UPDATE: Dear NB Governments: No More Out of Sight Out of Mind: End the Cruel and Inhumane Treatment of Adults with Severe Autism Spectrum Disorders

NB governments have sent autistic adults with severe autism disorder challenges to Campbellton on NB's northen border for many years far from the bulk of the NB population and NB's autism populaton. It has been done for jobs in Campbellton and for political gain but it has not been done in the best interests of adults with severe autism challenges. It has been done in violation of sectons 25 (b) and (c) the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.:

Article 25 - Health 

  States Parties recognize that persons with disabilities have the right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health without discrimination on the basis of disability. States Parties shall take all appropriate measures to ensure access for persons with disabilities to health services that are gender-sensitive, including health-related rehabilitation. In particular, States Parties shall:

b) Provide those health services needed by persons with disabilities specifically because of their disabilities, including early identification and intervention as appropriate, and services designed to minimize and prevent further disabilities, including among children and older persons;

c) Provide these health services as close as possible to people’s own communities, including in rural areas;

As you now know thanks to the February  2019 Ombud Report FAILURE TO PROTECT  and the courageous investigating and reporting of the Ombud and the excellent crew that worked with him in investigating conditions in the Restigouche Hospital the residents there have been subjected to serious abuse and neglect. Out of sight, out of mind ... for government ... not for the family members who love them and will never forget them.

More recently CBC report Karissa Donkin  has reported on the numbers of employee disciplinary issues that have plagued the Restigouche. 

As the father of an adult son with severe autism, intellectual disability and epileptic seizures living in Fredericton I am not afraid of an autism centre, to provide training, oversight, treatment and for those most severely affected by autism spectrum disorders, permanent residential care and treatment, as part of the Autism Village Network proposed to the Liberal government by Paul McDonnell in July, 2015. 

I am afraid the NB government will continue the inhumane practice of sending people with severe autism disorders like my son to the Regional Psychiatric Hospital in Campbellton on our Northern Border far from the vast majority of families and far from the autism expertise already developed in Fredericton (UNB-CEL) to provide services to persons with autism aged 2-5, autism trained school aides and consultations to age 19 (Stan Cassidy). I am very afraid that out of obedience to political considerations NB govenment will continue to sacrifice the lives of adults with severe autism disorders and persons with mental health disorders to a cruel and inhumane future as bargaining chips for political seats in Restigouche and elsewhere in the increasingly scarcely populated North.   

Why abandon our severely autistic adults to life far from home and community instead of building the New Brunswick Autism Spectrum Village Network -Satellite Model  (McDonnel, 2015)2015 with autism specific group homes in facilities around the province (in addition to assisted individual living already existing) and a centre of autism expertise in Fredericton to provide training and oversight for the homes and permanent residence and care for those most severely impacted by autism and related co-morbid conditions of depression and epilepsy made more difficult by their autism disorders? 

The principles set out in the McDonnell 2015 proposal were articulated in 2010 in a CBC interview the Professor Emeritus (Psychology) enunciated in a 2010 interview with CBC reporter Dan McHardie. Apart from setting out evidence based, humane principles to address adult autism residential care and treatment needs McDonnell also noted that the Campbellton psychiatric hospital was not an appropate setting for adult autism residential care and treatment, 8 1/2 years BEFORE the recent Ombd Report. Government however has ignored his expert suggestions in favor of using adults with severe autism challenges and other persons with mental health issues as chips in political bargaining chips.

Paul McDonnell, September, 2010, CBC Interview with Dan McHardie (emphasis added).

"Our greatest need at present is to develop services for adolescents and adults.

What is needed is a range of residential and non-residential services and these services need to be staffed with behaviourally trained supervisors and therapists. In the past we have had the sad spectacle of individuals with autism being sent off to institutional settings such as the Campbellton psychiatric hospital, hospital wards, prisons, and even out of the country at enormous expense and without any gains to the individual, the family or the community.

We need an enhanced group home system throughout the province in which homes would be linked directly to a major centre that could provide ongoing training, leadership and supervision.

That major centre could also provide services for those who are mildly affected as well as permanent residential care and treatment for the most severely affected.

Such a secure centre would not be based on a traditional "hospital" model but should, itself, be integrated into the community in a dynamic manner, possibly as part of a private residential development.

The focus must be on education, positive living experiences, and individualized curricula.

The key to success is properly trained professionals and staff."

9 years later in 2019 NB still needs an enhanced group home system throughout the province linked to a major centre, centrally located in Fredericton near NB autism expertise.

Please begin to address adult autism residential care and treatment in he humane model presented by McDonnell and stop selling adults with severe autism challenges for political gains in the increasingly lightly populated northern boder far from families and autism expertise.