As we are nearing the end of Autism Awareness Month, information about Autism continues to surface. For instance on April 20th, CBC News published an interesting article discussing how researchers in Europe have uncovered alleged ties between autism expert Hans Asperger and the Nazis. To learn more, read the article.

Additionally there have been a range of articles that have been published in April that have celebrated individuals across BC who are making an impact in their communities.

For instance, Matthew Sen is an individual who was diagnosed with Asperger\’s Syndrome when he was 16. Before the diagnosis, he often felt excluded at school and found it difficult to make friends. After the diagnosis, he actually felt relieved and encouraged that he could get support to move forward in his life. He recently published a book called Quiet: A Graphic Novel of Introversion that tells a story similar to his through the eyes of a college-bound girl named Claire. As an artist, Matthew has grown as an individual and also is helping others learn from his own experiences. To learn more about Matthew, his story & his book, please click here.

At CVS, we work with individuals everyday to get out into the community and make a difference in their own way. We commend Matthew and other individuals who are doing the same and are excited to hear that their stories are helping others.

Parents challenged School District 43 at a budget meeting on Tuesday, April 17th for not requiring applied behaviour analysis (ABA) training for education assistants.  As reported by the Tri-City News, parents say the training is critical for helping their children learn and claim families are leaving to obtain the help in other districts.

Peter Raptis, a Coquitlam resident and father of a boy with autism, said he was surprised he couldn’t get the support of an EA trained in ABA — which breaks tasks down into steps for children to learn — and said he is worried that his son could lose “incredible gains” without it.

Paul McNaughton, SD43\’s director of instruction for learning services, was on the hot seat for much of the discussion because many of the concerns raised were about supports for students with special needs. McNaughton said the district hired a consultant with ABA expertise to train team members who deal with kids with autism and has consulted parents on the matter.

It will be interesting to see what occurs following this meeting in our community. CVS stands behind educators having the appropriate knowledge and training to assist individuals succeed and develop to the best of their abilities.

In its 2017 annual report, the Canadian Human Rights Commission noted that disability was by far the most often cited ground for discrimination by people in Canada. 59% of people who complained to the Commission noted that they were discriminated upon because of a disability. A combined proportion of 23% of complaints related to a person’s race, colour, and/or national or ethnic origin. A further 18% related to mental health.

The majority of complaints were received by people living in the province of Ontario. That’s perhaps not surprising given that it has the largest population of any of Canada’s provinces or territories.

For more information on the Commission\’s finding, click here.

In April, the BC government announced that it is promising improvements after an investigation found call wait times for income and disability assistance to be “chronically slow.”

The investigation by B.C.’s ombudsperson, Jay Chalke, was launched last year following a number of complaints about long wait times, disconnected calls and call time limits when trying to communicate with the ministry by phone.

Shane Simpson, the Minister in charge, noted that they will be acting on six of the nine recommendations. They are only acting on six due to lack of resources. Some of the recommendations include reporting average wait times. It also suggests the ministry phase out the Tier 1 call-sweeping strategy, designed to shorten call wait times but ended up reducing service quality too. One of the recommendations that will be placed on hold, for now, is increasing full-time staff from 183 to 220 people.

For more information, check out the original Global News article.

Autism Community Training (ACT) has pulled together a range of videos to act as a resource for the community at large. Recognizing that attending a live event can be challenging, ACT records key events, depending on the willingness of the presenter, to increase accessibility to high quality information internationally.

There are now over 25 videos on diverse topics, ranging from Toilet Training to Sleep to Mental Health. Each video is divided into small segments that can be easily shared with other team or family members via an email link. No password is necessary.

Autism Videos @ ACT (AVA) is a free resource that ACT supports through donations and sponsorship. For more information and to donate see Support ACT’s Work.

To view ACT\’s wide range of resources and resources, following this link.

Disability Alliance BC recently issued an important reminder about Registered Disability Savings Plans (RDSP) and the rules on taking money out of plans.

As 2019 is approaching some people will have had an RDSP for 10 years and may be
thinking about taking money out of their Savings Plan.

Before you do so, please read the important reminder below to ensure you will not be infringing on any of the rules set out by the RDSP.

The Family Support Institute of BC\’s Winter/Spring 2018 Possibilities Newsletter is now available. This newsletter is available to all families, friends and partnering organizations with the hope that the stories and information can help support or inspire families and individuals with diverse challenges. To access the most recent Possibilities Newsletter, click here.

The Family Support Institute of BC provides province-wide support to families faced with the extraordinary circumstances that come with having a family member with a disability. To sign up for FSI\’s newsletter, please click here to subscribe through Mail Chimp. Please note that all FSI members with email addresses will automatically be subscribed to FSI\’s newsletter by the FSI office.

We hope you find this newsletter valuable and it provides you with some useful information.

There is a group of very well respected BC researchers and practitioners working towards funding approval for an innovative adaptation of Cognitive Behaviour Therapy for autistic adults who struggle in terms of executive functioning but want to work.

As they seek funding for this important work, the group has just launched an appeal on the UBC crowdfunding website, which contains a short explanatory video. Additionally, there is more information available on a Facebook page that has been set up for the project, which can be accessed here.

This set of research is important and can help individuals on the Autism Spectrum improve their experience in the workforce. If you have an interest in this project and/or want to help fund this work, please visit the crowdfunding page for more information.