The Trillium: Ottawa dad says he's trying to boost 'accountability' with autism waitlist website

An Ottawa father says he is trying to boost “accountability” after launching a website with the hope of getting families quicker access to therapies through the province's autism program.

Spencer Carroll's son was diagnosed with autism at 14 months and registered in the Ontario Autism Program (OAP) shortly after. He is now six.

“A couple of years went by, figured that things would pick up, we would get core clinical services, but it never came,” said Carroll, referring to a key component of the OAP that enables children to receive funding for applied behaviour analysis (ABA), speech-language therapy, occupational therapy and technology or other therapy equipment.

Carroll said his son is non-verbal and requires “extensive therapy.” The family has been paying out-of-pocket for whatever services they can afford, he added, spending between $75,000–$100,000 on occupational therapy, speech language therapy, physiotherapy and ABA over the years.

We're lucky that we were able to do it, but at the same time, we're spending out-of-pocket for services that should be paid for.

Carroll said compared to other diagnoses like cancer where individuals get therapy immediately, those diagnosed with autism aren't getting timely access to therapy “because they have it housed under social services” rather than health.

He said he doesn't consider this to be “morally sound, but for whatever reason, they seem to think it is.”

The OAP is housed within the Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services. Funding for core services ranges from $6,600 to $65,000, depending on a child's age and their level of need. Advocates have often argued that the funding levels don't reflect actual needs and that families are left waiting years for access to core services.

The province's 2025 budget increased funding for the OAP to $779 million, up from the approximately $720 million that made up the program's 2024–25 budget. Advocacy group the Ontario Autism Coalition said at the time that despite the funding increases, the “waitlist hasn't meaningfully shrunk” and that “the crisis is worsening.”^{[OAC via Trillium]}

Carroll's experience was featured in a World Health Organization (WHO) social media post last fall.

The most critical window for a child is between the ages of zero to six. We know this. These are time-sensitive interventions that require immediate access.

“The strides that have been made over the last 50 years in every area of medical science is just incredible, and we need to be on the cutting edge of what those practices are, and encourage every facet of society that is affected to embrace that and provide it,” he said in the WHO video.

It was soon after that interview that Carroll launched the “End The Wait Ontario” website, which includes tools and data so “parents can go out and advocate for themselves.”

I made a choice: I would never let another family lose those irreplaceable years to government bureaucracy.

“I'm a parent putting together the information best I can,” he told The Trillium. “It's not meant to be the be-all and end-all ... I'm just looking to fill a void where I thought one existed at this point.”

The website includes a section on data and studies related to autism, provider lists, tips for families waiting for services and those trying to navigate the school system, among other information.

“The government will just give you the same talking points that they do all the time,” he said. “So this is the whole point of the website is to put all of these buried stats, where to go, how to do it and make them available and hold the people to account that should be following at a minimum, the WHO standards as to when to treat autism in a timely fashion.”

The website lists several asks, including a less than six-month wait time for accessing services, funding based on need without age caps and for the government to publish intake and waitlist numbers by region each month.

We demand transparency and faster access to services that meet WHO early intervention standards. The average wait exceeds five years. Every month we wait, another cohort of children ages out. This isn't a policy debate. It's an emergency.

Many other families and advocates have also said they spend years waiting for access to core funding.

“If the province is going to fix it, fund it fully,” Carroll said. “Don't throw it $100 million every year and say, ‘Okay, we've done our part.’ You're not meeting the medical needs of children full-stop.”

Carroll has also filed an application to the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario (HRTO) “challenging the OAP waitlist as systemic disability discrimination” that “constitutes a violation of the Ontario Human Rights Code,” the website notes.

Originally published in The Trillium, March 25, 2026, by Sneh Duggal. The Trillium is Ontario's Queen's Park press gallery publication, operated by Village Media.