Stefan Marinoiu is not a federal or provincial political figure, or an entertainment celebrity of any kind talking endlessly about raising autism awareness without taking any action to help the 1 in 88 Canadians who suffer from autism disorders.  Stefan is a real Canadian autism hero.  He has made courageous efforts to have our federal government address Canada's autism crisis. 

Stefan has raised autism awareness without the benefit of political or media connections. He has not done so in order to obtain free travel to Banff or the UN or to augment a political career, he has done it to help his son, Simon,  and  others with autism disorders.  He has done it by twice putting his life at risk with a mid winter walk :autism" trek from Toronto to Ottawa and with a  hunger strike.  I was very pleased to meet Stefan and his wonderful family in Toronto.  Stefan did not confine his efforts to simply raising the awareness as happens with so many much less challenging efforts. Stefan actually advocated for  our federal government to get involved in a meaningful serious way to address Canada's autism crisis.   

Unfortunately the Stephen Harper-Mike Lake government does not want to acknowledge or deal with Canada's autism crisis and there will be no federal progress in Canada as long as the Harper version of the Conservative government holds majority control. Not a single member of our Harper Conservative government, not even those with family members affected by autism, have bothered to push for meaningful federal efforts to address Canada's autism crisis. I doubt though that Stefan will give up.  I will try to follow Stefan's example and continue efforts to advocate for meaningful efforts by our federal government to address Canada's autism crisis.  

Those of us who believe that our federal government should offer meaningful assistance to the 1 in 88 Canadians with an autism disorder have to look past the Harper era and look to NDP and/or Liberal governments to address Canada's national autism crisis.  We can't  give up in the face of Harper's indifference, we must keep fighting and refuse to give up.

Barry Hudson is  a very well informed, articulate father of an autistic son in Ontario, autism advocate and director with Medicare for Autism Now! Barry describes his family life with autism and the impact of autism on family life.  He describes waiting lists and other obstacles that the Ontario bureaucracy uses to prevent children with autism from receiving autism services.  Children with autism who are not considered severe enough do not receive treatment. Children with autism who are considered too severe do not receive treatment.  A child with autism who clears these hurdles will have treatment services discontinued if they do not pass periodic improvement tests.  

Barry also provides an informed articulate history and criticism of Canada's failure to provide a national health care scheme to cover autistic children in Canada, a failure made more pronounced by the fact that some other countries have identified autism as national priorities and put programs in place to provide treatment.  

The CDC in the US has released new numbers on the autism epidemic in the US.  It now estimates that 1in 88 children (1 in 54 boys) have an autism disorder.  There are no known, reliable estimates available for Canada which has not updated its autism estimates in several years.  The Harper government has not taken Canada's national autism crisis seriously preferring to hide behind constitutional walls and leave the availability of treatment to an autistic child to depend on which province his/her parents live in.  

A National Autism Symposium was cancelled once the Harper government became aware that serous autism advocates were planning to participate.  The symposium was rescheduled and the resulting symposium was a sham. Speakers and so called  "community representatives" were chosen who would not take an aggressive advocacy position on any autism issues.  

The speakers list even included persistent anti-ABA activist Dr. Laurent Mottron who believes that the idea of curing autism is nonsense.  Mottron's mentor and fellow anti-ABA, anti-autism cure activist Michelle Dawson was also in attendance. Causes of autism stressed the genetic bases of autism with no attention to possible environmental causes or triggers.  The prevalance rate of 1 in 165 advanced by Dr. Eric Fombonne at that 2006 symposium is still the only figure recognized by the Harper government and by the Autism Society Canada. 

In terms of the prevalence rate though it is absurd to rely  on the outdated figure of 1 in 165.   In the absence of any credible, current estimates from Canadian government institutions or from federal autism advocacy groups, the US figure of 1in 88 should be taken as the best available estimate of Canada's autism rates. 

We must also continue the push for national Medicare coverage of effective ABA autism treatment, for continued, real autism research of causes and cures, and for the beginnings of a plan for adult autism employment opportunities and adult residential care and treatment facilities.  

The US has stepped up to the plate, again, in offering meaningful, honest information about the autism epidemic.  Canada has long suffered from a lack of will that has allowed our autism epidemic to become a national autism crisis.   We must begin now working toward the day when a new national government is elected that will take our autism crisis seriously. 

In the meantime we should abandon the ridiculously outdated autism estimate of 1 in 165 and use the American estimates: 1 in 88 children, 1 in 54 boys.