This decision by the Ministry of Community and Social Services to close all ARC Industries in Ontario is very disturbing to a great many parents who have sons or daughters who work at ARC Industries every day. To compare this decision to the civil rights movement in the 1950s in the United States is simply ludicrous.

I am challenging the Minister Helena Jaczek and her cohorts in the government to visit our ARC Industries in Guelph to see what a diversity of challenged people there are at this facility, see how these individuals feel about their jobs and activities, about seeing their friends every day, and then tell them you are closing down their ARC Industries.

In your decision, you state they do "menial' tasks all day for pennies. What an insult to our sons and daughters, because they are proud of the work they do. (Contract work from businesses I might add). They also receive a disability pension monthly, so perhaps there is a hidden agenda here for the government to take them off the pension in order to save money.

Jaczek talks about "menial" tasks our adult children do every day. Many of the jobs they are able to get in the community would be classed as "menial," but to our sons and daughters there is nothing menial about their jobs at Tim Hortons, MacDonald's or ARC Industries.

Many are capable of getting jobs and many have. I have one son who is very high functioning and has held a job in a factory for 16 years, making more than minimum wage. However, my youngest son has a dual diagnosis, is very regimented in his daily life, does not do well with any change, and could never hold down a job in the community.

This decision was never discussed with parents and families, and we shockingly learned about it in the newspapers. What makes the Ministry of Community and Social Services think they know what is best for our adult children? No one knows what their needs are, what makes them feel they have a purpose in life and what makes them feel comfortable in an atmosphere where their friends are — better than parents?

I am at ARC Industries in Guelph every week at our Friendship Club where 25 to 30 of our friends attend this event. So I know quite a few people and their parents. You seem to have the mistaken assumption that our sons and daughters are "stuck" in a place they don't want to be. Almost like a ghetto you may as well state. You are wrong, and parents are upset to the point of sleepless nights and our sons and daughters will be devastated if this government goes through with this harmful decision.

Sylvia Quinn