Today is Conor's 22nd Birthday and we started early with some yummy Birthday cake. Conor was very happy to show us how to eat Birthday Cake. Below Conor's birthday cake munching photo is a picture of Conor with his Mom a few days after his actual birthday followed by a picture when he was just 3 days old with his wonderful brother Brandon and his Dad looking slightly younger than when I looked in the mirror this morning. The last picture shows Conor with his Dad on his second birthday, the day before we received his autism disorder diagnosis.
We have celebrated every day of Conor's wonderful life and we have many, many happy, smiling Conor pictures to prove it. But I have to pay attention and continue to try and bring public attention to the harsh realities of autism disorders including the premature mortality by as much as 30 years for those with autism and intellectual disability established in solid studies including the recent Swedish study reported on by the UK Autistica charity in its report Personal tragedies, public crisis: The urgent need for a national response to early death in autism. I am NOT speaking for those adults with higher functioning levels who can speak for themselves. I AM speaking for my son who will face a harsh life after his Dad, with whom he lives can no longer be of help either through old age or by meeting that inevitable "train at the end of the tunnel".
Youths and adults with autism have, for many years, been sent to general hospital wards, to facilities outside of Canada and to a Regional Psychiatric Hospital in Campbellton a small town that straddles the NB Quebec boundary on New Brunswick's Northern border. New Brunswick intentionally sends autistic adults to our Northern Border for political reasons to help elect politicians like lobbyist and former Liberal Party power figure Donald Arseneault. NB's population to the extent that it is still growing is growing in the South in Fredericton, SJ and Moncton. Fredericton which is the most centrally located city in NB is also the home of autism expertise in NB with the Early Autism program at UNB-CEL and the Stan Cassidy autism team which provides autism services to age 16.
In 2010 UNB Professor Emeritus (Psychology) Paul McDonnell Ph. D. was interviewed on CBC and pointed out the pressing need for an autism centre for those with autism who require long term residential care and treatment which could also provide training for autism group homes around the province. That expert advice, backed by the parent advocates who fought successfully for the establishment of the UNB-CEL program, for the early autism program, for autism trained Teacher Aides and for the reversal of the decision to close the Stan Cassidy autism team, has been ignored by governments every since.
The rationalizations for refusing to provide the decent, humane autism network recommended long ago by Prof. McDonnell vary from misguided, non evidence based philosophy of incessantly repeating "community, inclusion" day after day, year after year, while ignoring the evidence of autistic adults being sent to institutions far from their families to the cowardice and corruption of the current government which sends people like my son to Campbellton for purely political reasons causing them immeasurable harm.
Prominent Liberals Bernard Richard and Michael Murphy QC identified the liberal government decision to establish a mental health centre in Campbellton as one of the worst decisions they had ever seen. Murphy a former Health Minister, a former Justice Minister, clearly stated that the Liberal government decisions are politically based and that it illustrated Donald Arseneault's influence within the Liberal government.
I submit that the refusal to establish the autism centre and network called for by Professor MacDonnell and parent autism advocates many years ago, while sending severely autistic adults to Campbellton on our northern border for purely political reasons is corrupt, cruel and cowardly.
I will continue to fight the corrupt cowards of any party that continue to banish autistic adults like my son to Campbellton and general hospital wards when they know that solutions exist as recommended by Professor MacDonnell 8 years ago and as advocated for many parents for many years prior thereto.
I will also continue to find joy in my son, and to try bring as much joy to my son's life, as I can for as long as I can.
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