Tired of waiting, a London mother took her fight for shorter wait times for autism services to the streets.
Jessica Ashton, whose 3-year-old son was diagnosed with autism, led dozens of supporters and autism activists from Victoria Park, down Richmond St. to Deputy Premier and London North Centre MPP Deb Matthews' constituency office on Piccadilly St. on Wednesday. Ashton is calling on the government to address the long waits for services for children with autism.
"Every study comes to the same conclusion that early intervention and therapy is essential for future progress of a child with autism. 25% of children who receive quality and early intervention have little to no signs of autism by Grade one," said Ashton. "My son no longer has that one in four chance along with 23,000 other children in this province. That dream is a fantasy because of the wait list being so long."
Ashton said her son is number 989 on the wait list for government funded autism services and as such would be left waiting three to four years for vital therapy.
"When I was told about my son, I said there is no way I am sitting back and watching my son sink deeper and deeper into a hole and I will fight and fight and fight for the parents so my child and their children can get access to treatment," said Ashton.
The rally at Matthews' office came less than a week after Ashton delivered a petition on the issue with over 6,000 signatures to Queen's Park. While there, she was also able to meet with Minister of Children and Youth Services Michael Coteau. He told her the province is rolling out its new Ontario Autism Program in December but could not guarantee when her son would receive treatment.
"It's frustrating. It gets tiring talking to government officials because you just get the same story. It's all butterflies and roses. They say 'yes, we are doing something. We care.' But this has been going on for so long. It's not right," said Ashton.
Matthews was not at her constituency office at the time of the rally. A representative told Ashton that Matthews would respond to her at a later date.
"Our government fully appreciates how important it is for children with autism to get a diagnosis and to receive autism services as soon as possible. That’s why we created the new Ontario Autism Program. Our goal through this program is to bring wait times down for autism services to six months or less so that children with autism can get the services they need, when they need them," Matthews said in a statement issued to Blackburn News London following the rally. "I want to assure you that work is already well underway across the province to make this a reality for children with autism. For example, we now have five new diagnostic hubs, including one right here in London, that are expected to provide an additional 2000 assessments by next Spring. We are also creating 16,000 new spaces for autism services to build capacity and decrease wait times all across Ontario."
Matthews cautioned it will take time to make the sort of changes to provincial autism services that parents are calling for.
"We will do everything we can to support families through the transition so that children and youth with autism can move into the program as smoothly and seamlessly as possible," said Matthews.
Erika Dawson marched in support of two of her friends who have children with autism.
"As a friend, I don't know what to tell them to make it better because there is no immediate help out there for them," said Dawson. "It is so sad and it is stressful because not only do these kids need help, these parents need help to understand what is going on with their kids."
Dawson is optimistic gatherings and protests like the one held Wednesday will be enough to get the government's attention.
"Even if we don't get answers today, we are still going to be out here, we are still going to be supporting, and we are still going to be fighting for our children to get help one way or another," said Dawson.
Ontario Autism Coalition President Bruce McIntosh and London West MPP Peggy Sattler also took part in the rally.