Green Party of BC Leader Jane Sterk Supports Re Opening The BC Adult ADHD Clinic

3 Comments / ADD / ADHD Advocacy, Politics ADHD related / By

Jane SterkUPDATE: Georgia Straight editor Charlie Smith did an article about the reopening of the BC adult ADHD clinic me and the BC politicians.

The leader of the Green Party of BC  Jane Sterk Supports Re-Opening The BC Adult ADHD Clinic. Great! That makes 3 of the 4 BC political party leaders that support it.

As I mentioned in my previous post 6 Years ago in 2007, the BC Liberal government under than health minister George Abbott shut down the only provincial adult ADHD clinic in BC at Children’s Hospital in Vancouver after a 12-14 month-long wait list for an entire year.

Possibly politically embarrassing wait list? BC Liberals solution? Kill the clinic. No more wait list.

Why didn’t/ don’t adult with ADHD speak up about this?

They did and do. To ADHD coaches or adult ADHD support group leaders like me. And to others who work with ADHD like their doctors/psychiatrists/psychologists etc.

But they won’t speak about it to you. Or politicians. Or reporters. Or health care bureaucrats. Because the stigma is too high and they’re worried about being harassed, discriminate or fired.

Most BC medical professional have little to no training on ADHD and they’re not willing to speak up publicly in the vast majority of cases.

Most other people either think ADHD is not real, i.e., scientific illiterates, or over-diagnosed (sometimes, but far more under-diagnosed) or not a real problem because they just see stigma, not real people and real problems.

I asked Jane Sterk in a phone interview if she’d support reopening the only public clinic for adults with ADHD in BC that the BC Liberals closed under health minister George Abbot after a 12-14 month wait list for an entire year.

I’d support reopening the BC Adult ADHD Clinic.

she told me. Reopening the BC adult ADHD clinic

is completely congruent with our health care policy. Services should be available when people need them. The Green Party would support similar adult ADHD clinics in different parts of BC.

Thanks Jane for supporting the needs of a neglected and often stigmatized group, adults with ADHD. I hope more politicians step up to the plate like you. This will not only benefit the 5% of adults with ADHD but their families too and the 8-10% of children with ADHD, since 80% of ADHD is genetic.

The BC Conservative Party leader John Cummins also supports reopening the BC Adult ADHD clinic.

In May 2011, I asked Christy Clark during her by-election campaign at her town hall meeting if she would reopen the BC adult ADHD clinic. She said

“I don’t have enough information about the specifics of the program that you’re talking about, but I’m absolutely committed to working with you on it.”

And then Christy Clark did? Absolutely Nothing.

BC Greens Vancouver-Mount Pleasant candidate Barinder Hans also mentioned the BC adult ADHD clinic more than once at the SFU Downtown Campus Vote mental health 4all, all candidates forum May 7th. Here are some of my tweets of his talk

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I hope to get a video of that when SFU video department finally uploads it & embed it along with more from Barinder Hans & also Also BC Conservative candidate Duane Nickull.

I asked BC Greens candidate for Oak Bay-Gordon Head Andrew Weaver tonight on a live stream during the BC 2013 provincial election

 

 

— Pete Quily (@pqpolitics) May 14, 2013

Related Posts:

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *