Feb 6, 2020, Global News: Durham Region teachers, autism community fight to keep special education supports https://globalnews.ca/news/6517748/durham-region-teachers-autism-community-picket/ Elementary teachers were back on the picket lines across the province and Durham Region Thursday, and so, too, were many parents of children with autism. Both groups had a common goal: keeping special education supports in the classroom. Thursday’s event also marks the anniversary of changes to the province’s autism program. For Shona Dandar, having her children home from school is becoming more and more of a common sight. But rotating teacher strikes aren’t the only hurdle she and her family have had to contend with lately. “We had waited for a couple of years already; we were extremely close to the top of the list,” said Dandar, who has two children affected by autism…. They joined members of the autism community to protest the one-year anniversary of the provincial changes and to take a stand with teachers picketing outside Whitby MPP Lorne Coe’s office. “We’ve had a year of uncertainty,” said Tara Stone, whose family is also affected by autism. “Although we have a different minister, we’ve got the same story: a decimated Ontario Autism Program.” The teachers are standing with them, too, not wanting to see the local autism community lose supports in the classroom….. “The Autism Program being implemented today looks a lot different than the changes which were proposed a year ago,” the statement reads. “Since then, we have listened and we have learned. We have doubled the budget to $600 million, consulted with the autism community and committed to a new-needs based program as recommended by a panel of experts, individuals with lived experience, and advocates. “The new program will ensure children with autism are supported for years to come.” Shona Dandar says that she and her family, like so many others, will continue to fight and advocate until the government stops pulling back on vital support and they start seeing progress in the autism file.
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Childhood Lost
Children today are noticeably different from previous generations, and the proof is in the news coverage we see every day. This site shows you what’s happening in schools around the world. Children are increasingly disabled and chronically ill, and the education system has to accommodate them. Things we've long associated with autism, like sensory issues, repetitive behaviors, anxiety and lack of social skills, are now problems affecting mainstream students. Blame is predictably placed on bad parenting (otherwise known as trauma from home).
Addressing mental health needs is as important as academics for modern educators. This is an unrecognized disaster. The stories here are about children who can’t learn or behave like children have always been expected to. What childhood has become is a chilling portent for the future of mankind.
Loss of Brain Trust features over 9,000 news stories published worldwide since January, 2017
Anne Dachel, Media editor, Age of Autism
http://www.ageofautism.com/media/
(John Dachel, Tech. assist.)
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What will happen in another 4 years? How can we go on like this? This is a national (and international) problem of monumental proportions. We have an entire new class of children who cannot be accommodated by the system: many are manifestly neurologically impaired. Meanwhile, the government and the medical profession sleep on regardless.
John Stone,
UK media editor, Age of Autism
The generation of American children born after 1990 are arguably the sickest generation in the history of our country.
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
It seemed to me that with rising autism prevalence, you’d also see rising autism costs to society, and it turns out, the costs are catastrophic.
They calculated that in 2015 autism cost the United States $268 billion and they projected that if autism continues at its current rate, we’re looking at one trillion dollars a year in autism costs by 2025, so within five years.
Toby Rogers, PhD, Political economist
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