RON RYDER
The Guardian
Disability Alert offered cake to the health minister Friday as it pressed him to commit to added funds in the controversial Disability Support Program.
But Chester Gillan wasn’t biting.
Gillan was joined by government staff and flanked by Liberal MLA Richard Brown and NDP Leader Dean Constable when he attended Disability Alert’s press conference, aimed at “celebrating” the first anniversary of what group founder Stephen Pate calls major cuts to support for Islanders with physical and intellectual challenges.
Government says there was no policy change behind the drop of DSP spending to $8.1 million last year from $8.6 million the year before. But Pate says there has to have been a conscious effort to control costs by refusing requests for assistance.
“If there is less money it’s a cutback. If there’s more money it’s an increase. I’m not going to play the semantics game. . . If the Disability Support Program had increased at around the level of every other program we would have received something like $9.1 million instead of the number that was in the budget,” he told the small crowd gathered at The Guild in Charlottetown.
He offered Gillan a bright blue cake decorated to mark the cut’s birthday, but the minister recommended they take the cake to the food bank instead.
Pate said he’d like to see restrictions removed from the Disability Support Program so that it can more flexibly meet Islanders’ needs. While seniors are currently served by programs outside the DSP, Pate said they should have recourse to disability support when those programs say no.
“By the time they reach the age of 65, one in three people will have a disability. By the time they reach 75, the number is one in two,” he said.
Gillan said disability supports are constantly being reviewed for fairness and effectiveness, but he wasn’t making any promises of new funding in the budget expected April 10.
“P.E.I. has been very responsive,” he said.
Gillan said the whole point of setting up the DSP in 2001 was to separate disability supports from government’s social assistance system. He said they have been working under the mission since and the dip in spending last year reflected changes in demand.
“I don’t think there has been any request that hasn’t been taken seriously or that has been callously disregarded,” he said.
The minister said services for the disabled don’t stop with the DSP. He said government supports some 29 non-governmental groups that work with disabled persons, while teaching assistance in the education system and various housing programs offer other services to people with physical and mental challenges.
Brown said Pate may get his wish for more promises of support, at least during the election season. He said the long-term stability might change if the Tories are elected again.
“I was very disappointed, during the human rights hearings on support for people with autism, to see parents testifying about the need for help and have government lawyers cross-examining them,” he said.
Constable said he doesn’t think that government should be counting pennies when it comes to disability programs.
“We need to increase funding because we believe that disabled people have the same right as anybody else to be out in the community and live an active life,” he said.
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