Parents protest Premier’s autism funding plan

Parents rallied against Doug Ford’s proposed changes to the Ontario Autism Program at the Ministry of Community and Social Services in Windsor.

On Feb.14, parents and supporters gathered in cold weather to protest anticipated changes made to the OAP by Ford. They are upset because the new model uses an age-based system to fund their children’s support. Parents believe that the government is not taking their children’s needs into account.

Ford’s plan has stated that children under 18 years old will be eligible to receive up to $140,000 for the child’s life towards therapy and other resources. The money will be front-loaded, meaning a younger child could receive more money than an older child.

Melissa Grass is one of the organizers of the rally. She, along with another concerned mother April Pare, arranged the rally as soon as they learned about the new OAP. Grass says this new plan will take away education that will help children with autism in society.

“As parents, we want kids to thrive,” Grass said. “We want them to be a functioning member of society and they’re not going to get that with is new program because they’re not getting the education and the therapy that they need.”

Grass and Pare believe the amount of money given to children will not be enough to afford services such as Applied Behaviour Analysis, an autism therapy service. Grass and Pare say the average cost of ABA in Ontario is $88,000 per year and the maximum money given will be able to cover less than two years of ABA services. Grass says the government needs to provide more money to support children with autism.

“We need more funding. We don’t need the same amount of funding spread out between 100 per cent of kids,” said Grass. “We need more government support, more funding to help more kids and give them the education that they need. That clinically proven therapy.”

Robert Iftinuk is another parent that disagrees with Ford’s new plan. Iftinuk has a three year old son named Mason. Mason has been on the OAP waiting list for a year and nine months. Iftinuk says instead of this age-based system, the government should focus on a child’s individual needs.

“I don’t think that the old system was right. This new system’s even worse. I think now they should try to cut the waitlist by maybe having services directed at individual needs. A certain amount of kids get into the program, they may need more help than others,” Robert said. “Mason doesn’t need a lot, but he needs help and he needs a little bit more to push him farther and have a brighter future.”