Gov. Bruce Rauner announced The Autism Program, TAP, will no longer receive funds for the rest of fiscal year 2015 and will face severe budget cuts in fiscal year 2016 on World Autism Awareness Day, April 2.

According to the TAP website, the program provides free support and services to people with autism spectrum disorder. TAP is the largest statewide resource for autism, and requires state funding to operate. Faced with the upcoming budget cuts, some of the 19 facilities run by both universities and nonprofit organizations will be forced to close their doors.

Although other TAP centers, such as the center in Aurora, will have to close, the Champaign center will remain open with the help of outside funds and donations. Aaron Ebata, director of University’s branch of The Autism Program and professor in the department of human community and development, said the program received $4.3 million in state funding last year.

The TAP center currently has student interns on staff to help facilitate programs and assist visitors with using TAP resources. However, after this semester, Ebata said the program will no longer be able to afford employing student interns.

“The one thing that is kind of ironic is that a lot of families who have kids with autism oftentimes really have to fight to get services for their kids,” Ebata said. “It’s really too bad that now they have to go to battle again just to fight for some resource that provide help for their families.”

If eliminated from the state’s budget, TAP will no longer provide families with services such as screenings, training for parents and social therapy. These services provide early diagnostics and help children better relate to their families and peers.

TAP has created a petition in opposition of Rauner’s freeze and proposed cuts and residents are encouraged to write letters to Rauner.

“The reason TAP was developed was because there was a relative lack of services for families with autism, so this cut will mean that a lot of services won’t be there or some people will have to travel or try and purchase services,” Ebata said. “People who can’t afford insurance, they’re going to be really left with practically nothing.”

According to TAP’s website, 1 in 68 children have some form of autism, totaling to 45,975 kids under the age of 18 that have some form of autism in Illinois.

The Illinois Student Senate proposed a resolution in response to Rauner’s cuts, which called for support to help save The Autism Program.

“It says that we urge Governor Rauner and the acting secretary of the Illinois Human Services Department to recognize the important contribution TAP makes for our campus, state and society,” said Matt Hill, ISS vice president-external. “As a student senate, we can’t turn a blind eye to this happening — not just across the state — but on our campus.”

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