PEI’s Acting Information and Privacy Commissioner ruled this week that the Department of Social Services and Seniors may no longer use the Disability Support Program Screening Tool.
By Stephen Pate – Karen Rose, acting Privacy Commissioner, said “The use by the Public Body (Department of Social Services and Seniors) of the Non-Function Questions in the DSP Screening Tool violates Part II of the Freedom and Information and Protection of Privacy Act…”
CBC news story
“This is a great day for Islanders living with disabilities,” said Stephen Pate the complainant. “We finally got rid of the DSP Screening Tool which was used to abuse Islanders not help them.”
Karen Rose, PEI Privacy Commissioner
On December 6, 2006, Stephen Pate a director of PEI Disability Alert, filed a complaint against the use of 42 questions contained in the Screening Tool.
Pate contended that 70% of the information collected by the DSP was personal in nature and excluded by the Protection of Privacy Act.
The Department of Social Services and Seniors responded that it needed the information to administer the program.
Evidence showed that DSP employees were not administering the questionnaire at all times. Therefore the Acting Commissioner ruled the questions were not necessary and therefore outside the law.
Some of the questions asked by the Screening Tool that Pate objected to were “Are you self-abusive?” and “Are you sexually inappropriate?
“The DSP is long overdue for a thorough review and reform,” said Pate. “The Liberals announced this review and reform in their election platform. Now is the time to begin the process. 19,000 Islanders living with disabilities are looking to the government for relief. Getting rid of the DSP Screening Tool is one step in the process,” added Pate.
In a separate ruling, the PEI Human Rights Commission ruled in June that the DSP Screening Tool was inappropriate for children. The government announced it would seek a replacement.
On August 22nd 2007, Sharon Cameron the Deputy Minister of Social Services and Seniors wrote the Acting Privacy Commissioner that the Department was no longer using the screening tool.
Rose acknowledged the Department had discontinued use of the screening tool. She further recommended that any replacement tool “undergo a comprehensive Privacy Impact Assessment prior to …implementation.”
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PEI Disability Alert is a not-for-profit group providing advocacy support to Islanders with disabilities.
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