The Fight For Autism Treatment In Canada - Reflections Of A Parent Activist

De: Andrew Kavchak

Narrado por: Virtual Voice

When Andrew Kavchak’s younger son was diagnosed with autism, he expected that Canada’s public health insurance system would cover the cost of treatment. It didn’t. The medical and scientific communities have known since the 1980s that the application of Intensive Behaviour Intervention (IBI) treatment based on the principles of Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA) is effective and evidence-based treatment for autism. Yet, in the province of Ontario and across the country, such autism treatment programs are most often administered by the departments of social services and not paid for by Canada’s Medicare system. Andrew Kavchak’s son was placed on a treatment waiting list with no indication of how many months or years the waiting would last. He was advised that it was in his son’s best interests to resort to the private sector, at tremendous expense, to help his son develop to his fullest potential. It was then that he realized that political lobbying to end the discrimination in Canada’s Medicare system was going to be necessary. Andrew Kavchak has promoted the Medicare for Autism Now! (MFAN) message from the beginning of his autism activism. In this book the author describes the circumstances around his son’s diagnosis and his introduction to government indifference, including unconscionable wait lists and age cut-offs. The book provides a historical overview of varying efforts and milestones by numerous organizations and individuals in their provincial and federal campaigns to help improve access to autism treatment across Canada. It also includes a discussion of the Auton case lawsuit launched by a few families in British Columbia against the provincial government that ended up in the Supreme Court of Canada in 2004, and surveys the multitude of pleas for the federal government to develop and implement a National Autism Strategy. The author describes his experiences and intersperses the story with his commentary and reflections along the way. Forewords are contributed by Dr. Sabrina Freeman and Beverley Sharpe, two of the parents who spearheaded the Auton litigation case. Dr. Freeman and her husband were founding members of Families for Early Autism Treatment (FEAT) of British Columbia and leading advocates for the adoption of autism treatment programs in Canada. This book is a “must read” for anyone interested in the history of autism public policy in Canada and those who seek to expand their understanding of the current state of government autism programs and how we got here. It will be of interest to parents, activists, students of public policy, researchers, and anyone concerned with the question: What can Canadian society do to help the autism community?