SCHAFER AUTISM REPORT "Healing Autism:

No Finer a Cause on the Planet" ________________________________________________________________

December 3 & 4, 2003 DOUBLE ISSUE Vol. 7 Nos. 240 & 241

NOTE: Update December Calendar of Events is now out:

RESEARCH

* Autism Study Finds No Link To Vaccines, Environment

(Abstracts)

* A 3-year Naturalistic Study Of 53 Preschool Children With

Pervasive Developmental Disorders Treated With Risperidone

* Improvement in Behaviour And Attention In An Autistic Patient

Treated With Ziprasidone

* Mutation Screening And Association Study of the UBE2H Gene

On Chromosome 7q32 In Autistic Disorder

CARE

* The Terminator And the Terminated

PUBLIC HEALTH

* Reaction of Sen. Patrick Leahy to the Administration's

Retreat from Mercury Reductions

* Kids' Medicine Dosage Test Law Signed

MEDIA

* Calls to Axe UK TV Drama on MMR

* Boycott of Five's MMR drama

EDUCATION

* Special Ed Leaves Schools Behind

* Let's Make Our Schools Accessible To Everyone

RESEARCH

Autism Study Finds No Link To Vaccines, Environment

A Boston researcher says the soaring number of children being diagnosed with autism is probably due to a change in the way doctors classify the mysterious brain disorder and is not - as others have suggested - linked to a common childhood vaccine or any environmental factors.

The study to be released today by Boston University Medical School Dr. Hershel Jick is likely to fuel an already heated debate over the cause of autism, which can severely limit children's language skills, rob them of their ability to relate to others and prompt odd or violent behavior.

“Kids who behaved like this years ago were called kids who didn't communicate well, or they were socially inept,” said Jick, whose study rules out the common mumps/measles/rubella vaccine as a culprit.

“Frankly,” Jick added, “It's also a huge stretch to think there's something in the environment that would produce somewhere from a four- to 10-fold increase in autism.”

But Mark Blaxill, a Cambridge parent who watched in agony as his healthy toddler slowly stopped speaking, retreated into her own world and was diagnosed as autistic before her third birthday, doesn't buy Jick's conclusion.

“The data is screaming out that it must be an environmental factor,” Blaxill said.

Today, his daughter, Michaela, is in a second-grade class for special needs students, but still struggles.

“She is a wonderful child and we are doing better than many families,” Blaxill said, “but it's debilitating and exhausting.”

Blaxill is among a growing group of parents and researchers who believe a mercury preservative in some childhood vaccines - mercury is not in the mumps/measles vaccine - may trigger autism. They also suspect household chemicals may play a role.

“Only 12 of the approximately 80,000 chemicals on the market have gone through testing for neurotoxicity, for potential injury to a fetus or small child,” said Dr. Martha Herbert, a pediatric neurologist at Massachusetts General Hospital who believes autism may be linked to environmental and genetic factors.

“The main thing is we don't know the effect (of chemicals),” she said. “Nobody ever looked.”

-- > DO SOMETHING ABOUT AUTISM NOW < --

SUBSCRIBE. . . !

. . .Read, then Forward the Schafer Autism Report.

(Delivered Fresh Daily to Your Emailbox)

_______________________________________________________

* * *

A 3-year Naturalistic Study Of 53 Preschool Children With Pervasive Developmental Disorders Treated With Risperidone.

ds=14628979&dopt=Abstract

Masi G, Cosenza A, Mucci M, Brovedani P.

IRCCS Stella Maris, Scientific Institute of Child Neurology and Psychiatry, Calambrone, Pisa, Italy. gabriele.masi@inpe.unipi.it

BACKGROUND: Only sparse and short-term data are available on pharmacologic treatments in very young children with pervasive developmental disorders (PDD).

The purpose of this 3-year naturalistic study (March 1999-April 2002) is to describe the clinical outcome of a consecutive sample of preschool children with PDD treated with risperidone monotherapy.

METHOD: The sample consisted of 45 boys and 8 girls aged 3.6 to 6.6 years (mean +/- SD age = 4.6 +/- 0.7 years) with a DSM-IV diagnosis of autistic disorder or PDD, not otherwise specified.

Outcome measures included the Children's Psychiatric Rating Scale (CPRS), Clinical Global Impressions-Improvement scale (CGI-I), Children's Global Assessment Scale (CGAS), and a checklist for risperidone side effects.

RESULTS: Patients received risperidone for a period ranging from 1 to 32 months (7.9 +/- 6.8 months).

Twenty-five patients (47.2%) continued to receive risperidone after the study was completed, while 28 (52.8%) discontinued due to side effects (22.6% [N = 12]), parents' choice (18.9% [N = 10]), lack of efficacy (5.7% [N = 3]), and decision of the treating psychiatrist (5.7% [N = 3]).

The optimal dose was 0.55 +/- 0.2 mg/ day.

Significant improvement at the last observation was found in CPRS (p <

.0001) and CGAS (p < .0001) scores.

On the basis of both an improvement of 25% in CPRS score and a score of 1 or 2 on the CGI-I, 46.8% (N = 22) of subjects were considered responders.

Behavioral disorders and affect dysregulation were more sensitive to treatment than was interpersonal functioning.

Responders received higher doses of medication for a longer period and had a greater weight gain than did nonresponders.

Increased prolactin levels without clinical signs (65% [24 of 37]) and increased appetite (15% [8 of 531) were the most frequent side effects.

CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that low-dose risperidone may positively affect the clinical outcome in young children with PDD not only in the short-term, but also in the long-term period.

PMID: 14628979 [PubMed - in process]

* * *

Improvement in Behaviour And Attention In An Autistic Patient Treated With Ziprasidone

ds=14636398&dopt=Abstract

Goforth HW, Rao V.

Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neuroscience, Loyola University Medical Center, Maywood, IL, US:.

PMID: 14636398 [PubMed - in process]

* * *

Mutation Screening And Association Study of the UBE2H Gene On Chromosome 7q32 In Autistic Disorder

ds=14639049&dopt=Abstract

Vourc'h P, Martin I, Bonnet-Brilhault F, Marouillat S, Barthelemy C, Pierre Muh J, Andres C. Genetique de la deficience mentale et de l'autisme, INSERM U316, Faculte de Medecine, Tours, France.

SUMMARY: Autistic disorder is a severe neurodevelopmental disorder most probably caused by a complex interaction of genetic factors.

Several genomewide scans identified multipoint LOD score peaks in region 7q32.

In this region, UBE2H encodes an E2 enzyme of the ubiquitin-dependent proteolytic system.

Mutations in another member of this system, the UBE3A gene, cause Angelman syndrome.

The participation of E2 (ubiquitin-conjugating enzymes) or E3 (ubiquitin ligases) enzymes in neural development recently emerged.

Given its physical location and function, we examined UBE2H as a candidate for involvement in autistic disorder.

We confirmed by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction that the UBE2H gene was expressed in the rat and the human central nervous system.

The rat UBE2H and human UBE2H deduced amino acid sequences are identical.

We screened the seven exons of the UBE2H gene in autistic patients using single-strand conformation analysis.

We observed a silent A-->G transition at position 336.

A case-control association study was performed using this A/G polymorphism.

A significant association was found between the G allele and a subgroup of autistic patients with developmental quotient higher than 30 (P=0.004).

Although further studies are required, these results suggest that the UBE2H gene could be one of the 7q-susceptibility loci for autistic disorder.

PMID: 14639049 [PubMed - in process]

* * *

CARE

The Terminator And the Terminated

The Arnold has landed.

Over the past two weeks, California's new chief executive has made abundantly apparent the kind of governor he means to be.

During his abbreviated gubernatorial campaign in late summer, Arnold Schwarzenegger ran as something of a Rorschach test.

Voters could choose from among a number of Arnolds: the enviro, the tightwad, the Kennedy-by-marriage, the Friedmanite-by-inclination, the compassionate centrist.

By scrupulously avoiding print journalists and limiting his debate appearances to a measly one, Schwarzenegger never had to clarify exactly which Arnold would be calling the shots in the statehouse. Now we know.

It's Conan the Barbarian, in one of his less reflective moods.

Schwarzenegger's plan for dealing with the state's budget crisis is to put before the voters in next year's March primary a $15 billion bond measure to cover the shortfall in this year's budget.

But not the entire shortfall.

Rather than float a $17 billion bond or a $19 billion bond, he's designated $1.9 billion for cuts in this year's budget, with an additional $1.9 billion in next year's.

The proposed cuts come largely from just two areas of the state's

responsibilities: transportation, and programs that serve the disabled, the poor and their children.

For starters, Schwarzenegger wants to cut off enrollment come January in the state's Healthy Families Program, which provides health care to 700,000 low-income children whose parents have no health coverage at work.

(California has more than 6 million residents without health

insurance.) Californians who heard Schwarzenegger on this subject during the campaign's one debate may be a bit surprised by this decision.

When the subject was raised, Schwarzenegger criticized then-Gov.

Gray Davis for doing too little to expand the program.

The government, he said, “has not done a good job in reaching out and finding the people and letting them know to sign up.

If I become governor, I would immediately go out there and get it so everyone knows about it and everyone signs up because we must insure our families, the low-income families, especially the children.” That wasn't just misdirection; it was misdirection on steroids.

As of January, if the legislature approves this cutback, children in need of glasses, eligible for the program but not yet enrolled, will have their names added to a waiting list.

If they can't see so well, they may not notice the hundred thousand or so other names on the list.

And that may not be the unkindest cut.

Schwarzenegger is also proposing to take $282 million from programs to help the developmentally disabled -- Californians suffering from autism, mental retardation, cerebral palsy and the like.

In 1969 wild-eyed radical governor Ronald Reagan signed the Lanterman Act, creating an entitlement for the developmentally disabled in the state.

Schwarzenegger now proposes cutbacks in programs that California offers the 626,000 of its citizens with mental or physical impairments affecting their ability to learn and speak: music and art therapy, camping, horseback riding.

He also proposes to suspend the Lanterman Act, in order to freeze enrollment in developmental disability programs come January.

The new applicants may experience some long waits, because the disabilities of the current enrollees are not curable and their need for therapy is often lifelong.

This all may make for some interesting table talk between Arnold and his family-by-marriage.

Eunice Kennedy Shriver, his mother-in-law, is, of course, the founder of the Special Olympics, a privately funded foundation that offers sports activities to the developmentally disabled.

Schwarzenegger himself has been a spokesman for the Special Olympics.

Just last month, he proclaimed that he “envision[ed] a world where people with intellectual disabilities are fully accepted, and where every person has the opportunity to succeed.” That world, apparently, will not include California so long as Schwarzenegger calls the shots.

Today the first anti-Arnold demonstration of his tenure as governor is scheduled to be held at the state capitol.

The marchers will be advocates for the developmentally disabled, who doubtless never imagined that it would be a Kennedy in-law who laid waste to the most humane program Ronald Reagan ever created.

Schwarzenegger has told the state's Democratic-controlled legislature that he wants these cuts enacted during its current special session, and he's prodding the legislators to place his bond measure and a state spending cap on the March ballot.

(The constitutional deadline for doing that is Friday.) The spending cap would mandate that any increase in revenue that would come, for instance, as the state recovers from the dot-com bust, be directed toward tax cuts and a reserve fund.

Further increases for, say, school spending would be off the table.

The spending cap would also grant the governor the right to terminate any program he saw fit if the state was running a deficit; the legislature could overturn such a decision only by a two-thirds vote of each house.

“The people elected a governor,” protested Democratic state Senate leader John Burton, “not a czar.” Or a Conan.

* *

Brief commentary: The indefinite nature of the Governor's politics is indeed worrisome. However, it is too early to start demonizing his leadership as hopeless. My guess is that he is still getting his feet wet about California politics and is still much of an unknown factor -- things can still go either way.

Much depends on whether the disability community can become energized and organized enough to defend its interests by developing grass roots support. I believe we would find the public sympathetic and supportive of resisting the proposed cut-back in services if we can get our voices heard.

The governor said that if elected he would not raise taxes. The exception being he might do so for emergency situations. If things are so bad that we have to starve the poor and abandon the disabled, then we have such an emergency at hand. Our job is to sell the idea to the public, the media and the legislature, that for the poor and disabled, such a tax increase is humane and warranted.

We can also start organizing a grass roots ballot initiative to save, and fully fund, the Lanterman Act via a tax increase, if we cannot get satisfaction from the Governor and the legislature.

I believe this is not only entirely do-able, it is a good alternative to catastrophic defeat. Those of us in California cannot afford to wait for the Governor to make up his mind. - Lenny Schafer

* * *

PUBLIC HEALTH

Reaction of Sen. Patrick Leahy to the Administration's Retreat from Mercury Reductions

U.S. Newswire -- Several news organizations Wednesday reported that the Bush Administration is on the verge of approving a proposal to reverse an earlier EPA/Clinton Administration December 2000 decision to regulate mercury emissions under Section 112 of the Clean Air Act.

The 2000 decision launched the writing of new requirements for utilities to meet Maximum Achievable Control Technology (MACT) standards that would have reduced mercury emissions by 90 percent. Utilities would have had until December of 2007 to meet these standards. The Bush Administration proposal, reported today in the Washington Post and the New York Times, reverses the 2000 decision by arguing that mercury pollution should not be regulated under Section 112 because, the Administration now says, “there are no confirmed health effects of mercury pollution.” Instead of requiring utilities to adopt mercury controls at individual power plants, the Administration's draft proposal would allow utilities to trade the right to emit mercury into the air.

Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) for many years has been Congress's leader in pushing for mercury reductions and led a coalition of senators that successfully pushed EPA in 2000 to begin writing the mercury regulations for power plants. On Wednesday Leahy released the following statement about the Administration's impending reversal of the mercury rules for power plants: “Once again the Bush Administration is catering to industry wishes, letting big polluters off the hook at the expense of the public's health. Never before have the big polluters had this kind of clout in any previous White House, and they are cashing in, big time.

“The Administration claims this reversal will give power plants more flexibility to reduce mercury pollution faster, but it really gives them the flexibility to ignore the dangerous health effects of mercury and the new technologies now available to control it. Downwind states like Vermont will continue to get reap more mercury pollution for decades to come while corporate polluters soak up more profits. We know who the biggest polluters are when it comes to mercury emissions, and the Administration is preparing to let every one of them off the hook.

“This makes it a triple whammy that the Administration has delivered this fall to the Northeast. First it let these same big polluters out of the enforcement cases. Then it promised them big new subsidies in the energy bill. And now it is letting them buy their way out of cutting back on mercury pollution their smokestacks pump into the air that drifts over Vermont and the Northeast.

“Administrator Leavitt promised a kinder and gentler EPA two months ago when the Senate confirmed him. That's not what we're seeing in his first major decision. We know that mercury is harmful, especially to children. We have the technology to control mercury pollution. I call on Administrator Leavitt to reconsider this rollback.”

© 2003 U.S. Newswire 202-347-2770

* * *

Kids' Medicine Dosage Test Law Signed

A&SECTION=MIDWEST&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

AP - President Bush on Wednesday signed legislation giving the government the ability to require drug companies to test medicines to ensure that dosages are appropriate for children.

Now, only a fourth of the drugs on the market are tested and properly labeled for safe use in children. Because children and adults react to drugs differently, calculating the amount of medicine children should take based on what is appropriate for adults can lead to either overmedication or under-medication.

The bill is aimed at eliminating that guesswork for doctors.

In 1988, the Food and Drug Administration issued the “pediatric rule” to give itself the authority to require tests on adult drugs that are prescribed more often for children. Last year, a federal court ruled that it was up to Congress to give the FDA the authority it needed.

The new law ensures the FDA can require testing of medicine dosages for children, even when drug companies lack the financial incentives to voluntarily do so. It also expands on 1997 legislation that extended the length of the patent rights of pharmaceutical companies that volunteer to conduct pediatric studies to develop labeling standards for children.

The law applies to all medications, such as vaccines, whose intended use for children is the same as that for adults.

Copyright 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved.

_______________________________________________________

LOOKING FOR SOMETHING - ANYTHING - ABOUT AUTISM?

Search The Most Complete Autism News & Info Database

The Schafer Autism Report -- Updated Fresh Daily

. . .OR ASK A NEIGHBOR: Free Readers' Posts

________________________________________________________

* * *

MEDIA

Calls to Axe UK TV Drama on MMR

Doctors say Channel Five film is inaccurate and could cost lives of children, but programme-makers stand firm

Channel Five is facing demands to pull the plug on a hard-hitting drama favourable to the disputed view that the MMR jab may be linked to autism.

A former colleague of the scientist at the centre of the row claims the programme will endanger children's lives by fostering doubts about the triple vaccine against measles, mumps and rubella.

But Juliet Stevenson, who stars in the film, yesterday called for the government to stop “patronising” the parents whose concerns she portrays.

Hear the Silence, to be broadcast on December 15, is a rare foray by Five into original drama. In her first major role on British television in five years, Stevenson plays a mother who is sent into emotional turmoil by the illness of her son and the dismissive attitude of the many doctors to whom she is referred.

It shows her delight at discovering Andrew Wakefield, the scientist whose 1998 research at the Royal Free hospital in north London prompted the MMR row.

Dr Wakefield is played sympathetically by Hugh Bonneville; the chief medical officer, Sir Kenneth Calman, and Dr Wakefield's bosses at the Royal Free, who eventually blocked his research, are the bogeymen of the piece.

To satisfy television regulators, Five will follow it with a discussion programme, hosted by newscaster Kirsty Young. Dan Chambers, the channel's director of programmes, said at a screening to journalists in London yesterday that the subject was “enormously controversial”.

Stevenson, who opted for single vaccines for her two-year-old son Gabriel, said she was astonished at how Dr Wakefield appears to have been ostracised by the medial establishment, and hoped the drama would provoke an “enlightened” discussion about the issue.

She said: “I would like a calm and informed debate to come out of it. There is a sort of hysteria coming from the government at the moment, and you just can't go on telling frightened people that they are wrong. You have to understand what the fear is. At the moment, people are just being told, 'Shut up and don't worry, have the MMR'. It's very patronising.”

But senior figures at the Royal Free are concerned that the film could lead to a dangerous drop in immunisation levels, which are already low in some parts of the country.

One of the doctors who has worked with Dr Wakefield wrote to Jane Lighting, Five's chief executive, asking her not to transmit it.

The doctor, a co-author of the original Lancet paper that provoked the controversy, says in the letter that the film is undeniably good drama, but it unacceptably and dangerously blurs the border between truth and fiction.

“The acting was excellent, and the story was gripping. Unfortunately, the fact that your programme is not accurate is a matter of the utmost seriousness, and one which could lead children to die. You may seek to justify the inaccuracies by invoking the notion of artistic licence. However, there is no room for artistic licence when the lives of children are at risk.”

The doctor, who does not want to be named but has the backing of other colleagues of Dr Wakefield, gives 14 detailed examples of alleged inaccuracies. The programme conflates ideas and events in a way that “inappropriately indicates Dr Wakefield to be more reasonable and thoughtful than the history would suggest”, he writes.

Dr Wakefield's colleagues have peeled away, the letter claims, because of “our increasing concerns about the scientific quality of his work”. It says he was not treated as a pariah either by the hospital or the medical school - instead, he made himself a pariah by turning down offers to work with other researchers if he felt they were not “of the faith”.

The programme-makers point out that elements have been fictionalised in order to tell the story coherently. Stevenson's character, for instance, is based on several different people. Adrian Bate, the producer, admitted the film was emotionally positive towards the concerned parents, but insisted it remained rooted in fact. “It is emotionally biased, but it's not factually biased,” he said.

Tim Prager, the writer, said: “What we have tried to do is to say that there should be a freedom to think and report what you discover without fear of losing your career, and to show that much of what has been written about the possibility of a link between MMR and autism has been based on statistics - part of the point was to humanise the story.”

* * *

Boycott of Five's MMR drama

A number of senior doctors have boycotted a debate to be shown after Channel Five's drama documentary on Andrew Wakefield, because they say it is biased and emotive in its portrayal of the scientist behind alleged links between the MMR vaccination and autism.

Scientists from the Department of Health and the Health Protection Agency are understood to have turned down an invitation. Former colleagues of Dr Wakefield at the Royal Free hospital in north London also declined to take part.

David Elliman, consultant community paediatrician at Great Ormond Street children's hospital, said: "The film is very, very partial. It's very much this one man against the medical establishment, who is the only man who listens to children and to parents - paediatricians don't and GPs don't.

"However one tried, if there has been 1 hour of that, how on earth can you redress that balance?"

Hear the Silence, starring Juliet Stevenson as the mother seeking answers to her son's autism and Hugh Bonneville as Dr Wakefield, will be screened on December 15.

Dr Elliman said that he initially thought it would be helpful to have a debate to redress the balance immediately after the programme, but as he watched a preview he came to the conclusion "that one could not have a sensible discussion about the facts".

The programme "starts from the premise that MMR is linked to autism and the onus is to disprove that. We know from past experience that, when you give balance to somebody, the public goes away thinking there is a balance in the scientific argument which is 50:50. That is not the case here."

Dr Wakefield's former colleagues, who jointly published the paper hypothesising a link in the Lancet in 1998, all said then and still say they believe in the safety of MMR. They have become increasingly critical of him.

Copyright Guardian Newspapers Limited

* * *

EDUCATION

Special Ed Leaves Schools Behind

The pupils in Michelle Harper's special education class have their own small victories every day - a temper tantrum stifled, two words rhymed.

When it comes time to take the standardized tests that the federal government uses to measure public schools, many of Ms. Harper's pupils at White Mountain Middle School merely pick answers at random, not realizing the potentially severe consequences for their school.

Across the country this year, thousands of schools were deemed “failing” because of the test performance of special education pupils.

The results have provoked feelings of fury, helplessness and amusement in teachers such as Ms. Harper, who say that, because of some of their pupils' disabilities, there is no realistic way to ever meet the expectations of a new federal law backed by the Bush administration that requires that 99 percent of all children perform at or above grade level by 2014.

If schools fail to meet those targets, they risk being taken over by the state or private companies; teachers can lose their jobs.

“These children are going to plateau at a certain level - that is the nature of a disability,” said Ms. Harper, who teaches pupils with autism, learning disabilities, mental retardation, Tourette's syndrome, vision and hearing deficiencies and brain injuries. “These kids are not going to grow out of it, not going to grow up and be OK. It's sad, but that is the way it is.”

Special education has been a battleground for years. Parents of special ed pupils fought long and hard for their children to be included in mainstream classrooms, and for the money to provide them with extra help.

Now the new law, dubbed No Child Left Behind, has focused even more attention on special education, because of the consequences for entire schools.

The government is defending the special education portion of the law, though officials said some changes are in the works that would give more leeway to the most seriously disabled children and their teachers.

But the Education Department does not want to let all special education pupils and their teachers off the hook, said Ronald Tomalis, acting assistant secretary for elementary and secondary education.

“There have been low expectations for some of these children all along,” he said. “And that's not because of mental abilities, but because of poor instruction received in the early grades.

* * *

Let's Make Our Schools Accessible To Everyone

It's time to crack down on school boards that don't enforce rights of disable children

e_Type1&call_pageid=971358637177&c=Article&cid=1069629007866

Now that the provincial election is over, perhaps we can pause and take a closer look at the Ontario Human Rights Commission Report, The Opportunity To Succeed: Achieving Barrier-free Education For Students With Disabilities.

The report, released by Keith Norton, chief commissioner of the Ontario Human Rights Commission, on Oct. 27, created nary a ripple around the province. That is a tragedy.

The report has the potential to reap major benefits for those individuals with additional needs and has serious ramifications for those who are responsible for accommodating the needs of those individuals.

Yet it received minimal media attention.

The Norton report was prepared and developed over two years and is based on consultations across the province with students, parents, educators, school boards, colleges, universities, government ministries, agencies, associations, and other individuals and groups.

The commission received 124 written submissions and heard 50 oral submissions presented to an Ontario Human Rights Commission panel chaired by Norton.

The Opportunity To Succeed: Achieving Barrier-free Education For Students With Disabilities recognizes and clearly delineates the difficulties faced by persons with additional needs within all levels of the educational system.

The report illustrates that this fact is not only well known and well documented but that little, if anything, has been done to eradicate or circumvent the problems.

The lack of responsiveness from the previous government led to a great loss of human potential and hardship for not only the individuals who could not have their needs met within the educational system but for their families, as well.

The emotional cost to the families is unforgivable; the economic cost to our society is still undetermined.

It is obvious from the report and its recommendations that the Ontario Human Rights Commission recognizes that many current educational practices are discriminatory and systemic. Although the report discusses financial considerations, greater emphasis is placed on attitudinal barriers.

The families and the individuals who have been affected by the lack of responsiveness of boards of education and the ministry of education applaud the commission for their excellent recommendations.

Unfortunately, many families, due to past experiences and present circumstances, have little faith that anything will change based on this report.

The Education Act and the Ontario Human Rights Code have been ignored in the past with no recourse being taken against the offending parties. A lack of acceptance of responsibility and accountability has been a constant problem.

Families want to see the right thing done — that is, the provision of opportunities to lead to full citizenship for their family members with additional needs.

That means opening doors for all individuals, educating all individuals in a respectful manner in order that they can achieve to the best of their abilities.

The human rights commission has now got the base from which to act. To not do so would be to be complicit in the discriminatory process itself.

It is time for the Ontario Human Rights Commission to review those complaints that have been submitted within the last two years that continue to be unresolved, recognize their commonality, and take action based on broader public interest.

This action would clearly indicate to all those who have contravened the Education Act and the human rights code that things must change and that to ignore their legal and ethical responsibilities will lead to immediate action.

It is time for everyone involved in the process of educating individuals in this province — the Ministry of Education and Training, the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, the Ministry of Community and Social Services, Integrated Services for Children — to recognize their responsibility to the children, youth and adults of this province by: Focusing on the inherent dignity of all individuals and demonstrating respect and acceptance of each and every individual.

Advancing the value that “differences” is the norm.

Considering the best interests of the individual.

Providing equity education based on individual requirements leading to independence and self-reliance.

Empowering the individual so that he or she can achieve active and meaningful participation in the community and full citizenship.

_______________________________________________________

PROMOTE YOUR MEETINGS, CHAPTER OR CONFERENCE

No Cost to List

In the Largest, Widest Read "The Autism Calendar"tm

NOTE CALENDAR DEADLINE NOV 25 FOR DECEMBER UPDATE

_______________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

Edward Decelie Debbie Hosseini Richard Miles Ron Sleith Kay Stammers

_______________________________________________

SAReport mailing list

SAReport@envirolink.org

You can unsubscribe at: