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

On the day the Government of Ontario tabled its 2026 budget, The Trillium's Sneh Duggal profiled Spencer Carroll and End The Wait Ontario. The article reports that Carroll launched the website to boost “accountability” and help families get faster access to therapy through the Ontario Autism Program (OAP).

The article describes Carroll's son, diagnosed with autism at 14 months and registered in the OAP shortly after. Now six, he is still waiting for core clinical services, the OAP stream that funds applied behaviour analysis (ABA), speech-language therapy, occupational therapy, and therapy equipment. The family has spent between $75,000 and $100,000 out of pocket on private services while waiting.

A couple of years went by, figured that things would pick up, we would get core clinical services, but it never came.

The Trillium notes that the OAP is housed within the Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services rather than the health system, with core funding ranging from$6,600 to $65,000 depending on a child's age and level of need. The province's 2025 budget raised OAP funding to $779 million, and the article cites the Ontario Autism Coalition's response that the waitlist had not meaningfully shrunk despite the increase.

The article traces the website's origin to Carroll's interview on autism and early intervention, featured on the World Health Organization's social media last fall. Soon after, he launched End The Wait Ontario, which brings together waitlist data, provider lists, and guides for families waiting for services or navigating the school system.

I'm a parent putting together the information best I can. 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 Trillium also summarizes the site's asks: wait times under six months, funding based on need without age caps, and monthly published intake and waitlist numbers by region. It notes that Carroll has filed an application to the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario challenging the OAP waitlist as systemic disability discrimination under the Ontario Human Rights Code.

If the province is going to fix it, fund it fully. 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.

This page summarizes the article in End The Wait Ontario's own words, with brief quoted excerpts. Originally published in The Trillium, March 25, 2026, by Sneh Duggal. Read the full article on thetrillium.ca