Charity model of disability includes the obscene and abusive Jerry Lewis and Easter Seals telethons

Jerry Lewis abuses the disabled in the name of "charity"

Charity is not enough to raise those living with disabilities to the same level as every one else in society.

For instance, Easter Seals raises $150,000 annually which is a substantial amount of money. The PEI Disability Support Program budget is $11 million and needs to be $20 million. Charity is not enough.

The rights of PEI’s disabled are protected in the same sentence in the Canadian Charter as women and same sex couples.

15. (1) Every individual is equal before and under the law and has the right to the equal protection and equal benefit of the law without discrimination and, in particular, without discrimination based on race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, age or mental or physical disability.

How long before we are protected from bigots like UPEI who removed disabled parking to make the campus prettier?

Disability Support is not about charity: it’s about human rights. Charity is periodically feeling sorry/guilty and giving money to the United Way, Easter Seals or some group who provide services to people who are in need. Charity will not provide for the real needs of Islanders with disabilities.

Human rights is a concept from the last half of the 20th century. The industrial revolution of the 19th century created two opposing political forces: socialism and fascism.

Those socialism, fascism and capitalism fought it out in World War II as the fascists tried to push back the socialists desire to share the world’s wealth. Nazi’s atrocities encouraged the world through the United Nations to develop the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

“The Universal Declaration of Human Rights sets out a list of inalienable human rights. …Among these rights include the right to life, the right to not be tortured or enslaved, and to not be unfairly persecuted. The Declaration also grants freedom of thought, expression, and religion. The cultural rights laid out include the right to marriage, education, employment, food, and shelter.”

Human Rights: The Pursuit of an ideal

These were lofty goals that became the focus of western political thought and process, spurred on by the horrors of the Nazi atrocities. It is amazing that something so righteous could come from something so evil.

Pierre Elliot Trudeau, a post-war thinker turned Canadian Prime Minister, said “Canada must be a just society”. This was a philosophic paraphrase of the Human Rights charter, sentiments shared by many Canadians and by other prime ministers like Diefenbaker.

The problem with Human Rights is that while the concept is grand, the implementation is always difficult.

How does a country guarantee the right to marriage, education, employment, food and shelter?

Trudeau implemented many social programs, spurred on to some extent by socialist NDP politicians. This made Trudeau the lightning rod of right wing conservatives who pushed against socialism and human rights.

Trudeau knew that human rights by legislation were always at risk. He pushed for and got the Canadian Charter which albeit imperfectly sought to enshrine our basic human rights in Canada.

The provinces for the most part resisted the Constitution since it restricted their ability to pass laws that might discriminate against citizens.

Society resists equality for minorities

Social change is much harder than legislation, even Constitutional change.

While we gained freedom from discrimination on the basis of sexual preference in the Charter, it took 25 years for same sex couples to get the right to marry. And some politicians would still like to roll back the clock.

All of a sudden, people with physical or mental disabilities had a Charter right to be treated without discrimination. While this was a great concept on paper, it took decades for anything resembling a proactive government program to appear.

In 2001, the government tried to bridge the gap with the Disability Support Program on Prince Edward Island. The PEI DSP attempted to provide a framework for delivering Human Rights to the disabled. The Program was a great effort stymied by limited funds and a desire to save money.

The wheels went off the cart. The DSP became a source of Human Rights complaints not a solution to Human Rights problems. The government circled the wagons and tried to defend itself instead of resolving the issues.

Today on PEI there are major human rights issues with the DSP. Whole classes of society are denied basic human rights like seniors with disabilities, the mentally disabled, and the learning disabled. The government is dragging its heels to resolve the problems while people suffer.

We have made progress but it’s not enough while people can be denied education, employment and access to society.

Disability rights and the DSP are not charity. We should not have to beg the government to help seniors with wheelchairs. The fact we are reduced to begging, especially at election time, shows how little progress we have made to provide real Human Rights to all citizens.