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tyresiashttp://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2006/11/02/disabled-forum.html
Hundreds of disabled people were expected to converge on Ottawa on Thursday to tell MPs that people with disabilities are better off integrated with society than living in institutions. National, provincial and local disability groups are holding a day-long forum called An Inclusive and Accessible Canada to celebrate the progress made in the last 25 years since the parliamentary report Obstacles was published.
The 1981 report on the lives of people with disabilities identified key obstacles faced by disabled people and started the process of de-institutionalizing them. "We have come a long way and we have a long way to go," Marie White, chair of the Council of Canadians with Disabilities, told CBC News. "I think first and foremost what Canadians with disabilities and their families need is federal leadership." White said the forum will let politicians know that the federal government needs to do more to ease the poverty and exclusion of disabled people in Canada. At the forum, disabled groups will have the opportunity to share their stories and release a national declaration that will call on governments to take action on making the country more inclusive and accessible for disabled people.
In the early 1990s, the federal government funded a plan in Newfoundland to close institutions that housed disabled people. The project, an attempt to integrate disabled people into the community, was intended to be as a model for the rest of the country, but that did not happen. Manitoba, for example, has invested millions in institutions in recent years. Dale Kendall, spokesperson for the Manitoba Association for Community Living, said the organization has filed a human rights complaint because the province refuses to close the Manitoba Development Centre, a facility that provides care and supervision to adults with a developmental disability. The association thinks the provincial government should try to integrate disabled people into the community instead of housing them in one place. "Three hundred and eighty people are either going live in the community for the rest of their lives or they are going to die in institutions," said Kendall.
"We'll continue to remind governments that there was a promise made in this country, a commitment made actually to embark on a certain journey and we really have only gotten halfway there," said Don Gallant, an advocate for the disabled in St. John's. Gallant, an architect of the Right Futures Project, said he is fighting to close institutions for disabled people that remain open. "When society generally places value on people with disabilities, then ultimately they will not be allowed to continue to live in these institutions," Gallant said.
Edgar Yetman, one of the first of more than 100 developmentally disabled residents to leave Waterford Hospital in St. John's, says he would never go back to the hospital where he lived for 20 years. Greg Taylor, Yetman's homecare worker for 13 years, said disabled Canadians, facing the same challenges should have Yetman's opportunities. "It's another promise broken, and it seems like it's always the ones who are less helpful for themselves who are always being booted."
Human Resources and Social Development Minister Diane Finley was expected to attend the forum, which will include sessions on current legislation covering people with disabilities and on ways to improve income and economic opportunities.
Hundreds of disabled people were expected to converge on Ottawa on Thursday to tell MPs that people with disabilities are better off integrated with society than living in institutions. National, provincial and local disability groups are holding a day-long forum called An Inclusive and Accessible Canada to celebrate the progress made in the last 25 years since the parliamentary report Obstacles was published.
The 1981 report on the lives of people with disabilities identified key obstacles faced by disabled people and started the process of de-institutionalizing them. "We have come a long way and we have a long way to go," Marie White, chair of the Council of Canadians with Disabilities, told CBC News. "I think first and foremost what Canadians with disabilities and their families need is federal leadership." White said the forum will let politicians know that the federal government needs to do more to ease the poverty and exclusion of disabled people in Canada. At the forum, disabled groups will have the opportunity to share their stories and release a national declaration that will call on governments to take action on making the country more inclusive and accessible for disabled people.
In the early 1990s, the federal government funded a plan in Newfoundland to close institutions that housed disabled people. The project, an attempt to integrate disabled people into the community, was intended to be as a model for the rest of the country, but that did not happen. Manitoba, for example, has invested millions in institutions in recent years. Dale Kendall, spokesperson for the Manitoba Association for Community Living, said the organization has filed a human rights complaint because the province refuses to close the Manitoba Development Centre, a facility that provides care and supervision to adults with a developmental disability. The association thinks the provincial government should try to integrate disabled people into the community instead of housing them in one place. "Three hundred and eighty people are either going live in the community for the rest of their lives or they are going to die in institutions," said Kendall.
"We'll continue to remind governments that there was a promise made in this country, a commitment made actually to embark on a certain journey and we really have only gotten halfway there," said Don Gallant, an advocate for the disabled in St. John's. Gallant, an architect of the Right Futures Project, said he is fighting to close institutions for disabled people that remain open. "When society generally places value on people with disabilities, then ultimately they will not be allowed to continue to live in these institutions," Gallant said.
Edgar Yetman, one of the first of more than 100 developmentally disabled residents to leave Waterford Hospital in St. John's, says he would never go back to the hospital where he lived for 20 years. Greg Taylor, Yetman's homecare worker for 13 years, said disabled Canadians, facing the same challenges should have Yetman's opportunities. "It's another promise broken, and it seems like it's always the ones who are less helpful for themselves who are always being booted."
Human Resources and Social Development Minister Diane Finley was expected to attend the forum, which will include sessions on current legislation covering people with disabilities and on ways to improve income and economic opportunities.
