From our report and recommendations to the Ontario government: Introduction to the report – Ontario

We are blogging each section of our Report and Recommendations to the Ontario Government’s Autism Advisory Committee.

Read the full report here: Ontario Recommendations- Inclusion is the New Gold Standard

One snowy day last March, a group of autistic Canadians walked up the steps at Queen’s Park in Toronto to meet with MPP Amy Fee, who graciously welcomed us into her office to talk about autism policy. In that moment, we realized that we were making history. It was the first time that the Government of Ontario had ever consulted with autistic people about autism policy.

It seems unbelievable, doesn’t it? After all, hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent on autism programs and services in our province: could it be possible that our provincial governments had never asked autistic people about autism policy? It’s true. Our former governments had only ever consulted with a select group of service providers and parents, never with autistic people.

We would like to thank our current government for correcting an inequity and consulting with autistic people about the policies that affect our lives. Not only are we key stakeholders, (obviously) but as end-users of services, we have a lot of insight into how existing programs are run and what can be done to reform the system towards a more effective and sustainable model of service, with new paths for care and a new ethos emerging: inclusion. …

Source: From our report and recommendations to the Ontario government: Introduction to the report – Ontario