REGINA, Sask. — The Opposition New Democrats are accusing the Sask. Party government of not doing enough to help families struggling with autism.
The NDP’s disabilities critic Brittney Senger held a media availability at the home of Vanessa Rodriguez, whose nine-year-old son Jasper is autistic and nonverbal.
Senger pointed out that right now Rodriguez receives $6,000 a year in individualized funding to support Jasper, but she's also “already spent an additional $12,000 out of her own pocket just to provide him with support.”
“That support covers respite, covers therapies, covers pull-ups and changes needed for their home for Jasper's sensory needs,” said Senger. “The cost of living crisis is making things even harder, and the government committed a decade ago to providing long-term support to families like Vanessa and her son Jasper. After a decade, those commitments still remain unfulfilled.”
Senger also noted that the individualized funding support only runs until Jasper is 12 years old, at which time it will be cut off. She noted the Sask. Party government had committed in 2016 to extending individualized funding until kids turn 18 and had also promised support for kids under six that would range from $15,000 to $18,000 to provide early intervention for kids with autism.
“It's been a decade since this commitment, and after 20 years of Sask. Party broken promises, it's abandonment,” said Senger. “It's no longer a failed commitment. They are abandoning people that need support, children with complex needs and families like Vanessa and Jasper.”
Rodriguez described her son as a “sweet, active and caring little boy. He loves water play. He loves cuddles, running, jumping and spinning. Anything that keeps him moving, because he does not stop moving.”
She described her son’s needs as “very, very high,” ranging from toileting to having a bath to getting dressed. He also has extremely high sensory needs, she said, and safety is also a concern as “he can and has been known to elope, which is extremely dangerous, and he's also a very big boy.”
She added Jasper also only attends school 3.5 hours a day, “because the school does not have the resources or support to keep him for a full day like his peers.” She added she hasn’t been able to find daycare that can take on a child with her son’s needs, adding she “can't actually use the autism funding from the government of Saskatchewan to pay for someone to care for him while I work. It's an actual exclusion in the funding program.”
“So what am I supposed to do? My child's in school for 3.5 hours a day, and I can't find care. Reality is, I'm a single mom, and I need to work, and Jasper also needs care. I started my own business to work around his needs, but working from home doesn't mean that I can work while I'm also caring for him. I'm fitting work into whatever time I have left. And financial reality is, $12,000 out of pocket I've spent this year alone, and that's on top of the $6,000 in funding. Respite, summer camp, occupational therapy, speech therapy, sensory and safety equipment, pull-ups, toileting supplies, even groceries are complicated.”
When asked what the NDP would do to address the situation, Senger said “there's a lot that needs to be done differently, frankly.”
Senger said the government is providing inadequate funding until kids turn six years old. They then put the burden on schools to provide support.
But then, she said, kids with autism are pulled out of school and the funding is reduced. At age 12, “it's cut. There's no transitional support.”
Senger was also critical of “all of the disability programs that aren't working. I could talk about SAID, I could talk about the changes to SAID, and the changes that they've made to accessing training and education. But those training, that support is completely inadequate.”
On the autism issue, Senger said when the NDP forms government, “ensuring that families have the support they need, ensuring that there's access to respite so people like Vanessa can work, so kids like Jasper have support, ensuring that funding is adequate, ensuring that funding continues until age 18, and ensuring that young people with complex needs have the support they need to transition when they turn 18, and the support that they need in the lead-up to turning 18 to access employment or access support or access resources — this is necessary.”
“This is a no-brainer. The Sask. Party saw this in 2016, a decade ago, a decade ago they recognized this. And they haven't fulfilled those commitments. I mean, frankly, it's unacceptable.”
SaskToday has reached out to the government for a response.
