Tuesday, November 01, 2011

Medicare's Orphans: The Fight for Healthcare for Children with Autism Disorders

Medicare's Orphans – A film about the fight to get healthcare for children with autism in Canada  is now online.  I encourage everyone with an interest in autism disorders, anyone interested in advocating for treatment and cure for this serious neurological disorder to view this film. I make a few appearances in this film. It was an honor to participate in this effort with each and everyone of those featured.  
In particular, I had the opportunity a few years ago to meet the Marinoiu family from Toronto. Their son Simon is very similar to my son Conor. I was deeply moved by my experience meeting this wonderful family. Simon's life, his future, is very close to what can be expected for my son here in New Brunswick where our system of adult care for people with severe autism disorder challenges has been frozen by a non evidence based community cliche movement that prevents any serious discussion of adult care beyond the group homes that currently can't handle the challenges presented by severe autism. The result is that severely autistic adults like my son live in a psychiatric hospital in northwestern New Brunswick.

To confront the very real challenges for Canadians with autism disorders it will be necessary for new generations of Canadian parents, and sympathetic professionals, to step up to the plate and fight. The fight has been taking place for years.  The fight must continue. Parents in particular must begin again to fight for our children.  

Begin by watching Medicare's Orphans. 

No comments: