DISABLED CHILDREN MUST BE A PRIORITY
A small delegation of parents went to the legislature recently to present the premier with a bunch of balloons.
The gesture was meant to remind Premier Gordon Campbell of the special-needs children whose service are being gutted by budgetary constraints.
Although the group had contacted the sergeant-at-arms’ office the previous day to ensure that the balloons could be delivered, they were at first turned away by legislature security.
Eventually, the guards were convinced to call the premier’s office to ask if someone could come collect the balloons.
No one was available, the parents were told.
I was among this group of parents and although I was disappointed at the chilly reception we received, I wasn’t surprised.
The government’s tactic is frequently to appear indifferent to citizens’ concerns so as to stifle any hope and thus silence criticism.
During question period that same day, Children and Family Development Minister Mary Polak stated that “families will continue to be provided with the proper [autism] intervention for their child.”
If the program cut the minister plans proceeds, this will not be the cse.
Autistic preschoolers will receive far less than the minimum treatment required to prepare them adequately to enter the school system.
The much greater cost to the public purse of not funding “the proper intervention” before a child starts school is self-evident.
Again, government’s stance seems to be one of indifference, indifference to desperate parents pleading for their children’s treatment to be preserved; indifference to the diminished lives those children will go on to lead.
If disabled children are no longer a priority, then neither is civilization.
Catherine Turnquist
Victoria
CCC BLOG reprint:
Victoria Times Colonist
‘Disabled Children must be a priority’
Friday, November 6, 2009, page A13
CCC – LA ROSA TRANSCULTURAL PACIFICAN HISTORY 2009
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