This is the prepared text for my meeting today with Mitch Murphy, Treasury Minister.
Need for Disability Supports
There are 19,000 Islanders who have a qualified disability . Who are they? They are one in seven people you meet. If you have a large family one of your family will likely have a disability. They are friends, people in Rotary, Lions, Kinsmen, your church, political party, people you work with. Disability is not a childhood problem, per se. Most disabilities occur from middle life onward.
Since 1996 the Federal Government and the Provinces have been working on developing strategies to deal with the needs of those with disabilities, especially their disproportionate numbers below the low income ceiling. The governments have worked towards inclusion of persons with disabilities into the mainstream of society.
Those with disabilities have the following needs beyond pure medical care: a variety of assistive devices (wheelchairs, hearing aids, etc.), respite for family caregivers, community access supports, support for activities of daily living, supports within the home, educational supports, and employment related supports.
The PEI Disability Support Program was set up in 2001 to meet some of those unmet needs within certain classes of persons with disabilities. Excluded were mental disabilities, learning disabilities and those over 64 years old (seniors).
In 2004 the Provinces, Territories and the Federal Government, minus Quebec, again studied the problem of Canadians with Disabilities. Their report was released in December 2004 and is published on the DSP website and on the Federal website. The unmet needs were surveyed after the DSP was operating for more than 2 years so would include the benefit of the Program.
In the study’s review of some supports, the study found good news. Only 57% of adults require an assistive device. On PEI, that represents 10,800 people needing an assistive device. Of these, 67% or 7,200 already have there needs met by some source.
That leaves 3,500 Islanders with disabilities having an unmet need for an assistive device. Of those, 2,700 have their needs partially met. There are still 850 Islanders with disabilities who do not have their needs met for assistive devices.
The unmet needs for other “soft” supports are less well documented but one could reasonably believe them to be the same % or greater than the unmet needs for assistive devices.
Budget of DSP
The Disability Support Program was under funded from the beginning. The program rolled up the Family Assistance and EAPD programs plus $1.6 million of additional money. This was spread across 900 new applicants creating budget stress. The stress on the families of those with disabilities was enormous. Many Human Rights complaints arose including 4 that were in HRC hearings this year.
Simply put, the program is not fully funded to meet the needs of its constituents and its stated goals. Bob Creed of the Department admitted this in sworn testimony at the Human Rights Commission hearings. He also stated that this under funding resulted in budget overruns every year in the $500,000 level.
Last spring the Province removed $651,000 from the DSP budget all the while increase funding for other departments in Social Services and Seniors by an average of 5%. This resulted in an effective cutback of $1 million dollars for the DSP. With so many outstanding unmet needs, this cutback was seriously felt by Islanders with disabilities.
Will the Province please return the $1 million to the DSP budget and add whatever average increase is provided to other social programs in PEI? That means the budget for the DSP in 2007 / 2008 should be $9.1 million plus the average increase granted other health and social programs.
This will be the minimum amount required to restoring the DSP to its goals of providing inclusion for Islanders with disabilities.
Footnote
It was a wild and wooly meeting. The Minister gave me an opening statement – unusual. The deputy was in a fighting mood. Sparks were flying. I’ll try to give a full report tomorrow.
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