Parents all over the world are suing their local, state/provincial or federal governments to make Intensive Behavioral Treatment accessible to their children through public funding of this intensive autism treatment.  Click here to read the Feat BC Position Statement. At the moment, litigation is underway in British Columbia, and Ontario and parents in other provinces are reviewing their options.  In Britain there have been a number of court cases as well.  The United States is currently where the "lion's share" of legal battles have been waged and won.  If you are interested in reading judgments that are very useful in fighting the system both in Canada and the U.S. read on. The July 2000 BC Supreme Court decision is the strongest precedent to date in favor of Lovaas-type Intensive Behavioral Autism Treatment (Intensive ABA or EIBI).  The court has declared that EIBI or ABA is a ":medically necessary" service and must be funded by the government.  The BC Supreme Court has ruled that the current failure to fund this treatment constitutes direct government 'discrimination' against children with Autism Spectrum Disorder, and is a breach of the Canadian Constitution (Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (Section 15(1)).  The BC Government filed a 'Notice of Appeal' in August, 2000. Government lawyers confirmed in February, 2001 that the BC Government will proceed with their appeal of the Auton decision. The BC Supreme Court remedy in the Auton decision, handed down February, 2001 ('Auton 3') was heard in BC Court Appeal in 2002 and its strong ruling in favour of the families was handed down in October 2002. The BC Government has appealed to the Court of Appeal ruling to the highest court in Canada. The Supreme Court of Canada has agreed to hear the case. The hearing is set for Monday, March 22, 2004. The Anderson ruling (BC Supreme Court, 08/22/03) is in favour of the families. The action was brought by the families since the BC Government reneged on its agreement -- made before a BC Supreme Court Judge during the Auton Class Action Certification hearings -- to apply whatever ruling comes out of the Auton case to ALL families participating in the Auton case, not just the four children named as representative petitioners. The BC Government appealed the Auton ruling and even after its loss in Court of Appeal, the Attorney General’s lawyer persisted in violating the solemn agreement made by her predecessor to provide remedy for all the families in the action. The Anderson ruling serves to enforce that agreement and defeats government's specious argument that the other children in the Auton case do not all share a similar disorder that requires publicly funded, medically necessary autism treatment. Government has appealed the Andersen ruling to BC Court of Appeal. The BC Supreme Court Decision (Auton) The BC Court of Appeal Decision (Auton) To read the FEAT BC press release regarding the two-day Court of Appeal hearings, please follow this link. The Anderson ruling, BC Supreme Court (regarding enforcement of Auton)   The Alberta Decision was the first court case in Canada addressing the rights of an autistic child to receive Lovaas Intensive Behavioral Treatment. The Alberta Decision The next decision that has wide reaching implications is the Eldridge Decision.  Although the Eldridge decision has nothing to do with autism (it is about the rights of the deaf to government paid medical sign language interpreters), it is very important in terms of the rights of the disabled.  To read this important case, click on  The Eldridge Decision If you are interested in litigation that has transpired in the United States, click on US Decisions and you will receive a partial list of cases.  U.S. Decisions Web-sites with additional US decisions are listed below: http://php.iupui.edu/~rallen/mjw.html http://members.tripod.com/RSaffran/briefs.html http://www.feat.org/legal/ http://www.ctfeat.org/ctfeat/legal.htm