught in its fog.
Over the years, medical researchers have uncovered genetic links to autism spectrum disorder (ASD), which is four times more likely to impact boys. However, no definitive cause has yet been identified.
Families affected by ASD often struggle to cope – emotionally and financially. The disorder takes a toll on relationships, marriages and one’s quality of life. But it doesn’t stop parents from doing whatever they can to help their child or children.
In fact, parents will stop at nothing to ensure their child receives the required treatments and therapies.
Navigating Through the Fog, a four-part series that aims to piece together the puzzle of autism, revealed a lack of government funding for autism therapy. Parents interviewed for this special project, which wraps up in today’s Review, also spoke of the interminable wait lists to access services.
Medical professionals firmly believe that intensive, early intervention is the best way to tackle autism and its symptoms, which are unique to each child. But those wait lists prohibit children from receiving timely care, limiting their opportunities to live independently.
Ontario’s Ministry of Children and Youth Services, which is responsible for autism services for children up to the age of 18, funds therapies for roughly 8,000 children with ASD. That leaves a lot of children – and their families – in the lurch.
More funding is needed and investments should be made now, not later. The well-being of thousands of children and their families is at stake.
Until government invests money into much-needed autism programs and services, families are left to their own devices, seeking therapies — some unproven — in the hope of seeing results. These therapies, however, don’t come cheap.
Again, parents are willing to put everything on the line for their children. They’ve taken out loans, remortgaged homes, taken second jobs and held fundraisers. They’ve done it all.
Now, it’s time for the Ontario government to step up and help. One in 100 children are counting on it. One of those youngsters could be yours.