Major Recommendations
The Premier’s Council on the Status of Persons with Disabilities has made 168 recommendations concerning policies, programs and initiatives affecting the lives of persons with disabilities. A complete list of these recommendations is contained in the companion document Alberta Disability Strategy Core Supports and Appendices. The Premier’s Council believes that implementation of these recommendations will enable all Albertans to fully participate in all aspects of Alberta society. There are, however, several major recommendations that the Premier’s Council believes are priorities for action.
A common element within all the recommendations is the need for government to better coordinate and enforce policies and programs impacting persons with disabilities. Lack of overall coordination and interdepartmental cooperation results in many departments and agencies offering services that are not complementary, overlap or are in conflict with each other. The government has legislation in place now that was created to remove many access and involvement barriers but poor enforcement of policies and regulations, such as Building Code standards, means persons with disabilities continue to face major restrictions, challenges and frustrations in their daily lives.
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Albertans should be made more aware of the rights, needs and aspirations of persons with disabilities.
Attitudinal and systemic barriers add significantly to the daily challenges faced by Albertans with disabilities. Preconceived attitudes, inappropriate behaviours, and limited expectations among the general public and service providers prevent persons with disabilities from achieving their full potential. Aboriginals are particularly hard hit by such barriers as they also face other systemic impediments related to their heritage and culture.
Social marketing programs in health promotion, such as AADAC’s anti-drug campaign, have proven effective. It is recommended a similar approach be introduced across the province to emphasize the abilities and untapped potential of persons with disabilities. This general public awareness should be supported by communications and promotion targeting key audiences such as employers, government workers, the hospitality industry and others.
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The Government of Alberta must ensure that the needs of persons with disabilities related to their daily living activities are met.
Personal care, communication, shelter, and mobility are fundamental needs most Albertans take for granted. But Albertans with disabilities need daily living supports in order for them to participate in recreational, social, employment, or learning activities. Without basic support, and the assurance that this support will be provided, many disabled Albertans cannot be a part of the community.
Alberta has a wide variety of programs in place to help Albertans overcome barriers and be more independent. However, these programs are largely uncoordinated, often inadequate and difficult to access. Services available privately are expensive and beyond the reach of most individuals and their families.
Access to adequate, affordable technical aids and equipment, personal services such as home care and other aids to daily living, transportation and accessible housing must be assured if persons with disabilities are to develop their abilities and have equal opportunities to be involved in everyday life.
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A commitment should be made to embrace the principles of universal accessibility and a process put in place to remove physical barriers from public spaces so that all Albertans can fully participate in all community, employment and business activities.
For many, the inability to gain access to buildings and other environmental spaces, and/or move about with reasonable ease often limits their ability to equitably participate in activities related to citizen engagement, employment, and other activities of business and commerce. Current building codes are often inadequate to guard against developers, builders, employers, and even government from seeking exclusions and ducking their responsibilities to proactively address access issues.
To participate fully, persons with disabilities need to be able to get to and move about the community as freely and unencumbered as any citizen. It is understood that there are reasonable limits to access but these should be defined by the nature of the environment, not by a property owner or manager. Not every environment can be made accessible to a wheelchair or made safe for a person with a visual impairment to navigate alone, but it must be done wherever and whenever such access is possible.
Government alone could go a long way in achieving and demonstrating the value of inclusion by incorporating accessibility as a basic principle in the design and construction of public spaces. A commitment by government to assess, plan and respond to the issue of access in all public spaces – as a provider of services and as a prospective employer – would send a strong message to the public regarding the importance of enabling all Albertans to fully participate in a broad spectrum of activities.
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The Government of Alberta’s current system of appeals should be governed by the rules of administrative law (quasi-judicial), and become more transparent and respectful of the needs of persons with disabilities.
Persons with disabilities have concerns about the effectiveness and fairness of the appeal process in a number of government departments, agencies, commissions and authorities. Although Canadian and Alberta laws guarantee equality and protection from discrimination, many Albertans often cannot obtain support or services without going through complex and drawn out appeals.
The appeal systems fail to recognize the additional difficulties individuals face in understanding the issues, accessing the systems and working effectively through the processes. It is important that government programs for persons with disabilities have speedy, objective, independent, transparent and advocate-supported appeal processes.
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The Government of Alberta should create a single, province-wide program that integrates current disability support programs and funding under one philosophy and set of criteria. This community support model would provide individualized support, enabling persons with disabilities to have choice in the marketplace and independently make decisions about their needs and service providers.
All three levels of government have a responsibility to develop, organize, fund and deliver programs for persons with disabilities. There is a pressing need for better coordination, a more comprehensive approach, and a model that ensures safety and security, self-determination, individualized funding and community inclusion for all Albertans.
Users need more involvement in designing programs and services, and deciding what can best meet their individual needs. Transition from one part of the province to another, or from one government program to another, should be seamless. The community supports model would help to fill gaps and inadequacies in existing service arrangements.
This model, which is similar to one recommended by the Premier’s Council in a 1990 action plan, would envelope all government departments and regional authorities that provide services to persons with disabilities.
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The Government of Alberta should improve access for persons with disabilities to education by linking and integrating education resources, setting standards for special education programs, ensuring all education facilities are physically accessible, reviewing the enrolment appeal process at schools, expanding counselling support, and monitoring implementation of the recommendations of Alberta Learning’s Review of Special Education in Alberta.
The Alberta School Act guarantees that all children in Alberta will have access to an education system that addresses their unique needs. Despite this legislated right, students with disabilities continue to face fragmented and uncoordinated services, funding issues, unfair appeal processes, and inadequate staff training and support. These barriers block efforts to obtain a suitable primary, secondary or post-secondary education.
Studies have shown a clear link between a person’s level of education and the likelihood of finding employment or living in poverty. And education levels for Albertans with disabilities are lower than population norms. Improving learning opportunities for all Albertans and providing adequate learning supports and resources will enable individuals with disabilities to fulfil their potential and increase their economic and social independence.
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The Government of Alberta should separate income support programs from personal support programs so that persons with disabilities are not automatically penalized for earning an income and becoming part of the workforce.
Currently, eligibility for personal supports like home care, living aids and access to transportation are tied to income status. Government income support programs such as Assured Income for the Severely Handicapped (AISH) are connected to services that help provide for basic living needs but these are lost once a person becomes employed or otherwise ineligible for an income support program. Personal supports, therefore, are often viewed as charity for impoverished people rather than a support for independent living.
The ability to pay for one’s own basic needs does not take into account that a person with a disability still needs personal supports to maintain work status or continue to participate in community life. Nor does it recognize that the cost for a person with a disability to maintain a standard of living comparable to a non-disabled Albertan is substantially higher.
The fear of losing invaluable personal supports once employed is a training or work disincentive for many Albertans. More people would be encouraged to seek economic independence if this fear was removed.
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Alberta employers and governments should provide long-term support and commitment to persons with disabilities attempting to enter the workforce and to participate on public boards, commissions or committees.
A significant investment in time and effort is needed to create and sustain job opportunities for persons with disabilities and to make them “employment ready”. An appropriate level of employment support does not currently exist in Alberta nor are existing programs well coordinated.
More on-going partnerships among people with disabilities, service organizations, corporations, and governments are required to achieve integrated employment supports. In order to meet the holistic needs of persons with disabilities, government departments must work more closely together to integrate services like income support, home care, career counselling, and job training. Employment support programs must also move beyond job preparation/search and look to meeting basic workplace needs such as transportation, physical access, and on the job integration.
