Disability Alert leader worried by silence on issues

Stephen Pate, leader of Disability Alert, a group advocating for the rights of the disabled, says he is worried about his issues disappearance from the provincial election campaign. Guardian photo

RON RYDER
Link: The Guardian

The leader of a group that advocates for the rights of the disabled is getting restless over his issue’s disappearance from the provincial election agenda.

Stephen Pate of Disability Alert has spent much of the election season on his own “Campaign of Hope” going to political events and presenting politicians with material arguing to an improvement to the province’s Disability Support Program.

“Are we going to get these people to take time to talk about disability in what is looking like a chaotic last week? I hope so.”

Early in the campaign, Pate said he wasn’t terrifically impressed by either the Conservative pledge to keep the funding promised in April’s budget or by the Liberal vow to make the Island disability tax credits match the federal credit.

But since then he’s been worried about what he sees as silence on the issue.

“In the legislature, there was time when the issues of disability came up on nine … days,” he said.

“And it wasn’t just the DSP, they were talking about learning disabilities about support in schools and communities. People were really digging into this. Basically now it’s nothing.”

Pate said he thought he had some success when he called a recent radio debate and got the leaders of the Island’s four political parties to lay out their disability plans in concrete terms.

He said the final days of the campaign may not be auspicious for his cause.

“This week was supposed to be about social issues and the two main parties said they’d have announcements on disability supports,” Pate said.

“Now with the poll results and it looking like there could be a change in government, they may shift priorities. There might be someone saying disability affects 14 per cent of the population, but we need an issue that affects 70 per cent.”

“Are we going to get these people deciding to take the time to talk about disability in what is looking like a chaotic last week? I don’t know. I hope so.”