Parents of children with autism in Canada vow to continue their fight to get services for their kids

From the Toronto Star in Canada:

Parents of autistic children say they'll be planning the next step in their legal battle for better treatment programs now that the Supreme Court of Canada has refused to hear their latest appeal.

The families of six autistic children in Ontario hoped the country's highest court would hear an appeal from a somewhat complicated Ontario Court of Appeal ruling earlier this year involving their proposed $1.2 billion class-action lawsuit against the provincial government.

The Supreme Court yesterday, however, declined to hear the case, customarily giving no reason for its decision.

Taline Sagharian, one of the parents, described the latest development as "a letdown."

"Our case has been ongoing since 2004, and for almost a decade now, families of children with autism have continued to face an impossible choice between prohibitively expensive private autism programs and an unresponsible public school system.

"The need for change remains desperate," Sagharian said in a statement.

The proposed class-action lawsuit against the Ontario government and seven school boards seeks redress for what the families are calling "the failures of autism services in Ontario."

As many as 1,500 families could be affected by the outcome of the case, the plaintiffs say.

The big problem, parents say, is successful therapy programs generally aren't offered in schools, so much of their lives are taken up driving their children to treatment sessions in other communities. It also means their children have to be taken out of school during the day, forcing them to choose between therapy and education.

In 2007, Ontario Superior Court Justice Maurice Cullity struck out portions of the lawsuit that claimed the defendants were negligent, deliberately misused their offices and violated the children's rights to security of the person. He allowed the case to proceed solely on the basis their equality rights had been violated.

Last May, a three-judge panel of the Ontario Court of Appeal also struck out the families' claim their children had been discriminated against on the basis of age.

However, the court allowed the families to amend many of their claims, allowing them to return to court.

The families have long argued for the right to claim damages for breach of their Charter rights, which would allow them to recover some of the cost of providing therapy for their children.

Sagharian estimates she and her husband, Harout, have spent at least $300,000 on a private education and treatment program for their son, Christopher.