Advocacy groups in Ontario say students with disabilities will face additional obstacles returning to class following the pandemic, leaving parents unsure if their children will be fully and safely included in school reopening plans.

Organizers say the goal is rebuilding a sense of community and to ultimately look out for each other.

Lisa MacLeod announced Wednesday that funding will go directly to families instead of regional service providers, which she says will ensure that 23,000 kids currently on the wait list will get treatment.

After waiting more than a year for her son to get diagnosed, Jessica Ashton learned there’s a roughly three-year long waiting list for services.

Kenner Fee's family failed to prove that having his black Labrador Ivy in the classroom would help him with his education, the decision said.

The Ontario Liberals should be applauded for finally seeing the light on this issue — even if it took serious public pressure to get them to come around. Alas, their federal cousins don’t seem to have quite the same perspective.

The Ontario government says children will begin moving into the new program on June 26. Unlike the bungled rollout last year, intensive therapy will not be limited to children under five as the government works toward fully implementing the program by the spring of 2018.

Families already receiving the $10,000 payments for private therapy will continue to get them until the permanent funding is up and running.

The Ontario Autism Coalition is calling on the Liberal government to boost supports for the 20,000 children with autism in the province's schools.