[Jemma Lee]

Re: Canucks Autism Network Rally

This looked interesting until I got to the part about Linda Reid. This person has done a great deal of harm to our children, so her presence really adds insult to injury.

I have not read anything about the Canucks Autism Network having ties to the government. I wonder if this is just a lack of awareness about the history of the autism war in this province.

I thought one of the Aquilini families (owners of the Canucks) was an Auton litigant? Does anyone know some Canucks Autism Network insiders who can shed some light on this?

Jemma

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From: "Canucks Autism Network"
Date: March 30, 2009 12:52:18 PM PDT (CA)

The United Nations General Assembly has proclaimed April 2nd as World Autism Awareness Day to highlight the plight of the estimated 67 million people world-wide who live with the effects of autism. To recognize this important event, the Canucks Autism Network (CAN) is organizing an awareness rally beginning at 7:30am on the North Plaza of the Vancouver Art Gallery. The march will loop around the Art Gallery block and then head towards GM Place for 8:15am, where coffee and hot chocolate will be served. The Honorable Linda Reid, Minister of State for Childcare will be on hand to proclaim April as Autism Awareness Month in British Columbia. We anticipate that the event will wrap up no later than 8:30am.

CAN’s goal for this event is to have 100 representatives – we challenge you to meet this 100 person target. Please, help pass the word to anyone who might like to participate and help raise awareness for this important cause.

Should you require further information, please feel free to contact me. I look forward to seeing all of you on April 2nd.

Jodi Simkin
Executive Director
Canucks Autism Network
http://www.canucksautism.ca

[Jemma Lee]

I have no problem with anyone's choice to keep their child out of a regular classroom and putting the child in an individualized environment. My child's aid frequently takes him to an empty room for individualized instruction when the class is engaged in activities not suitable for him.

If you read the proposal carefully, does it sound anything like an attempt to give your child an individualized environment? They are talking about putting all the autistic children (who have nothing in common aside from their diagnosis) into a separate room, in order to get rid of the costly one-on-one support.

Are you happy with the claim that your child's "true peer group" is entirely within the autistic population? Are you satisfied with the claim that the only way to stop your child's disruption to a regular classroom is to put him into a "closet"?

Do you think the "clustering" ends at graduation, if the entire student population sees the autistics being clustered? We will soon have another new generation that believes in segregation.

I am on the attack because our children's rights are under attack. You don't have to join me, but please try to understand me.

Jemma

[Jemma Lee]

We have fought long and hard for inclusion. It is certainly refreshing to see people try to reverse all the progress we have made.

In the BC ABA Conference earlier this month, the keynote speech by Dr. Ilene Schwartz was about inclusion. We had a good laugh when Dr. Schwartz talked about people using cases of badly-implemented inclusion as excuses for segregation.

Would you like to know who is behind the segregation proposal? Surprise, surprise.

~*~*~*~*~*~*

http://communities.canada.com/vancouversun/blogs/reportcard/archive/2009/03/10/autism.aspx

North Van considers a new autism proposal

By Janet Steffenhagen 03-10-2009

The North Vancouver board of education is trying to stem declining enrolments and possibly win back students lost to neighbouring West Vancouver in recent years — some 500 at last count.

It's warming to the idea of programs of choice, and last year invited proposals. Cynthia Gerlach suggested a "choice" program for autistic children that would give them a dedicated classroom and a part-time teacher. Trustees are to discuss her proposal tonight.

In an email, Gerlach described it this way:

"Many children with autism cannot stay in a typical classroom all day and are often pulled out for various reasons. In our district when a child is pulled out of a typical classroom for intensive instruction or because of behaviours it is often to a closet, converted janitor's closet or the hallway. What I propose if that the NVSD provide a dedicated classroom, much like the Learning Assistance Centre, where children with learning disabilities get pulled out with other peers for reading instruction; however, these students go to a classroom with a trained teacher and are with like-minded peers. Often children with autism are isolated from their true peer group and though some prefer to be with only typical peers there are those that would like to have peers of their own."

The goal of the Autism Learning Environment would be to help autistic children learn the skills they need to function in a typical classroom, she said.

"Children on an adapted program would in time be able to be integrated into a typical classroom with little or no support from an SEA/ASW. In some cases, 2 – 3 children could be placed in the same grade and in this case, could share the same support person. This would help to reduce the costs to the district by having only one aide with the children. Right now most children require one-to-one supports.

"Children on a modified program would work on their own program, but would have the benefit of being with other children like them in an environment that understands and supports them. These children could attend a typical classroom for activities appropriate to the child's abilities and goals.

"The Autism Learning Environment classroom and staff would provide a safety net for children with autism when something goes awry in their school environment. This classroom would then support the child to learn how to cope at school. The classroom could also support the aides and teachers in better understanding the needs of the child so that a quicker successful re-entry back into the classroom could be achieved.

"Another key component in an Autism Learning Environment is giving the children the opportunity to learn social skills with their peers thus allowing them to have true friends with similar interests. Having peers from the same group while also learning how to socialize with typical children gives children with autism the opportunity to have friends with similar challenges and the opportunity to be friends with other children.

Gerlach said the classroom teacher would need to have a good understanding of autism and be willing to work with parents and outside professionals.

[Jemma Lee]

Hi Ursula,

Thank you for warning other parents about your consultant. Due to a shortage of qualified service providers, some parents are afraid to complain when they are mistreated. There are, unfortunately, consultants who take advantage of the parents' desperation and bully them. We should steer the less assertive families away from consultants who think they have the right to do any of the following:

1. Treat the families with disrespect.

2. Commit acts of revenge (e.g., take away program notes) when a family bruises his/her ego by switching consultants.

3. Unceremoniously dump a client without giving the family enough time to find another consultant.

These are just a few (real-life) examples off the top of my head. I would like to hear from families who have experienced other types of unethical conduct.

Jemma

[Jemma Lee]

Here is another great entry in Harold's fantastic blog:

http://autisminnb.blogspot.com/2009/01/inane-autism-quote-of-year-award-for.html

Harold wrote, "Inane Autism Quote of the Year Award for 2008 Goes to Dr. Laurent Mottron, Who Else?"

Just for fun, I have tried writing variants of the quote, by substituting "autism" with other diseases of unknown causes. Here is one example:

"The main thing is that nobody knows what it is. We know that a society decided to call it lupus. So, lupus is a definition currently. It is a NIAMS. It groups certain numbers of people who have in common, who share, atypicalities at the musculoskeletal level, at the internal organ level, and in the variety of life span. So they may be in some ways quite different, but they all share these peculiarities. Lupus is currently included in medical disorders. This is a sociological fact. It doesn’t mean that it is medical. It means that it is incorporated in medical books which list all the variations of typical immune response, for example."

We should stop making all young lupus patients feel inferior by insisting that their immune systems are abnormal (rather than just atypical). More importantly, we should stop forcing them to take drugs and suffer horrible side effects. Since it's their own immune systems attacking their organs, outsiders have no right to interfere. Instead, we should all learn to respect "Immuno-Diversity."

Jemma

[Jemma Lee]

If any of you is likely to speak either to a crowd or to a politician at the Run the Dream gathering on Dec 18, please memorize every detail in the FEAT BC essay titled "Broken Promises":

http://www.featbc.org/penticton/brokenpromises.pdf

If you don't arm yourself with knowledge, you are just giving the corrupt politicians free publicity. If you're not trained on how to handle their scripted answers, you may as well not ask any question.

For most people, it's better to just not show up. A large crowd will attract news cameras, and those cameras will do more harm than good if they show nothing but our enemies being nice to Mr. Howard.

If Mr. Howard wanted to be really helpful, he would wear a "Medicare for Autism Now" T-shirt that day. You can call me a cynic, but I really doubt that will happen.

Jemma

[Jemma Lee]

Hi Wendy,

Yes, politicians are buzzing around Mr. Howard, and not talking to us. On the surface it seems like a great opportunity, but let's think about why they are reacting differently. Is it because Mr. Howard is not saying anything they don't want to hear? Is it because they get free publicity at an autism event without having to face anyone knowledgeable with difficult questions?

As an example, when Mike Lake was posing for the "I'm with Jonathan" photos, I would have wanted Mr. Howard to grill him about the following:

1. MP Andy Scott tabled a Motion for the creation of a National Autism Strategy. The House of Commons passed Motion M-172 on December 5, 2006. Unfortunately, Motions are not binding, and they were free to do whatever they wanted. In fact, they managed to use it as a great opportunity to deceive the public, by claiming that they implemented the Motion. What they really did was put up a stupid web site and hold a "by invitation only" symposium full of government groupies. Mike Lake was responsible for rewording the motion beyond recognition, basically watering it down to nothing.

2. MP Shawn Murphy tabled a Private Members' Bill to amend the Canada Health Act to include autism treatment in Medicare. If passed, this would have become law and forced the government to actually do something. This time, the Tories and the Bloc ganged up to kill Bill C-304 on February 21, 2007 before it even made it to the Committee stage for review after second reading. Mike Lake was one of those who voted against the bill.

Mike Lake, under Mr. Harper's direction, has exploited his son's autism to the max, for the sole purpose of deceiving the public. Harper wants people to think a rational parent will not want the government to provide treatment, and Mike Lake takes every chance he gets to promote himself as a "fellow parent." I get furious when I see people give him that chance without making him pay a price.

Now that's all in the past. For the event in Victoria, has anyone knowledgeable taught Mr. Howard what questions to ask, and more importantly, what answers to reject? Has anyone told Mr. Howard who the enemies are, so that when they say "I'm with Jonathan", he can say "no you're not, but you can be"?

Jemma

[Jemma Lee]

Re: Jonathan Howard & "Run the Dream"

He's been posing with Mike Lake? I am not just concerned. I am furious.

Mr. Howard is either completely clueless about the damage he is doing, or he doesn't care. May be all this is just a clever way of getting enough exposure to be elected to parliament.

While we are working so hard to expose the hypocrisy of the politicians who screw our children, Mr. Howard is helping them perpetuate their deception of the public.

This campaign is supposed to raise $2.5 million for unspecified "autism services." Do people realize how insignificant that is, compared to the amount that the government is wasting on all sorts of "autism services"?

Our "dream" is to divert some of that money into science-based autism treatment. Can Mr. Howard tell us exactly what "dream" he is running for?

On the other hand, what am I supposed to do, when thousands of parents are worshipping him?

Jemma

[Jemma Lee]

Todd,

Thank you for getting us the answers from Cyndi. To help Cyndi get elected, please give her a brief history lesson on Linda Reid, who has gone to court against us, and is the reason why autism treatment is still managed by social workers.

Reid does NOT believe in "families right to decide what is best for their children." She takes what she has called "far from adequate" (pre-election) and shoves it down our throats (post-election).

For the details, please see the essay titled "Broken Promises":

http://www.featbc.org/penticton/brokenpromises.pdf

I appreciate all the fine people who want to advocate for our children, but I prefer those who are not government puppets.

Jemma

[Jemma Lee]

Todd,

Instead of attacking another parent's advice, you can help Cyndi by asking her some questions and posting her answers. Families who use ABA want to know, for example:

1. When it is my turn to fight the school board to get my own ABA-trained therapist into the classroom, how hard will Cyndi fight on my behave?

2. One of Cyndi's Facebook friends is Linda Reid. Is this the same Linda Reid named repeatedly in the FEAT-BC essay titled "Broken Promises"? If so, does Cyndi share her friend's views about autism treatment?

Jemma

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