[Jim Young]

I saw the note from Carla in Nova Scotia and thought I might elaborate a bit more…
A small group of parents have registered a decent hit against the Dept of Health down here. We met over a year ago with the Minister and got the usual doublespeak and backpedalling. However, we wouldn't let him off the hook and have been lobbying hard for funded ABA. (As Carla indicated there is no funded ABA whatsoever here.)

In June 2004 the Minister indicated that "treatment for autistic children would be a top prioity once federal funds were secured for healthcare." We challenged him in front of the media this past Friday. The waffling was amazing. He babbled a bit and said his Dept was evaluating and prioritizing, etc. We had already provided the local CBC TV reporter with a letter promising funding. He pulled it out and waved it in the Minister's face. Very tense moment, caught on camera and played at suppertime.
The petition, organized by Tracey and Gerard Avery, parents of 4 year old twins with autism, was tabled by the Leader of the Official Opposition. Well over 12,000 names shows really well on tv.We got lucky and had a lot of media interest this time. (It hasn't always been a media favorite down here).
Dan and Niloo Mahar, other parents working with our core FEAT of NS group down here, have organized a March this Thursday. The Leader of the Opposition and the Mahar's local MLA have said they would march with us.
We are working on a push to hold the Minister to his promise of funding ABA. It is a long, long way off but we are energized and getting the attention of the Premier. The Liberal leader,who has stepped down due to some serious health issues with his wife, has a child with autistic tendancies. I spoke privately with him at the Legislature. We have his support. He spoke quite strongly to the press about the fact that the government "obviously doesn't consider autism to be a priority". He is very young (30's) with a seriously ill wife and a child with issues similiar to ours. I have been respecting his situation and generally strategizing, politically, with the NDP, who are the official opposition at present.
NS is the bottom of the barrel for sure. My wife and I are on our 3rd year of financing about 20 hours of ABA per week. Therapists are next to impossible to find. I have been implementing an ABA based reading program myself, and bringing therapists into the home and daycare all along.
We have kept out daughter out of school this year and kept her in ABA treatment, hoping to better prepare her for the inadequecies of the school system. The province seems to be doing it's best to ruin her chances but as parents we are trying to reverse their damage as best we can.
I have to say thanks to Sabrina. I contacted her about a year ago and have learned alot by reviewing dialogue here.
Best of luck to Andrew. His petition, on a national stage, is great. It's wonderful to see so much activity. We owe FEAT BC a huge debt of gratitude down here. We developed a pamphlet and included your website as link. We get lots of comments from people and everyone loves the information you provide.

Jim Young

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