A big issue facing adults with autism and ID is residential care and treatment. Parents have advocated for closure of the Restigouche where abuse is documented and autistic adults have lived far from families and for the development of the Autism Village concept since 2008. It will NOT be addressed in a meaningful manner at the 2019 Atlantic Provinces Autism Conference at UNB-CEL where none of the speakers will be NB parents of adults with autism AND Intellectual disability. It is parents who advocate for our children including adults with intellectual disability and it is parents who prompted the creation of the UNB-CEL autism program.
That Autism Village concept originated with Paul McDonnell Professor Emeritus who developed a 2015 paper which has been presented to government. It is unfortunate that NB parents who speak for their young AND adult children with autism and intellectual disability will not be represented among the speakers' list.
The WHO has long and consistently estimated that 50% of persons with autism also have an intellectual disability. Recent studies show that persons with Autism AND ID are grossly under represented in autism research which results in a misrepresentation of the effect of autism on persons with autism and ID and on their families and caregivers. This 2019 UNB CEL version of the Atlantic Provinces Autism Conference is carrying on where the 2017 Shediac CONNECT conference left off. That conference featured NO speakers addressing autism and ID issues. This conference does have the NBACL speakers but they are a charity and can not ADVOCATE on behalf of persons with autism and ID. It was parents, including me, and many others who fought for autism treatment and services in NB and which led to the establishment of the UNB-CEL Autism program. How soon they forget. Yes I would have been happy to speak at this program on the needs and challenges facing adults with autism and ID in NB.
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