Why are the disabled represented by able people?

By Stephen Pate

Why are people with disabilities represented by able people? Women don’t have men leading their groups.

Today I had lunch at the LEAF PEI meeting. I was the only male in the group.

LEAF, Women’s Legal Action and Education Fund, is a national organization that works toward ensuring the law guarantees equality for women in Canada.

While women have taken control of their agenda, those living with disabilities are still under the control of non-disabled people at the organizational and government level.

The problems of women are quite similar to those living with disabilities under the Charter. Only long hard fought legal and political action will improve the lot of either group in society.

Women have made advancements over the two decades since the Charter was adopted. For those living with disabilities the gains have been slower.

For example, the Province announced in the Throne Speech they would work towards gender equality in the Provincial civil service. The Province did not announce any new programs to ensure employment equity for persons living with disabilities. Therefore, while it may hire more women and appoint them to higher positions, the Province continues to lag behind in the employment and advancement of persons with disabilities.

The Federal civil service has a rich body of laws, regulations and policies to ensure both gender and disability equity. 8% of the Federal civil servants on PEI are persons with disabilities.

On another issue, women are generally in control of the organizations that represent them to government. We could not even imagine a male acting for the PEI Advisory Council on the Status of Women. Anyone making that suggestion would get run out of town on a rail.

By way of comparison, the Province formed an eleven person panel to review services for the disabled and only one person has a disability. That person was unable to make the meetings and no one questioned why.

I was a consultant to the Committee and my presence drove them to distraction until they forced my resignation. The basic truth was they didn’t want to hear how people with disabilities felt. Period.

Most of the disability non-government agencies on PEI are led by able people, not people with disabilities.

We are patronizingly told that we can’t represent our self which is the same as saying women can’t represent themselves.

No wonder our progress is slow. We don’t control the agenda. The agenda is controlled by able people who are the oppressors.

In the multi-billion dollar disability business of suppliers and professionals, the disabled are the grist for the mill. We are the “product” or the “clients” who ensure every one else lives high off the hog while our real needs are ignored.