Disability Alert nominates the 8,980 Senior Islanders with Disabilities who are unknown to Minister Sherry

Forgotten seniors with disabilities (image: Stratford Meals on Wheels)

Dear Honorable Janice Sherry, Minister of Community Services, Seniors and Labour,

We, that is Disability Alert, wish to nominate for PEI Senior Islanders of the Year Award the 8,980 Islanders who are 65 years of age and older living with disabilities. 

Your press release said “The PEI Senior Islanders of the Year Award offers us an opportunity to say ‘thank you’ to those older adults who make such significant contributions to our Island communities,” said Minister Sherry. “I encourage everyone who knows older adults deserving of recognition to submit a nomination form and honour these unsung heroes.”

These 8,980 Senior Islanders have lived their lives on PEI, paid their taxes, raised families, worked at their jobs and contributed to their communities.

They sit and wait, silently for the Government of Prince Edward Island to give them the same assistance given younger people. They don’t complain much. They don’t have a voice to cry out but they are there, waiting patiently for you to acknowledge them.

We know the exist because Statistics Canada has counted them twice.  In the PALS 2001, Statistics Canada reported 7,520 Islanders 65 years and older lived with disabilities. In 2006 the number had increased to 8,990.

They have sacrificed their lives to give beyond what they are physically, emotionally and financially able. There are 8,980 Senior Islanders living everyday with some disability that impacts their lives.

When Minister Jamie Ballem set up the PEI Disability Support Program, he forgot the Senior Islanders with Disabilities. The PEI DSP provides assistance to people with disabilities for unmet needs including assistive devices, home and respite care and transportation expenses.

The disabled were not allowed to apply for assistance after their 65th birthday. Minister Chester Gillan forgot them too. So did Minister Doug Currie. Minister Gillan said they could get wheelchairs somewhere else but they can’t.

Now that you are Minister for both seniors and those living with disabilities, we hope you won’t forget that Senior Islanders with Disabilities exist.

Everyday Senior Islanders with Disabilities sacrifice a little more of themselves, more than anyone else.

About 3,000 of those  Senior Islanders with Disabilities need some help getting a wheelchair, hearing aid, bathroom adapters, grasping tools or other assistive device. The reason seniors don’t have what they need for their disability is they can’t afford it. Your department gets these for younger people but not seniors.

There aren’t many working age adults or children with disabilities who don’t have their needs met. Senior Islanders with Disabilities have been sacrificing their daily needs for young folks all their lives. Isn’t it time we recognized that and treated them fairly?

We want you to open your eyes, read the reports and see the 8,980 Island Seniors with Disabilities. Sharon Cameron, your Deputy Minister, has the PALS 2006 report. Ask her for a copy.

We tried to open the eyes of the PEI Disability Services Review Committee in 2009 but they didn’t want to see the facts.  They forgot to tell Minister Currie there were 8,940 Island Seniors with disabilities not getting wheelchairs, hearing aids and other assistive devices.  They were so careful in keeping those 8,940 Island Seniors with Disabilities a secret, they didn’t mention them once in the final report. Those committee members were: Theresa Aitken, Bridget Cairns, Corrina Costain, Winnie Fraser-MacKay, Sharon Gallant, Shelley Watts, Twilah Stone, Charlene Stevens, Kevin Porter, and Kathy Pilkington.

We want to thank you for accepting this nomination on behalf of the 8,980 Senior Islanders with Disabilities.

We are sure you will find no other nominees more qualified or who have made more “significant contributions to our Island communities.”

Please note we took you at your word when nominating 8,840 Seniors Islanders with disabilities since the award is in the plural as in “Islanders”.

Yours truly,

Stephen Pate, Disability Alert Inc.

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