The CASDA Solution
Welcome back! This week, we continue our look into the national Autism program suggested by the activist group (hope I got that right) CASDA and the senator (I know I got this right) Mr. Munson! Together, their team is...well, I can’t think of a clever name for their team, but if they had a team name I bet it would sound awesome...probably). But anyway, last week we introduced the blueprint, the team members and a little bit of what is in the plan itself. This week we will dig deeper into what the plan details, as well as what else pops up in our...investigation (of the CBC article, not the inner workings of CASDA or such. Sorry to spoil the epic moment you all probably had there).
No dramatic sleuthing for me. Better left to the journalists, or P.I’s, or detectives, or hired killers. You never thought hired killers did much detective work did you? But did you ever try to track a target that's on the road every day? It’s hard...allegedly...so I’m told.
First of, let's dive into the exciting world of policy discussion! (cue cheers, lots and lots of cheers, and some whistling). What else does the policy blueprint suggest this federal/provincial/territorial alliance change to make the lives of people on the spectrum easier and better? Changes (or should I say because it’s stipulated in the actual blueprint itself, immediate changes?) to the federal tax code! I envy the lucky bugger who has that job, he’ll have the most fun. Why the tax code? To give greater benefits to not only those with ASD/Asperger’s, but also their families as well! Now the question remains just how much money will we receive.
And while the federal government is busy with all that, the provincial governments have their own work cut out for them. They have the task of “creating nationwide standards for care and access to services.” (CBC, Group calls for national autism program, paragraph 8). Whenever you or I think that our work load is getting to heavy, remember this: at least your not responsible for basically telling all of your nation's service providers whatever standard they now have to reach, while making sure that the standard is both feasible for the services providers and gives at least a reasonable amount of support to people with ASD while at the same time deciding what would entail as a reasonable amount of support. That felt hard just typing it.
I feel sorry for the people who have to work on this part of the project alone. Their time spent in college and/or university must seem like a vacation compared to this.
And that's not the only ambitious goal that the proposal has in mind. Another one is to help those on the spectrum find housing and employment, giving us the chance to become independent members within our communities. Which when you think about it, is an oxymoron. If you’re a member of a community, you’re not really independent are you? How was the plan designed? Why, with input from members of the ASD community and family members of course! Now you may wonder how that can be any other way, but if it was common practice for activist groups to include members of the community they are supposedly rooting for in on the planning stage, let alone activist groups for the Asperger/Autism community, CASDA would have no reason to proclaim it like it is some kind of achievement.
Well, that does it for this week. Next week we will be continuing on with this topic again were we wrap it all up! And I might get a chance rant some more on what I think about things! Another chance to show you guys the beautiful sound of my own voice. One time, I was in a mall right? And I went into this store right? And there was all this anime that I wanted, so I went up to the cashier and...you all seem to be looking at your phones and watches. Probably have somewhere urgent to go somewhere, so I’ll tell the story the next time we meet. I know I know, those were groans of sadness of a good story ending for now. But it will have to wait until next, when this continues to be, the Audacious Aspie.
Source used:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/casda-national-autism-program-1.5080391