Welcome to National Autism News - Wrapping Up World Autism Month: A Recap and Looking Ahead
In this newsletter
As we soon conclude World Autism Month, we reflect on a week marked by both notable progress in our collective work, as well as disappointing news from Budget 2024. This newsletter serves as a summary of recent developments.
Before diving in, we invite you to participate in our upcoming Annual General Meeting, an opportunity for our members to chart our course for the road ahead. Register here.
This month's highlight was the successful convening of our 10th Annual Canadian Autism Leadership Summit, emblematic of our collective progress. Additionally, we celebrated a gift to the Alliance to establish the National Centre for Autism Collaboration (NCAC), an initiative that will bolster our research-to-policy priorities and play an integral role in bringing communities and thought leaders together.
However, alongside these triumphs, we identified and responded to areas of concern based on the federal Budget 2024. There were no new investments announced for autism, and the anticipated investment for the Canada Disability Benefit fell short of expectations of our National Disability Network.
Read more below!
We are truly amazed by the engagement and participation we witnessed over the last week at our 10th Annual Canadian Autism Leadership Summit (CALS2024).
Held at the Fairmont Château Laurier in Ottawa and broadcasted globally via livestream, this was Autism Alliance of Canada’s largest Summit to date. Attendees included Autistic people, families, community leaders, researchers, politicians, service providers, and policy makers from across Canada.
We extend our heartfelt gratitude to all participants for their active involvement in fostering open dialogue throughout the event, both in-person and online. We recognize that such conversations, although not always comfortable, are integral to propelling meaningful progress within our society.
As we reflect on the achievements of the past decade, the Summit serves as a testament to the progress made over the years. It underscores our readiness as a collective to embrace Canada's first National Autism Strategy, one that is truly aligned with needs and priorities identified by the full spectrum of the Autistic community.
Our team will take the necessary steps to gather all of the content collected during the Summit to give it back to our audiences, ensuring that the insights and discussions shared continue to benefit and inform our collective efforts. Please stay tuned as we release our CALS2024 Impact Report in the coming weeks. In the meantime, we urge you to continue sharing what you learned widely, and to continue to press forward for action towards a National Autism Strategy.
Finally, we extend heartfelt gratitude to each and every individual, organization, and company who contributed towards this Summit. Thank you to our supporters, our dedicated volunteers, and our board members for their contributions. And finally, thank you to our entire team, who have worked tirelessly both on stage and behind the scenes to deliver CALS2024.
We can’t wait to see you at the 11th Annual Canadian Autism Leadership Summit!
Annual General Meeting – Thursday May 16 4PM EST
Following an impactful Summit, we are pleased to invite you to our upcoming Annual General Meeting (AGM). Scheduled for Thursday, May 16, 2024, at 4:00 PM EST, this year's AGM will be held virtually. The agenda will include updates on initiatives, projects, and accomplishments, as well as voting on the following:
Election of Board Directors
Approval of financial statements
Appointment of auditors
Updates to bylaws
We extend a warm welcome to all attendees. Please note that only Organization and Community Members will have voting rights on the resolutions. Stay tuned as we post more information on our website!
Register for our 2024 AGM today
Announcement: A Gift to Establish the National Centre for Autism Collaboration (NCAC)
On the first day of the 10th Annual Canadian Autism Leadership Summit, at the Parliamentary Reception, celebrating “Ten Years of the Canadian Autism Leadership Summit’s Dedication to the Rights for Autistic People in Canada,” The Joyce Family Foundation, The Hamilton Health Sciences Foundation, the Sinneave Family Foundation and McMaster University announced a gift towards the creation of the National Centre for Autism Collaboration (NCAC) Spearheaded by the national leadership team at Autism Alliance of Canada, this collaboration will be an avenue to connect researchers to support national autism priorities identified by the community.
With the NCAC serving as a platform for collaboration, we look forward to pooling Canada’s expertise to maximize the impact of the community’s contributions in national autism policy and practice. We will steward this generous gift and co-develop a path forward for the community to collaborate effectively, ensuring that the perspectives and needs of Autistic people in Canada are at the forefront of our collective efforts.
Read the full announcement of the NCAC
Disability community underwhelmed and disappointed by investments in Budget 2024 Date: April 18, 2024
The National Disability Network expresses its disappointment in Budget 2024’s underwhelming investment of $6 a day for people with disabilities. The budget announced funding for the Canada Disability Benefit—a maximum annual amount of $2,400 or $200 per month.The National Disability Network had advocated for an adequate investment to the Canada Disability Benefit based on the recommendations proposed by the Parliamentary Budget Office. Reaction from the disability community has been unanimous that this initial investment creates little impact for removing people with disabilities from poverty. It does not consider the official poverty line nor the unique costs of living as a person with a disability. It simply is not enough.As we promised in our Joint Statement on the Passage of Bill C-22, we will continue to keep the federal government’s feet to the fire to deliver on the promise of the Canada Disability Benefit. The National Disability Network strongly calls on the federal government to build on this initial investment and enhance the annual and monthly amount eligible to recipients. Further, we call on the federal government to implement this change by the 2024 Fall Economic Statement, at the latest.While Budget 2024 does take a step towards funding the Canada Disability Benefit, the monthly amount is not adequate and will not succeed in the goal of removing people with disabilities from poverty. Time is of the essence to amend the federal government’s approach and enable financial independence for the disability community.