June 16th – 18th 2007
Information Disclaimer.
The sender of these emails takes no responsibility for content, nor has any reason to endorse any one particular therapy be it medication or otherwise.
It is in the readers’ best interest to consult with their family physician or therapist to decide course of action in relation to these postings.
Use these mailouts at your discretion for information purposes only.
Thank you.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
MEDIA RELEASE
June 18, 2007
Martel fights McGuinty’s attempt to hide autism court costs
Queen’s Park – NDP MPP Shelley Martel says Dalton McGuinty should stop fighting MPPs in court and immediately tell the public how much money he’s squandered on lawyers instead of providing IBI therapy to children with autism.
“The public has a right to know how much money the McGuinty Liberals have spent fighting children with autism and their parents in court. The money that has been spent by the McGuinty government fighting these families should have been spent providing Intensive Behavioral Intervention (IBI) therapy to their children who have autism as promised,” said Martel.
Martel made her remarks before attending the Ontario Superior Court of Justice to watch Attorney General Michael Bryant’s lawyers continue their three year fight against her and against the Information and Privacy Commission.
In May 2004, Martel filed a Freedom of Information request with several Ministries asking for the government’s legal costs to fight families with autism in the Deskin/Wynberg case.
In February 2007, after almost three years of McGuinty government stonewalling, Ontario’s Information and Privacy Commissioner ordered the McGuinty Liberals to release the total cost of all legal fees incurred with the Deskin/Wynberg case. However, the government balked at this decision. Attorney General Michael Bryant instructed his lawyers to commence legal action against Martel and the Privacy Commissioner.
“I intend to stand up for the children with autism that Dalton McGuinty has let down. The McGuinty Liberals have wasted public money on lawyers instead of providing IBI therapy to children with autism,” Martel said.
– 30 –
Media Inquiries: Dan O’Brien (416) 325-2507
http://toronto.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20070618/autism_lawsuit_070618/20070618?hub=TorontoHome
Ontario must reveal cost of autism lawsuit: NDP
Canadian Press
TORONTO — The Ontario government's willingness to go to court rather than reveal how much it spent on fighting an autism treatment lawsuit shows it cares less about children and more about covering its tracks, opposition critic Shelley Martel said Monday.
The Ontario Superior Court of Justice heard arguments Monday about a request under the province's Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act to reveal how much the government spent defending a lawsuit filed by parents of autistic children.
The government doesn't want to reveal how much it spent on legal fees, when that money - perhaps as much as $1.5 million - could have helped so many kids instead, Martel, a New Democrat, said outside the court.
"The public has a right to know how much money the McGuinty Liberals have spent fighting children with autism and their parents in court,'' Martel said.
Ontario's information and privacy commissioner ordered that the total cost be released earlier this year, but the government launched a court challenge of that decision.
On Monday, Crown lawyers argued those fees fall under solicitor-client privilege and shouldn't be disclosed. They told the court that disclosing the fee would set a precedent that would apply to all lawyers and their clients across the province.
The Crown also said individual fees are spread across some 2,000 pages of documents, and pulling out a single total figure would not be simple.
The core issue of the lawsuit was access to specialized treatment in school for autistic children, which can cost from $30,000 to $80,000 per child each year.
Families who say they've spent their savings and taken extra jobs to pay for the treatment filed suit in 2004, alleging the government failed the children by not providing access to the treatment in school.
Canadian Press
Proceedings to start over gov't legal bills in autism case
Provided by: Canadian Press
Jun. 18, 2007
TORONTO (CP) - The Ontario government's willingness to go to court rather than reveal how much it spent on fighting an autism treatment lawsuit shows it cares less about children and more about covering its tracks, opposition critic Shelley Martel said Monday.
The Ontario Superior Court of Justice heard arguments Monday about a request under the province's Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act to reveal how much the government spent defending a lawsuit filed by parents of autistic children.
The government doesn't want to reveal how much it spent on legal fees, when that money - perhaps as much as $1.5 million-could have helped so many kids instead, Martel, a New Democrat, said outside the court.
Ad
"The public has a right to know how much money the McGuinty Liberals have spent fighting children with autism and their parents in court," Martel said.
Ontario's information and privacy commissioner ordered that the total cost be released earlier this year, but the government launched a court challenge of that decision.
On Monday, Crown lawyers argued those fees fall under solicitor-client privilege and shouldn't be disclosed. They told the court that disclosing the fee would set a precedent that would apply to all lawyers and their clients across the province.
The Crown also said individual fees are spread across some 2,000 pages of documents, and pulling out a single total figure would not be simple. …..
This was published by the paper and will further be clarified by a listmate:
The core issue of the lawsuit was access to specialized treatment in school for autistic children, which can cost from $30,000 to $80,000 per child each year.
Families who say they've spent their savings and taken extra jobs to pay for the treatment filed suit in 2004, alleging the government failed the children by not providing access to the treatment in school.
Ont. to defend secrecy around autism case costs
Last Updated: Monday, June 18, 2007 | 9:47 AM ET
CBC News
The province of Ontario goes to court on Monday in its fight to keep secret the amount of money it spent fighting against increased coverage for a costly autism treatment.
The Attorney General's Office is challenging an order from the privacy commissioner to reveal how much it spent on lawyers to fend off demands that the government fund intensive behavioural intervention (IBI) treatment for children past the age of six.
Ontario's Court of Appeal ruled in 2006 that the province does not have to pay for treatment past that point. The government had appealed an earlier ruling in favour of a group of parents.
The families said they were spending their savings and taking extra jobs to pay for the treatment and argued it should be covered by the province.
Attorney General Michael Bryant has refused to reveal what the case cost, citing lawyer-client confidentiality.
But the government has no right to keep the legal costs of the case a secret, said assistant information commissioner Brian Beamish.
"Disclosure is desirable for the purposes of transparency and accountability. It's public funds and the public should have a right to know," said Beamish.
New Democrat MPP Shelley Martel, who has spent three years trying to find out the cost of the case, says she thinks the legal bill is being kept secret because it is embarrassingly high. She estimates the cost could be more than $1.5 million.
"I think the general public would be appalled because they would really see this as squandering their dollars, instead of providing the treatment these kids so desperately needed," said Martel.
Request from a listmate:
Hello friends at ASO (from Yvette Fiala):
Can you pls send this to general distribution, to your friends, co-workers, family? This concerns every resident of Durham....
This is one of United Way's initiatives (not a petition, more like a campaign) - to put pressure on local government to give the 905 regions of Halton, Durham, Peel and York the same funding as they give to the rest of Ontario - health and social services. I wasn't aware of it myself, but PricewaterhouseCooper audit revealed that the high growth regions of GTA-suburbs (in other words US) get less $$ from the province (not population based funding!!!!). This means in practical terms that if you, as a resident of Durham, walk into a local hospital you get $260 per year LESS than a resident from e.g. Sudbury, or Windsor, ON.
All this electronic postcard campaign is asking is to give Durham/Peel/York and Halton the same money as the rest of Ontarians are lucky to receive. Pls click on the postcard picture on the left side of home page of this website 'strongcommunitiescoalition.org'. (Or, if you are forwarding and know how to cut/paste the first part of their home page in here, even better - to make it easier on everybody). Thank you.
http://www.strongcommunitiescoalition.org/
Yvette Fiala
Autistic court fight has `squandered' cash: Martel
Jun 18, 2007 03:44 PM
Tracey Tyler
LEGAL AFFAIRS REPORTER
An MPP wants to know how much the government has "squandered" on legal fees instead of providing treatment for autistic children.
NDP health critic Shelley Martel won the first round of her battle earlier this year.
That's when Ontario's information and privacy commissioner ordered the province to disclose the total dollar figures spent on fighting two civil lawsuits brought on behalf of 30 autistic childrenin the province.
Lawyers for the province are before the Divisional Court today appealing that decision.
The Star.com
From a Listmate:
"Treatments by province"
The availability and access of treatment programs for children with
autism spectrum disorders varies widely across Canada. Depending on family
income, proximity to treatment centres and the efforts of their family
physicians, autistic children can receive different levels of help and
their outcomes can vary.
"Make way for the CEOs of summer"
Dale Stern, 25, has tapped a niche market with his garage-refurbishment
business
Check out the one about Under the Umbrella
Tree
"Being Gabriel"
Some books speak to you before you open them: a title, an image, an
author, a blurb. Sometimes, this turns out to be a lovely bit of
serendipity. Sometimes, the promise comes to naught. But at least you might come
to a book that would otherwise pass you by.
Liberal candidate hopes to enlist teachers in election
By NICK GARDINER
Staff Writer
A Westport teacher and special education consultant will carry the Liberal banner for Leeds-Grenville into the provincial election this fall.
Lori Bryden, a wife and mother of a teenaged daughter, was acclaimed Liberal candidate before about 45 party supporters at Thursday's nomination meeting at the Brockville fire hall.
Bryden said she hopes her rural roots and the accomplishments of Dalton McGuinty's Liberal government will break down Leeds-Grenville's traditional Progressive Conservative vote, which has sent Bob Runciman to Queen's Park through seven campaigns over 26 years.
"I think it's time for a change," a confident-sounding Bryden told The Recorder and Times after the 90-minute meeting.
"Leeds and Grenville is ready for a change and I think we'll deliver a change."
Runciman has typically won the rural polls in Leeds-Grenville and Bryden said she will use her country roots to try to stop him outside the urban areas.
She said she is familiar with rural sensibilities from growing up in Westport, where she still lives with husband Rick and daughter Mara, attending Rideau District High School in Elgin and teaching at small schools in Westport and Perth with both the Catholic District School Board of Eastern Ontario and the Upper Canada District School Board.
Since 2005, Bryden has been a special education teacher with the Kingston-based Algonquin and Lakeshore Catholic District School Board and just last year she also joined St. Lawrence College as an instructor.
She said her contact with the teaching community provides a network of support she'll count on in an election campaign she is starting immediately.
To that point, her nomination by former Leeds-Grenville MP Jim Jordan was seconded by Marilies Rettig, east region president of the Ontario English Catholic Teachers Association, who feels Bryden will bring enthusiasm and commitment to her role as the Liberal standard-bearer.
Bryden said McGuinty and the Liberal government made education a cornerstone of their term in office and she feels confident of the support of both Catholic and public teachers.
"Teachers in general are extremely happy with the Liberal government," said Bryden.
She said more money has been put into special education, provincewide test scores and the number of graduates are higher and the dropout rate has fallen.
She said she has a special interest in autism as a special education consultant and feels McGuinty has made inroads there, too, by extending funding for autistic children beyond six years old.
Bryden said provincial spending on municipal infrastructure and improvements in health care that are putting more nurses in hospitals and attracting doctors will also win over local voters to the Liberal party.
Bryden recalled the first time she met Jordan as a Grade 7 student at St. Edward Catholic School in Westport when he was superintendent of Catholic education and how impressed she was that he had time to visit a small, rural school.
Last night, Jordan impressed her again when he spoke to the crowd about the 1987 provincial campaign when Jordan lost to Runciman by a mere 198 votes.
"We had a super campaign. We have made it possible here to win," said Jordan, who noted the CBC declared him the winner before the rural polls came in and pushed Runciman over the top.
He said the riding has 201 polls and "if 100 Tories had voted Liberal or if we had won one more vote in each poll we would have had a victory rally."
Jordan said he is delighted the party has a woman candidate who is "young and vivacious and has the good looks that I didn't have.
"My advice is go and buy the best pair of walking shoes you can find and by the end of the campaign (they will be worn out and) you can throw them out. It's that kind of a riding."
Guest speaker Jim Brownell, MPP for Stormont, Dundas and Charlottenburgh, said his riding and Leeds-Grenville are similar with a large rural population surrounding an urban centre that is Cornwall in his riding and Brockville here.
Brownell said he was impressed with Bryden the first time he saw her at a caucus retreat recently for candidates and prospective candidates.
He called her "dynamic and absolutely committed" and said "there is no doubt in my mind" she is an excellent candidate.
"I want Lori to be my seatmate at Queen's Park," said Brownell.
Steve Mazurek, Liberal candidate in Leeds-Grenville during the last provincial election, advised Bryden to "stick to the issues" during the campaign.
"My advice is to be yourself and work very hard and speak specifically about the issues. Voters in Leeds and Grenville don't go for personal attacks. Stick to the issues."
He said Bryden has an uphill battle but he believes she has a good grasp of rural issues and brings a "refreshing change" to the campaign as a female candidate.
Riding president Greg Best was also upbeat about Bryden's candidacy.
"I'm thrilled with the candidate we have. She is young and energetic and full of ideas," said Best.
"She seems to relate well to people from all different areas and backgrounds."
• Published in Section A, page 3 in the Friday, June 15, 2007 edition of the Brockville Recorder & Times.
http://newsfeed.recorder.ca/cgi-bin/LiveIQue.acgi$rec=22768
Study to search for more answers on autism subject
(Very Interesting!)
- 14 Jun 2007
By McMaster University
Page 1 of 2
Not all children respond to IBI
A research study that may provide hope of finding an effective, alternative intervention for children with autism who do not respond to Intensive Behavioural Intervention (IBI), is being conducted under the leadership of McMaster University.
The study is designed to determine if participation in a functional behavioural skills program provided by therapists in one-on-one and group settings, and additional training for parents, will help those children who are not responding well to IBI.
While IBI is an effective treatment for many children with autism – a severe neurological disorder - it is extremely expensive and there are long waiting lists for the provincially funded programs. IBI for children at the severe end of the autism spectrum has been funded across Ontario since 2000. Recent research has shown that while many children improve, a substantial proportion of children in treatment do not make any significant gains in cognitive ability or behaviour, despite 20 to 40 hours weekly of therapy, at a cost of about $60,000 a year.
It is estimated that one in about 165 children in Canada is afflicted with some degree of autism spectrum disorder, which results in extreme difficulties in communicating, socializing and behaving, as well as severe developmental delays in some.
Jo-Ann Reitzel, Clinical Director of the Hamilton-Niagara Regional Autism Intervention Program at McMaster Children’s Hospital, and an assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences at McMaster University, has received $150,000 from the Ontario Mental Health Foundation (OMHF) to conduct a two-year study of how young children with severe autism fare when provided with a psychosocial intervention based on the principles of Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA). ABA involves a variety of methods for assessing children's behaviours and learning needs, and intervening with techniques to teach skills and behaviours.
Reitzel said the study is important as professionals have an obligation to find other methods for helping children with autism develop better communication, social and behavioural skills, and alleviate some of the extreme strain experienced by parents and other caregivers.
Study to search for more answers on autism subject
- 14 Jun 2007
By McMaster University
Page 2 of 2
“Some children simply don’t respond to IBI, and we need to find alternative treatment for those children,” she said. “Right now there is no clear indication in the (research) literature about ‘what next"’ What do we recommend for those children who aren’t helped by IBI"”
Her grant application was ranked first by the OMHF of 73 requests for funding of various projects. The research team includes Drs. Jane Summers and Peter Szatmari of McMaster University, and Dr. Lonnie Zwaigenbaum, formerly with McMaster.
The study will start this summer and last for two years, involving children in the Hamilton and Niagara areas who have been identified as candidates for IBI. For an eight-month period while the children are receiving IBI, some children who are not progressing will also receive functional behavioural skills training. Reitzel said the functional skills training will focus more specifically on helping the children practise basic day-to-day living skills such as eating, dressing, communicating and toileting.
IBI is a cognitive-based program, where intensive programming focuses on improving children's developmental outcomes by teaching thinking and language skills such as to understand instructions, to express themselves, to learn adaptive behaviour, social and play skills and to change their behaviours.
If the functional skills training based on ABA proves beneficial for some of the children with complex autism who don’t respond to IBI, not only will it be a treatment option in the best interests of the children, but it could mean more spots will become available in the IBI program for those more likely to benefit.
There are about 100 children in the Hamilton-Niagara area receiving IBI, and about 100 on the waiting list for the treatment.
IBI has been in the news extensively in recent months, as parents fight for greater government support of the treatment. They fought to have the treatment funded for children beyond the age of six, and most recently have been lobbying the government to allow the provision of IBI in the school setting.
While IBI is no longer automatically discontinued when a child turns six, the downside has been a substantial increase in waiting lists. Since 2004, the wait list for the therapy has burgeoned in Ontario to 1,200.
http://www.firstscience.com/home/news/medicine-and-health/study-to-search-for-more-answers-on-autism-subject-page-2-1_32594.html
Ont. government must reveal cost of autism treatment lawsuit, says NDP’s Martel
By MICHAEL OLIVEIRA
Monday, June 18, 2007
TORONTO (CP) - The Ontario government spent another day in court Monday arguing why its legal bill for fighting an autism treatment lawsuit should stay secret, which means even more money has been wasted on lawyers rather than helping kids, the opposition said.
The Ontario Superior Court of Justice heard arguments about a request under the province’s Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act to reveal how much the government spent defending against a lawsuit filed by parents of autistic children.
Ontario’s information and privacy commissioner had ordered that the total cost be released earlier this year, but the government launched a court challenge of that decision.
The government doesn’t want to reveal how much it spent on legal fees because that money - perhaps as much as $1.5 million-could have helped so many kids instead, said New Democrat Shelley Martel, who originally filed the request for information in 2004.
It’s particularly embarrassing for the government because Premier Dalton McGuinty broke a promise made in 2003 to make autism treatment widely available, she said.
"A great deal of money has been spent - squandered in my estimation - fighting these families, when if he had kept his promise, the families would have gotten the (treatment) that they needed and there wouldn’t have been a court case," she said.
Crown lawyers said the government’s legal bill is covered by solicitor-client privilege and shouldn’t be disclosed. They told the court that disclosing the fee would set a precedent that would apply to all lawyers and their clients across the province.
The concept of solicitor-client privilege is absolute and does not operate on a sliding scale depending on how the information would be used, said Crown attorney Kim Twohig.
Although Martel asked that the government only disclose a figure for total legal costs, and not any supplemental paperwork, the files are "privileged in their entirety," Twohig said.
But lawyers for Martel and Information and Privacy Commissioner Ann Cavoukian argued that legal costs don’t fall within the rules of solicitor-client privilege. Even if a figure could help determine how many hours lawyers worked on the case, or how much money was spent on expert witnesses, that’s not privileged information, said William Challis, who was representing Cavoukian.
"It might reveal if an expert was retained ... but what would that reveal about a solicitor-client relationship?" he asked.
A panel of three judges reserved their decision.
Martel also had the support of Conservative Leader John Tory, who appeared at the courthouse to show his solidarity for her case.
"I think this issue goes well beyond partisanship," Tory said.
"We have a member of the legislature here who is seeking information about the expenditure and use of public funds to fight citizens who are, frankly, just looking for some justice for their children with autism, and she is being stonewalled at every turn."
The core issue of the parent’s lawsuit, filed in 1999, was access to intensive autism therapy for children over the age of six. The case went all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada, which refused in April to hear the parents’ appeal.
Autism sufferers also need help
The Gazette
Published: Friday, June 15, 2007
Autism is the most common developmental disorder affecting children, with as many as one in 160 children struggling under its limitations. A neurological condition that can result in a wide spectrum of behaviours and problems, including difficulty communicating with others or with regular social interactions, its cause remains wrapped in mystery.
Autism is also, unfortunately for the children afflicted with it and for their families, one of the most expensive conditions to treat. There are families spending as much as $80,000 a year, Wendy Roberts, head of the autism research unit at Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children, told a Toronto newspaper.
Is this fair? Therapy exists that in some cases can make the difference between a life governed by a severe disorder and a life in which near-normalcy can be reached. Families of autistic children have sued to try to get government funding for therapy.
A group of 28 families in Ontario was rebuffed by the Supreme Court of Canada. The Supreme Court likewise rejected in 2004 a suit by British Columbia families, ruling it is up to legislatures to determine the level of medical funding. Supreme Court Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin said: "What the public health system should provide ... is a matter for Parliament and the legislature."
So families are, understandably, trying to mobilize public opinion. This week, Canadian comedian Eugene Levy was drafted into service, telling the CBC "families with autistic kids have the same rights as everybody else. Treatment has to be covered the way it's covered for any other debilitating disease."
As tempting as it is to agree, it is not correct that all medical treatments, regardless of cost, are covered under medicare.
But if legislators and officials have made the heart-wrenching decision not to fund maximum treatment, they could at least put more money into research. Levy was right to criticize Canada's research shortfall.
Last year, prominent researcher Dr. Peter Szatmari said that since 2000 Canada has spent a mere $16 million researching autism. The United States, in contrast, plans to spend $200 million in one year to set up centres of excellence to study autism.
We now know that autism is far more prevalent than had been realized, so it makes sense that it become a research priority. If, as feared, it is becoming a near epidemic, there is added reason and, in fact, real urgency to making it a priority.
Senator Jim Munson, who is also lobbying on behalf of autistic children and their families, argued this week that not treating the disorder as well as we can costs the Canadian economy $3.5 billion a year, including group homes, respite care, and institutional care .
Nothing is sadder than having to choose between patients. Of course, parents will fight for their children. But it is up to legislatures to make the hard choices. That's what they're there for.
http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/editorial/story.html?id=61ce2f17-a9e1-4cf4-b844-b40b1c3d8bc9
From a Listmate
CANADA.COM
Autism treatment helps
Sunday, June 17, 2007
In Quebec, parents of autistic children are left out in the cold. The government adamantly refuses to pay for treatment that it claims has not been proven 100 per cent to work.
How heartless and cruel to deny these parents, who already have so much on their plate. Child autism is on the rise, and they and their parents need help.
Some parents and grandparents say they have had to sell their homes and go into debt to give their autistic children/grandchildren early-intervention treatments, since Quebec refuses to pay. The earlier it's treated the better the results - often big, positive changes in children.
It's ironic that some in the U.S. envy Canada's medicare system. Now the shoe is on the other foot. A friend's grandson in New Jersey was diagnosed with autism at 20 months of age and she told me that the state, by law, has to provide - free - every available therapy to autistic children; everything from water exercises to speech therapy to ortho-therapy. The parents are already seeing big strides.
Penny Berns
Dollard des Ormeaux
Published Monday, June 18, 2007
Autism Debate Strains a Family and Its Charity
JANE GROSS and STEPHANIE STROM
A year after their grandson Christian received a diagnosis of autism in 2004, Bob Wright, then chairman of NBC/Universal, and his wife, Suzanne, founded Autism Speaks, a mega-charity dedicated to curing the dreaded neurological disorder that affects one of every 150 children in America today.
The Wrights’ venture was also an effort to end the internecine warfare in the world of autism — where some are convinced that the disorder is genetic and best treated with intensive therapy, and others blame preservatives in vaccinations and swear by supplements and diet to cleanse the body of heavy metals.
With its high-powered board, world-class scientific advisers and celebrity fund-raisers like Jerry Seinfeld and Paul Simon, the charity was a powerful voice, especially in Washington. It also made strides toward its goal of unity by merging with three existing autism organizations and raising millions of dollars for research into all potential causes and treatments. The Wrights call it the “big tent” approach.
But now the fissures in the autism community have made their way into the Wright family, where father and daughter are not speaking after a public battle over themes familiar to thousands of families with autistic children.
The Wrights’ daughter, Katie, the mother of Christian, says her parents have not given enough support to the people who believe, as she does, that the environment — specifically a synthetic mercury preservative in vaccines — is to blame. No major scientific studies have linked pediatric vaccination and autism, but many parents and their advocates persist, and a federal “vaccine court” is now reviewing nearly 4,000 such claims.
The Wright feud has played out in cyberspace and spilled into Autism Speaks, where those who disagree with Katie Wright’s views worry that she is setting its agenda. And the family intent on healing a fractured community has instead opened its old wounds and is itself riven.
The rift began in April when Katie put herself squarely on the side of “The Mercurys,” as that faction is known, on Oprah Winfrey, where she described how her talkative toddler turned unresponsive and out-of-control after his vaccines and only improved with unconventional, and untested, remedies.
In a Web interview with David Kirby, author of the controversial book, “Evidence of Harm: Mercury in Vaccines and the Autism Epidemic,” Ms. Wright lashed out at the “old guard” scientists and pioneering autism families. If the old-timers are unable to let go of “failed strategies,” she said, they should “step aside” and let a new generation “have a chance to do something different with this money” that her parents’ charity was dispensing.
Complaints poured in from those who said Ms. Wright’s remarks were denigrating.
So, in early June, Bob and Suzanne Wright repudiated their daughter on the charity’s Web site. “Katie Wright is not a spokesperson” for the organization, the Wrights said in a brusque statement. Her “personal views differ from ours.” The Wrights also apologized to “valued volunteers” who had been disparaged. Told by friends how cold the rebuke sounded, Mrs. Wright belatedly added a line saying, “Katie is our daughter, and we love her very much.”
Ms. Wright called the statement a “character assassination.” She said she had not spoken to her father since. Ms. Wright continues to spend time with her mother, but said they had not discussed the situation.
“I totally respect if her feelings were hurt,” Mrs. Wright said. “But a lot of feelings were hurt. A lot.”
Now other autism families who hoped to put their differences aside are shouting at each other in cyberspace. “Our struggle is not and should not be against each other,” said Ilene Lainer, the mother of an autistic child and the executive director of the New York Center for Autism.
The big tent approach of Autism Speaks appealed to Mel Karmazin, chief executive of Sirius Radio and an early board member and contributor. “If you look at what projects Autism Speaks has funded, we are agnostic,” he said.
Mr. Karmazin, who also has an autistic grandson, added, “I never wanted to look my grandson in the eye and tell him I’m taking just one viewpoint or that I think it had to be genetic.”
Bob and Suzanne Wright are sympathetic to Katie’s plight, having witnessed Christian’s sudden regression and his many physical ailments, mostly gastrointestinal, which afflict many autistic children.
The boy did not respond to behavioral therapies, the Wrights said, leading to their daughter’s desperate search for anything that might help. “When you have that sense of hopelessness, and don’t see results, you do things that other people think is too risky,” Mr. Wright said. “The doctors say, ‘Wait for the science.’ But you don’t have time to wait for the science.”
The Wrights agreed to disagree with most of Katie’s views. But her public attack on other parents crossed a line, Mr. and Mrs. Wright said in separate telephone interviews.
“I know my daughter feels deeply that not enough is being done,” Mr. Wright said. “The larger issue is we want to be helpful to everyone, and to do that we need information, data, facts.”
Some in the traditional scientific community worry that Autism Speaks has let Ms. Wright’s experience shape its agenda. She scoffs at the notion. Her parents, she said in a telephone interview, are “courageous” and “trying very hard,” but have been slow to explore alternative approaches.
“You can say it and say it and say it,” she said. “Show me evidence that they’re actively researching vaccines.”
The Wright family’s fight has captured the attention of the bloggers, who are now questioning everything from its office lease to how it makes grants. The charity rebutted the bloggers’ accusations of improprieties in interviews with The New York Times, which examined its IRS forms and read relevant sections to Gerald A. Rosenberg, former head of the New York State attorney general’s charities bureau. He said nothing he reviewed was untoward.
The most distinctive aspect of Autism Speaks is its alliance with Autism Coalition for Research and Education, an advocacy group; the National Alliance for Autism Research, devoted to scientific research into potential genetic causes, with high standards for peer review; and Cure Autism Now, which has championed unconventional theories and therapies.
Which wing of the merged charity is ascendant? Some establishment scientists and parents now fear it is The Mercurys. They point to Cure Autism Now’s having more seats than the National Alliance does on the board of directors and the growing number of research projects that focus on environmental causes.
At a recent benefit gala, featuring Bill Cosby and Toni Braxton, some in the audience were surprised when Mr. Wright announced that all proceeds would go toward environmental research, which generally includes vaccines.
But a list of current research grants on the Autism Speaks Web site suggests that the Wrights, while walking a fine line, are leaning toward genetic theories.
From 2005 to 2007, the charity sponsored $11.5 million in grants for genetic research (compared with $5.9 million by all its partners between 1997 and 2004). It sponsored $4.4 million in environmental research (down from $6 million granted by the partners in the previous seven years). And many of the environmental studies explore what is known as the double-hit hypothesis: That the genes for autism may be activated in some children by exposure to mercury or other neuro-toxins.
Bob and Suzanne Wright say their two-year immersion into the world of autism has been an eye-opener, especially the heated arguments worthy of the Hatfields and McCoys.
Mrs. Wright is aware that the marriage of the Alliance and Cure Autism Now, for instance, could fall apart over opposing ideologies. “I’m not going to let it,” she said. “The truth will rise to the top.”
She is also aware that the rift in her own family needs repair: On Friday, her daughter posted a message on an autism Web site questioning their “personal denouncement of me.”
Yet Mrs. Wright is confident that “we’ll work our way through this.” Autism, she said “has done enough damage to my family. I’m not letting it do any more.”
http://www.blueridgenow.com/article/20070618/ZNYT02/706180325/1020/FEATURES/ZNYT02/Autism_Debate_Strains_a_Family_and_Its_Charity
Include autism treatment under OHIP, critics urge
Steve Somerville
Stacey Hilkowitz with children Jordan and Samantha. “I’d love to see funding, even partial funding (for special autism therapy),†says Ms Hilkowitz. “I believe autism is a rising concern.â€
MORE STORIES
Regional News
Jun 16, 2007 07:39 PM
By: Michael Power
Stacey Hilkowitz is clear on whether specialized autism therapy should be covered under the country’s medicare system.
“It would be wonderful,†said the York Region resident, whose daughter Samantha, 7, and five-year-old son, Jordan, are autistic.
“I’d love to see funding, even partial funding. I believe autism is a rising concern.â€
Ms Hilkowitz isn’t alone in that view. Canadian actor and comedian Eugene Levy this week called on Ottawa to change the Canada Health Act to include autism treatment.
Mr. Levy made the comments in Toronto Wednesday as spokesperson for a national autism strategy.
He joined Senator Jim Munson and a group of parents of autistic children in saying Ottawa should formulate a national strategy. Alberta is currently the only province that covers the treatment.
Among the group’s suggestions for the strategy are:
• funding for university departments for applied behaviour analysis (ABA), which is specialized treatment for autism;
• recognition of certified ABA workers as health-care professionals;
• a system to license, certify and register those professionals.
With applied behaviour analysis, therapists teach children various tasks by leading them through it multiple times. The treatment costs between $30,000 and $80,000 per child, per year.
Another therapy used with autistic children, called intensive behavoural intervention or IBI, costs the same.
Ms Hilkowitz, who works as an education assistant, has been paying out-of-pocket for her children’s treatment. But her son Jordan, who has more pronounced autism characteristics than Samantha, has recently been moved to the top of the list for government-funded treatment.
“If it doesn’t happen for my kids, why not pave the way for other kids?†she said.
Treatment such as intensive behavoural intervention is, although effective, too expensive for most families to pay for without help, NDP autism critic Shelley Martel said.
And without an investment now the government will likely have to get involved later, she said.
Without adequate treatment while young, those with autism risk ending up in institutions such as group homes or even in the courts, she said.
COVER TREATMENT
“This treatment should be covered because it’s an effective, scientific-based treatment that works for many, many children with autism,†Ms Martel said. “But it’s very expensive and the overwhelming majority of families who need it can’t afford to pay for it out-of-pocket.â€
To include autism treatment under OHIP, the province would have to declare it “medically necessary,†she said. But the federal government must also provide support. “It’s a national problem,†she said. “It’s not just an Ontario problem.â€
The province has invested $150 million in autism programs since taking office, Thornhill MPP Mario Racco said. The Liberals also nixed an age limit on funding for applied behaviour treatment rather than cutting off funding at age six, he noted.
Ottawa should also play a role in making treatment a national service, he said.
“I think there’s merits for it,†said Mr. Racco, regarding the inclusion of autism treatment under OHIP. “We’ve done our share, but there’s more to be done.â€
York Region.com
THE ENVIRONMENT
Pollution, plastics affect boys more, group report says
Males more prone to asthma and learning disabilities, data show
MARTIN MITTELSTAEDT
ENVIRONMENT REPORTER
June 16, 2007
When it comes to many illnesses, boys are the weaker sex by far.
The incidence of asthma, autism, childhood cancer, learning disabilities and behavioural disorders, among others, is higher in boys, sometimes startlingly so. Autism, for instance, almost seems like a male preserve, with boys outnumbering girls four to one.
Why boys appear to be more vulnerable to a host of ailments is a major scientific puzzle, but a new report says part of the reason may be that males are more sensitive to pollution and many hormone-like chemicals widely used in consumer products ranging from computers to plastic water bottles.
"The issue of male vulnerability to environmental hazards is an emerging area of scientific research," said the report by the Canadian Partnership for Children's Health and Environment, a group funded in part by Environment Canada and backed by a number of major public health and environmental organizations.
Print Edition - Section Front
The Globe and mail.
From a Listmate:
Chronicles of Coping; Parents of autistic children speak out
The Montreal Gazette
Jun 16, 2007
Page: J7
Section: Weekend: Books
Edition: Final
Byline: JOEL YANOFSKY
The future is what you are given when you have a child. When my son was
born eight years ago, I happily became a cliche. On our first Father's
Day, we played catch - an admittedly one-sided game.
When you find out your child is autistic, as my wife and I did five
years ago, it's not exactly the future that's taken away, but your
second-nature sense of it, your naive trust in its blessed
ordinariness.
The Elephant in the Playroom is a new anthology written by the parents
of special-needs children; it describes what it's like to have a child
who's nothing at all like you expected.
The book, as editor Denise Brodey explains, has no how-to tips or
expert
advice to impart. This is deliberate and makes sense. Almost all the
essays in The Elephant in the Playroom deal with some kind of
developmental delay. In these situations, parents are the real experts,
the 24/7 kind. They understand the desperation and isolation and
hard-earned triumphs of their circumstances in a way no one else can.
The first psychiatrist to evaluate our son sent us out of his office
with a pep talk. He compared our situation to planning a trip to Italy
and ending up in Holland. Of course, we were disappointed, he said - no
Sistine Chapel, no Trevi Fountain - but we'd adjust.
The analogy is shaky. Holland has windmills and tulips; Holland is
fine.
Autism isn't another country; it's another planet.
It's no coincidence that personal writing about autism has boomed
recently; so has autism. In Strange Son, Portia Iverson learns the bad
news about her son Dov and immediately finds herself immersed in a
world
of startling statistics. Like the fact that autism affects one in 150
children (one in about 90 boys). And that autism receives a fraction of
the funding that goes to other childhood disabilities and diseases.
While advocating for Dov, Iverson learns about an Indian woman, Soma
Mukhopadhyay, and her son, Tito. Tito, 13, is nonverbal, unsocialized
and appears completely disconnected from the world.
But thanks to the unorthodox methods of his indefatigable mother, Tito
demonstrates that he not only has a mind, but an extraordinarily
sophisticated one. He has an IQ of 185, writes poems and, using an
alphabet board, is an eloquent and poignant witness to "the state of
total chaos" in which he exists.
Iverson brings Soma and Tito to Los Angeles, convinced Tito is autism's
Rosetta Stone, the Helen Keller of the disorder. Strange Son is the
story of the often inspiring, often frustrating relationship between
these two afflicted families.
Iverson, a Hollywood art director, begins with a star-struck belief in
the ability of big-name scientists to help her son, a belief that is
tested. Autism remains stubbornly, heartbreakingly enigmatic. Soma,
meanwhile, does the best she can for Tito and Dov.
In Strange Son, Iverson admits that she has "not awakened to an
ordinary
day since her son's diagnosis," and it's true: no one does. But that
only makes Norwegian writer Halfdan W. Freihow, in Dear Gabriel: Letter
from a Father, more determined to cherish the occasional normal moments
he has with his 7-year-old son.
Autism is not one disorder; it's a broad spectrum of developmental
delays and Gabriel, unlike Dov and Tito, attends a regular school,
speaks, and engages with his family. The result is, in Freihow's words,
a mix of "what is good, and what is difficult."
Life with autism is life out of proportion. There is, for instance, the
extraordinary stress of anticipating Gabriel's meltdown at a family
party. There's also the feeling of triumph when an infrequent play-date
goes better than anticipated.
Most of all, Dear Gabriel is Freihow's loving, valiant effort to
explain
his son to himself. "You yourself are ... a paradox, complex and
unpredictable and challenging, never boring, never monotonous, and
never
easy to fathom," Freihow writes, "You're simply a whole language,
Gabriel."
Just how intricate that language can be is evident in Daniel Tammet's
Born on a Blue Day. Tammet has Asperger's syndrome (a high-functioning
form of autism) and is a mathematical and linguistic savant.
His uncanny ability to learn Icelandic in a week, an achievement
featured in the BBC documentary Brainman, has made him a local and
international celebrity. He's appeared on the Letterman show and 60
Minutes.
Born on a Blue Day is an account of autism told from the inside out.
And
while there's evidence of the special and curious nature of Tammet's
mind on every page, what's most touching about this story is its
author's humanity - his ordinary desire to be accepted and understood,
to be independent and have a future.
All these books can be troubling to read; so much is at stake. But
they're also chronicles of coping, heroic dispatches from a tough
frontier.
My son is in a home ABA program (Applied Behavioural Analysis) and is
finishing Grade 2 at a regular school. He's an intelligent, endearing
boy. And while he isn't that keen on playing catch, he's a better
hitter
than his old man ever was.
Still, things other parents take for granted in their children - like
making conversation or friends - remain a challenge. We work at them
like we work at everything - constantly, painstakingly, with more
patience and hope some days than others.
And what do my son and I have planned for this Father's Day? Nothing
out
of the ordinary, at least that's my most fervent hope.
The Elephant in the Playroom: Ordinary Parents Write Intimately and
Honestly About the Extraordinary Highs and Heartbreaking Lows of
Raising
Kids with Special Needs, edited by Denise Brodey, Hudson Street Press,
235 pages, $27.50.
Strange Son: Two Mothers, Two Sons, and the Quest to Unlock the Hidden
World of Autism, by Portia Iverson, Riverhead Books, 397 pages, $31.
Dear Gabriel: Letter from a Father, by Halfdan W. Freihow, translated
by
Robert Ferguson, Anansi, 185 pages, $24.95.
Born on a Blue Day: A Memoir of Asperger's and an Extraordinary Mind,
by
Daniel Tammet, Hodder & Stoughton, 242 pages, $29.95.
Joel Yanofsky is at work on Solace, a book about parenthood, autism and
literature.
_______________________________
Autism treatment helps
The Montreal Gazette
Jun 17, 2007
Page: A14
Section: Editorial / Op-Ed
Edition: Final
Byline: Penny Berns
In Quebec, parents of autistic children are left out in the cold. The
government adamantly refuses to pay for treatment that it claims has
not
been proven 100 per cent to work.
How heartless and cruel to deny these parents, who already have so much
on their plate. Child autism is on the rise, and they and their parents
need help.
Some parents and grandparents say they have had to sell their homes and
go into debt to give their autistic children/grandchildren
early-intervention treatments, since Quebec refuses to pay. The earlier
it's treated the better the results - often big, positive changes in
children.
It's ironic that some in the U.S. envy Canada's medicare system. Now
the
shoe is on the other foot. A friend's grandson in New Jersey was
diagnosed with autism at 20 months of age and she told me that the
state, by law, has to provide - free - every available therapy to
autistic children; everything from water exercises to speech therapy to
ortho-therapy. The parents are already seeing big strides.
Penny Berns
Dollard des Ormeaux
_______________________________
Autism needs funding
The Montreal Gazette
Jun 18, 2007
Page: A18
Section: Editorial / Op-Ed
Edition: Final
Your editorial, "Autism sufferers also need help," (June 15) could not
have been more timely and is much appreciated. As you note, the Supreme
Court has put the ball in Parliament's court concerning funding.
It is worth noting that recently, in South Carolina, the state House
and
Senate overrode the governor's veto against requiring insurers to
provide coverage for autism therapy to affected children up to age 16.
While we Canadians rightly congratulate ourselves on our humane
medicare
system, the autism issue puts us to shame.
The personal devastation of caring for an autistic child should not be
compounded by financial ruin. We rarely question the enormous sums
spent
to prolong the life of a dying person by months, sometimes years.
Surely, autism should benefit from similar concern.
Shelley Corrin
Notre Dame de Grace
_________________________
Make autism research a priority
Toronto Star
Jun 18, 2007
Page: AA06
Section: Editorial
Edition: Ont
Autism is the most common developmental disorder affecting children,
with as many as one in 160 children struggling under its limitations. A
neurological condition that can result in a wide spectrum of behaviours
and problems, its cause remains wrapped in mystery.
Autism is also, unfortunately for the children afflicted with it and
for
their families, one of the most expensive conditions to treat. There
are
families spending as much as $80,000 a year, Wendy Roberts, head of the
autism research unit at Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children, told a
Toronto newspaper.
Is this fair? Therapy exists that in some cases can make the difference
between a life governed by a severe disorder and a life in which
near-normalcy can be reached. Families of autistic children have sued
to
try to get government funding for therapy.
A group of 28 families in Ontario was rebuffed by the Supreme Court of
Canada. The Supreme Court likewise rejected in 2004 a suit by British
Columbia families, ruling it is up to legislatures to determine the
level of medical funding.
So families are, understandably, trying to mobilize public opinion.
This
week, Canadian comedian Eugene Levy was drafted into service, telling
the CBC "families with autistic kids have the same rights as everybody
else. Treatment has to be covered the way it's covered for any other
debilitating disease."
As tempting as it is to agree, it is not correct that all medical
treatments, regardless of cost, are covered under medicare.
But if legislators and officials have made the heart-wrenching decision
not to fund maximum treatment, they could at least put more money into
research. Levy was right to criticize Canada's research shortfall.
Last year, prominent researcher Dr. Peter Szatmari said that since 2000
Canada has spent a mere $16 million researching autism. The United
States, in contrast, plans to spend $200 million in one year to set up
centres of excellence to study autism.
Senator Jim Munson argued this week that not treating the disorder as
well as we can costs the Canadian economy $3.5 billion a year,
including
group homes, respite care, and institutional care.
Nothing is sadder than having to choose between patients. Of course,
parents will fight for their children.
But it is up to legislatures to make the hard choices. That's what
they're there for.
This is an edited version of an editorial in The Gazette, Montreal,
Friday.
____________________________
Debate Over Cause of Autism Strains a Family and Its Charity
New York Times
Jun 18, 2007
Byline: By JANE GROSS and STEPHANIE STROM
Section: National Desk; SECTA
Page: 1
A year after their grandson Christian received a diagnosis of autism in
2004, Bob Wright, then chairman of NBC/Universal, and his wife,
Suzanne,
founded Autism Speaks, a mega-charity dedicated to curing the dreaded
neurological disorder that affects one of every 150 children in America
today.
The Wrights' venture was also an effort to end the internecine warfare
in the world of autism -- where some are convinced that the disorder is
genetic and best treated with intensive therapy, and others blame
preservatives in vaccinations and swear by supplements and diet to
cleanse the body of heavy metals.
With its high-powered board, world-class scientific advisers and
celebrity fund-raisers like Jerry Seinfeld and Paul Simon, the charity
was a powerful voice, especially in Washington. It also made strides
toward its goal of unity by merging with three existing autism
organizations and raising millions of dollars for research into all
potential causes and treatments. The Wrights call it the ''big tent''
approach.
But now the fissures in the autism community have made their way into
the Wright family, where father and daughter are not speaking after a
public battle over themes familiar to thousands of families with
autistic children.
The Wrights' daughter, Katie, the mother of Christian, says her parents
have not given enough support to the people who believe, as she does,
that the environment -- specifically a synthetic mercury preservative
in
vaccines -- is to blame. No major scientific studies have linked
pediatric vaccination and autism, but many parents and their advocates
persist, and a federal ''vaccine court'' is now reviewing nearly 4,000
such claims.
The Wright feud has played out in cyberspace and spilled into Autism
Speaks, where those who disagree with Katie Wright's views worry that
she is setting its agenda. And the family intent on healing a fractured
community has instead opened its old wounds and is itself riven.
The rift began in April when Katie put herself squarely on the side of
''The Mercurys,'' as that faction is known, on Oprah Winfrey, where she
described how her talkative toddler turned unresponsive and
out-of-control after his vaccines and only improved with
unconventional,
and untested, remedies.
In a Web interview with David Kirby, author of the controversial book,
''Evidence of Harm: Mercury in Vaccines and the Autism Epidemic,'' Ms.
Wright lashed out at the ''old guard'' scientists and pioneering autism
families. If the old-timers are unable to let go of ''failed
strategies,'' she said, they should ''step aside'' and let a new
generation ''have a chance to do something different with this money''
that her parents' charity was dispensing.
Complaints poured in from those who said Ms. Wright's remarks were
denigrating.
So, in early June, Bob and Suzanne Wright repudiated their daughter on
the charity's Web site. ''Katie Wright is not a spokesperson'' for the
organization, the Wrights said in a brusque statement. Her ''personal
views differ from ours.'' The Wrights also apologized to ''valued
volunteers'' who had been disparaged. Told by friends how cold the
rebuke sounded, Mrs. Wright belatedly added a line saying, ''Katie is
our daughter, and we love her very much.''
Ms. Wright called the statement a ''character assassination.'' She said
she had not spoken to her father since. Ms. Wright continues to spend
time with her mother, but said they had not discussed the situation.
''I totally respect if her feelings were hurt,'' Mrs. Wright said.
''But
a lot of feelings were hurt. A lot.''
Now other autism families who hoped to put their differences aside are
shouting at each other in cyberspace. ''Our struggle is not and should
not be against each other,'' said Ilene Lainer, the mother of an
autistic child and the executive director of the New York Center for
Autism.
The big tent approach of Autism Speaks appealed to Mel Karmazin, chief
executive of Sirius Radio and an early board member and contributor.
''If you look at what projects Autism Speaks has funded, we are
agnostic,'' he said.
Mr. Karmazin, who also has an autistic grandson, added, ''I never
wanted
to look my grandson in the eye and tell him I'm taking just one
viewpoint or that I think it had to be genetic.''
Bob and Suzanne Wright are sympathetic to Katie's plight, having
witnessed Christian's sudden regression and his many physical ailments,
mostly gastrointestinal, which afflict many autistic children.
The boy did not respond to behavioral therapies, the Wrights said,
leading to their daughter's desperate search for anything that might
help. ''When you have that sense of hopelessness, and don't see
results,
you do things that other people think is too risky,'' Mr. Wright said.
''The doctors say, 'Wait for the science.' But you don't have time to
wait for the science.''
The Wrights agreed to disagree with most of Katie's views. But her
public attack on other parents crossed a line, Mr. and Mrs. Wright said
in separate telephone interviews.
''I know my daughter feels deeply that not enough is being done,'' Mr.
Wright said. ''The larger issue is we want to be helpful to everyone,
and to do that we need information, data, facts.''
Some in the traditional scientific community worry that Autism Speaks
has let Ms. Wright's experience shape its agenda. She scoffs at the
notion. Her parents, she said in a telephone interview, are
''courageous'' and ''trying very hard,'' but have been slow to explore
alternative approaches.
''You can say it and say it and say it,'' she said. ''Show me evidence
that they're actively researching vaccines.''
The Wright family's fight has captured the attention of the bloggers,
who are now questioning everything from its office lease to how it
makes
grants. The charity rebutted the bloggers' accusations of improprieties
in interviews with The New York Times, which examined its IRS forms and
read relevant sections to Gerald A. Rosenberg, former head of the New
York State attorney general's charities bureau. He said nothing he
reviewed was untoward.
The most distinctive aspect of Autism Speaks is its alliance with
Autism
Coalition for Research and Education, an advocacy group; the National
Alliance for Autism Research, devoted to scientific research into
potential genetic causes, with high standards for peer review; and Cure
Autis
m Now, which
has championed unconventional theories and therapies.
Which wing of the merged charity is ascendant? Some establishment
scientists and parents now fear it is The Mercurys. They point to Cure
Autism Now's having more seats than the National Alliance does on the
board of directors and the growing number of research projects that
focus on environmental causes.
At a recent benefit gala, featuring Bill Cosby and Toni Braxton, some
in
the audience were surprised when Mr. Wright announced that all proceeds
would go toward environmental research, which generally includes
vaccines.
But a list of current research grants on the Autism Speaks Web site
suggests that the Wrights, while walking a fine line, are leaning
toward
genetic theories.
From 2005 to 2007, the charity sponsored $11.5 million in grants for
genetic research (compared with $5.9 million by all its partners
between
1997 and 2004). It sponsored $4.4 million in environmental research
(down from $6 million granted by the partners in the previous seven
years). And many of the environmental studies explore what is known as
the double-hit hypothesis: That the genes for autism may be activated
in
some children by exposure to mercury or other neuro-toxins.
Bob and Suzanne Wright say their two-year immersion into the world of
autism has been an eye-opener, especially the heated arguments worthy
of
the Hatfields and McCoys.
Mrs. Wright is aware that the marriage of the Alliance and Cure Autism
Now, for instance, could fall apart over opposing ideologies. ''I'm not
going to let it,'' she said. ''The truth will rise to the top.''
She is also aware that the rift in her own family needs repair: On
Friday, her daughter posted a message on an autism Web site questioning
their ''personal denouncement of me.''
Yet Mrs. Wright is confident that ''we'll work our way through this.''
Autism, she said ''has done enough damage to my family. I'm not letting
it do any more.''
Photos: Katie Wright and her son Christian, who is autistic, appear in
the documentary film ''Autism Every Day,'' financed by the charity
Autism Speaks. (Photo by Cary Hazlegrove for The New York Times)(pg.
A14); Bob Wright, Katie Wright and Suzanne Wright, founding family of
the charity A
utism
Speaks. (Photo by Rob Loud/Getty Images)(pg. A1)
____________________________________
Court proceedings to start over government legal bills in autism case
(Autism-Lawsuit)
Canadian Press
Jun 18, 2007
TORONTO (CP) _ Court proceedings begin today aimed at forcing the
Ontario government to disclose how much it paid lawyers in an autism
treatment case.
The government has been told to disclose the amount paid, but Attorney
General Michael Bryant has refused, citing lawyer-client
confidentiality.
But New Democrat Shelley Martel says she thinks the legal bill is being
kept secret because it is embarrassingly high, possibly more than $1.5
million.
Some families with autistic children who filed a $1.25 billion lawsuit
against the Ontario government over legal costs scored a court victory
last week. A judge ruled they don't have to hand over $85,000 in legal
fees.
The core issue is the cost of specialized treatment in school for
autistic children, which can cost between $30,000 to $80,000 per child
each year.
Families who say they've spent their savings and taken extra jobs to
pay
for the treatment filed a lawsuit in 2004, alleging the government
failed the children by not providing access to the treatment in school.
(CBC-s)
End of Mailing for June 16-18 2007
No comments:
Post a Comment