No Shediac, No Adult Autism Summit, More Happy Conor Time

Conor and Dad - Buddies 4 Ever

No Shediac, No Adult Autism Summit, More Happy Conor Time.

I was planning for some time to attend the Adult Autism Summit held in Shediac Friday Evening and yesterday. I had even promoted the Summit on FB to encourage people to attend. When I saw the speakers list and topics I was not as sure about attending. There appeared to be an exclusion of topics and speakers addressing the challenges and needs of the 44% (US CDC) to 50%(WHO) of persons with autism who suffer from intellectual disability. Individuals with ASD and ID also suffer high rates of epilepsy often becoming visible with the onset of adolescence.

As stated on the UK Autistica report, Personal Tragedy, Public Crisis, based on a large quality Swedish study, persons with Autism and Intellectual Disability (referred to as Learning Disbility in the UK report) tend to die 30+ YEARS earlier than persons in the general population primarily because of their high epilepsy rates. With a now 21 year old son with severe autism, intellectual disability and epilepsy this is a subject of extreme importance for me. I knew I could not attend Friday night because I was counsel in a labour arbitration in Saint John during the day and would not be able to make it Friday Night.

I had still planned to attend Saturday but with the apparent exclusion of issues affecting those with ASD, ID and Epilepsy a large component of the ASD spectrum I started reconsidering whether to attend. I was also not impressed by the exclusion of NB parent autism advocates who fought successfully for the early intervention program which has received international recognition, the training of 500-700 teacher aides in those education districts where aides were encouraged to enrol in the UNB-CEL autism program and the reversal of the decision to close the Stan Cassidy Autism Team that provides consultation services up to age 16.

Notwithstanding my concerns about the agenda and speakers' list I was still thinking about travelling to Shediac yesterday for the summit and I discussed it with Conor's Mom Friday night. Conor was present when we discussed whether I would go to Shediac According to his Mom Conor had been a bit agitated when Dad was later than usual arriving home as a result of my work Friday in SJ but was happy when I got home. When he heard me talking about going to Shediac Conor said "No Shediac" and my decision was made for me. Conor clearly wanted me home for more Conor - Dad time yesterday. He was very happy when I said "No Shediac". I was also glad Conor made the decision for me.