LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Editor:
The provincial government’s Disability Services Review report was released last week. Thirty-eight pages long, it is silent on the needs of Islanders with disabilities for wheelchairs, walkers, hearing aids and other disability aids. Who are they? How many people need help? What kind of help do they need?
According to Statistics Canada, as of June, 4,300 Islanders with disabilities need specialized equipment. The Disability Support Program only helps 1,100 Islanders. With 4,300 more Islanders that need help, one wonders why the 11 people who wrote the report did not tell us.
Islanders need 1,400 hearing and 300 vision aids. Wheelchairs or other mobility aids are needed by 1,100 Islanders. Agility aids are needed by 410 people. 1,200 Islanders who suffer from a pain disability need help. Learning aids are needed by another 210 Islanders.
Surprisingly, 230 children on P.E.I. need technical aids, 1,600 seniors need a wheelchair, walker or other device. The needs among children and seniors are a shame to P.E.I. In my opinion, it is the result of a penny-pinching government that spends its money on non-essentials.
Half of working-age adults with disabilities on P.E.I. have unmet needs for technical aids. They have no health insurance and are part of the working poor.
Most needs on P.E.I. are met from the disabled person’s own resources or family, reports Statistics Canada. Only 11 per cent of needs are paid by the government on P.E.I. The high cost of assistive devices was cited by 60 per cent of Islanders for not getting the disability device they need, reports Statistics Canada.
The June 2008 report is called PALS 2006. It is based on the national survey of Canadians “whose daily activities are limited by a physical, mental, or other health-related condition or problem.” Disabilities limit the everyday life of half of those with mobility, agility and pain disabilities.
These are real people – mothers, fathers, children, our parents – 4,300 of P.E.I.’s weakest citizens, including small children who need help.
We call on the government to meet its election promise to include seniors in the DSP and to work towards closing the gap on people who need help.
Stephen Pate,
P.E.I. Disability Alert
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