COVID-19: Resources, Advice, and ACT's Advocacy
ACT is gathering information to support families during the COVID-19 crisis, including resources specific to those who are neuro-diverse and useful general resources. Our COVID-19 Resources page will be updated as new resources come in.
- Watch Practical Tips for Helping Families Reduce Stress
- Resources for Families Waiting for Assessment
- View upcoming live web streams and presentations you can watch any time
ACT's Guides to Autism Videos & Resources
Download the ACT Videos & Resources Guide for the latest updates on ACT’s videos, events, and resources. We have specialized guides for:
Special Needs Resources Guide for Schools Guide to Mental Health Resources
ACT Videos & Resources Guide for Parents and Professionals
B.C. Resources
Looking for autism & special needs resources specific to British Columbia? Visit the new B.C. Resources page to find community agencies, recreational activities, service providers, support groups, education & employment, community events, the autism manual, new diagnosis hub, transition to adulthood, and much more!
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Find Autism Information
Find practical autism resources in the Autism Information Database (AID). We've made it even easier to find resources and tools for parents and professionals with a new subject listing. Free and relevant world-wide.
You can also find 自閉症社區訓練協會 (ACT in Chinese), ACT in Punjabi, Online Mental Health & Autism Project: Looking Beyond Autism, and Autism Research.
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Autism, Anxiety and COVID-19
To mark World Autism Day with a practical initiative, ACT invited three respected mental health clinicians, who have presented for ACT on autism and mental health, to answer questions on ‘Anxiety and COVID-19’.
Watch hereSearch the Autism Information Database
Search over 1,400 vetted information resources related to ASD, including online articles, videos, and websites.
Special Needs Community Events
ACT lists workshops and conferences in B.C. related to autism and other special needs that are provided by local agencies and organizations.
Power For All Adventure Therapy: Outdoor Sensory Adventure
Wednesday, August 12 - Thursday, August 13
News from ACT on Facebook
A response from Social Development Minister Shane Simpson to the mother who was interviewed on CBC Radio yesterday about the tremendous difficulty she has had over the last two years trying to get adult supports in place for her non-verbal autistic daughter.
"I had what I now understand as a characteristically autistic attitude to rules and authority: I had no patience for rules that seemed arbitrary, but I’d get very angry when sensible rules were flouted, especially by teachers. I respected teachers and other authorities as long as they were fair and accurate, but I had a habit of pointing out when they made mistakes, or decisions I considered unfair and wrong."
An autistic teacher in the U.K. writes about his own experiences in school as a child, and what he thinks needs to change to address problems like bullying and sensory overload.
Making education work for the next generation of neurodivergent pupils
medium.com
An autistic science teacher considers the possibility of inclusion. This was originally a talk at Autscape in 2020, the conference for and…This important survey on B.C. children and youth with disabilities in education is open till 5 PM Saturday August 8th. Please take a few moments to complete it if you can.
BC Family Survey - Children and Youth with Disabilities In Education
www.surveymonkey.com
Take this survey powered by surveymonkey.com. Create your own surveys for free.“A few minutes later [the manager] comes back and says she needs to put a mask on. I explain the situation again, and they say to me things like ‘I know people on the spectrum and they can wear masks,’ but I mean it's not the same thing, every person is different, especially a person who is six years old.” Your thoughts?
Family asked to leave Disney Store after child with autism couldn't keep mask on
london.ctvnews.ca
A Windsor, Ont. family say they were told to leave the Disney Store in London's CF Masonville Place after their six-year-old daughter Ruby, who is on the autism spectrum, was improperly wearing her ma...My autistic son won’t wear a mask but he is ok with a face shield.
I think pre-planning with staff it's it's so important to take someone into a store that cannot wear a mask, could be arranged in theory to keep people safe as well. Not easy for everyone during a pandemic.
The rules apply to EVERYONE. We all need to do our part to keep ourselves and each other safe. The health and well being of others shouldn’t have to be put at risk to accommodate the comfort of one person, regardless of their disability. My youngest son is non-verbal, Autistic, has severe OCD and Tourette’s, he has not been shopping since the beginning of Covid and may never be able to go shopping again due to his inability to keep a mask on, and as sad as it is, it’s reality and life goes on🤷♀️
That manager clearly doesn’t understand the spectrum 😡
I feel for the family as I have two kids on the spectrum myself and I doubt wearing a mask would work for one of them. But this isn’t about autism. It is about protecting everyone else from a possible horrible death. Even if the risk is small, there is a risk. It doesn’t matter if your reason for not wearing a mask is a valid one. You shouldn’t have to risk the lives of others because you can’t wear a mask. The staff were put in bad situation and were acting to protect the lives and health of their customers and staff. In light of the pandemic, I think they did the right thing. It’s unfortunate, but until the pandemic is under control, this is the new reality.
While this about safety it’s evident that COVID is again amplifying the marginalization of the vulnerable people in our communities. I can understand the frustration on both sides. It’s not black and white and we have much more to do to be an more inclusive society.
Children are ok to hang out at daycares so why not Disney store? Not acceptable
Pure ignorance.
wow "I know people on the spectrum and they can wear masks" what ignorant employees and so many ignorant people in this thread and so many who obviously didnt read it either. This is illegal whether you like it or not. Im a single mom, my daughter can't wear a mask. I have no support and no one to leave her with or to do grocery shopping for me, so yup, I bring my autistic child with me to shop. I dont care what others think about it. Our lives have been turned upside down by this pandemic and disability rights are still important during a pandemic. Some folks cant get live saving vaccinations either, but we dont tell them to stay home. We get vaccinated to protect them. I wear a mask to protect ppl like my child who cant wear one. When the vaccines roll out and some of our children cant get one, or half of you refuse to even give your child one, well see what you think then. Its not that difficult, if you see an unmasked child, keep your fucking distance from them.
If they give a pass to Autistic kids, every entitled parent is going to question why “that” kid doesn’t have to wear one drawing attention to kids that don’t usually like having extra attention or being “different”. Or the worse parents that would lie and tell people their child is autistic just to avail wearing one. My 8 year old daughter is ASD and hates wearing a mask- but it’s not all about her. Gotta protect everyone.
State the child has medical reasons. And it should be dropped. It is against federal law to ask what the problem is. As per privacy act. Only a medical officer or state or local police can inquire about the medical reasons.
My son (8) has Down Syndrome and Autism and will not tolerate a mask or anything on his face. I know there are a lot of kids and adults that can’t tolerate anything on their faces due to sensory issues. There has to be some exceptions. Last month my son couldn’t go to his eye dr appointment because he won’t wear a mask. It’s fine for the short term but this virus isn’t going away anytime soon.
My son is 14 and can’t tolerate wearing a mask, he rips his upper lip off after wearing it for a couple of seconds and rubs it until it’s raw and bleeding. He has barely even been in a store or mall since March out of fear
I went there today ( pacific centre- Vancouver) and I didn’t have problem. My son has Autism too.
This seems like an appropriate time to consider the old adage that "there's no rule without exception"....
Yes we’ve all been locked up since March. What a life
Some of the comments on here be like: “disabled people may be barred from public places for their entire lives, but that’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make.” 🤮 If you are worried that a disabled person who can’t wear a mask is going to cause a significant risk, maybe YOU should be the one hiding in your house, avoiding public. 😬
I have 2 kids on the spectrum, and understand how sensory many ASD kids are, so I feel for the family involved, but at the same time it is DL’s policy (so they can remain open safely), and rules are rules, even when it feels unfair. There’s no easy answer, but lives are more important than anything else, and so it’s only fair that even disability rights get eclipsed by Covid. At the same time, I still feel sad for the family, because it still sucks, and it’s hard to feel left-out because of a disability. It would be nice if DL could find a way of holding an Autism day (or half-day) (or an hour, for shops) with even more social distancing so the ones who can’t wear masks can go, even if the tickets costs a little more than usual.
I’m sorry for the family’s experience, but the staff were correct. Our oldest daughter is on the spectrum as well. Luckily, the few times she’s been out since March, she will wear a mask. But, over the years, we’ve been in places that we’ve had to leave because she’s felt overwhelmed by crowds.
My son who is 12 refuses to have mask on... he couldn’t go with me anymore with grocery shopping and has not been inside the mall since March 😞
That is so sad. Not everyone here in bc wears one and is not mandatory but I feel for the family so much but I guess if it’s the rule it’s the rule.
Everywhere they are saying there are exceptions to wearing masks and no matter the rule, there are always exceptions. Why do some people not understand this?
Dayna Skully
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自閉症社區訓練協會 | ACT in Chinese
ACT 自閉症社區訓練協會，
是加拿大卑詩省內針對家有自閉症兒童的家庭提供諮詢及轉介服務的非營利機構。
ACT in Punjabi
ACT has been able to both create and identify valuable resources for the Punjabi-speaking community in British Columbia.
View Punjabi-language Resources