It was good news to hear that Mitch Murphy had turned the province’s forecast deficit of $12 million to a $1.3 million surplus. That is until I remembered that the savings came on the backs of Islanders with disabilities.
Last spring, the government took $1 million from the budget of the Disability Support Program. That meant fewer wheelchairs, walkers, scooters, less respite care, less community access money – less of everything the DSP was created to provide.
Maybe the cuts partially explain why only 5% of Islanders with disabilities are getting help under the program. And why those 5% are getting less help this year as a result of budget cuts.
Now the government has let the disabled bleed for a year, maybe they will have some social conscience and put the money back into the Disability Support Program. Or are they just too hard-hearted and tight fisted?
jypsy
Did your work on the Baker Consulting Report shed any light on the reasons why only 5% of disabled Islanders are on the DSP? I assume there are a number, like Mr. Gary Gray, who choose not to take the abuse and opted out or never opted in. Others, perhaps like some of those who took on the DSP at the Human Rights Commission, because of means testing, maybe do not qualify. Are people being turned away or deterred (in other ways besides Mr. Gray’s example) from applying?