| Cutbacks in Hearing Health Care Services | December 31, 2001 |
| Reprinted
with permission from the Women
with Disabilities Electronic Discussion List On the last day of 2001, I was outraged to read an article in a recent issue of Toronto Star, entitled "Hearing test cutbacks aren't discriminatory, court rules", written by Harold Levy, regarding Cutbacks in Hearing Health Care Services. Although this is an Ontario story, I think the ruling by the Ontario Divisional Court that the new restrictions on OHIP (Ontario Health Insurance Plan) coverage of hearing tests do NOT discriminate against people who are deaf and hard-of-hearing, should be of concern to all Canadians affected by a disability. These new restrictions that took effect on August 13th 2001 require audiologists to work under "direct doctor supervision and delisted hearing-aid evaluations and re-evaluations from OHIP coverage". No surprise that these new restrictions were designed to save OHIP an alleged $50 million annually. In response, a coalition of groups of/for people who are hearing impaired (Canadian Hearing Society, the Canadian Hard of Hearing Association, Voice for Hearing Impaired Children, Ontario Cochlear Implant Support Group & the Ontario Association of the Deaf) took the Ontario government to court claiming the new restrictions were discriminatory and would result in long waiting lists and financial hardship for vulnerable persons who were hearing impaired including children, seniors and the poor. For the coalition to launch an appeal would involve an amount of money the coalition does not have. And this what I find so tragic... the lack of $ available to such a coalition to appeal this ruling, is prohibitive given that these organizations who form the coalition are already stretched to the limit with their budgets to maintain their infrastructures and continue their programs and services. How easy it appears to be for the Ontario government to target cutbacks in services to vulnerable people ... people who not have ready or easy access to the kind of capital required to effectively challenge such changes. And I guess the point I am trying to make is how we as women/persons with a diversity of disabilities can best support initiatives for change... be they from whatever particular sector of the disability community. I hope that in the new year, we will see more collaboration within the disability movement so that such an issue will be an issue that we can fight together, as "our" issue rather than just an issue of the deaf/hard-of-hearing community. And likewise, for issues affecting people who are blind, or people with physical disabilities, multiple chemical sensitivities, mental health, learning disabilities, people living with the effects of infectious diseases, etc etc etc. warm regards & best wishes to all for the new year Barbara Anello To provide feedback,
email dawn@thot.net You can read more about the discussion list at http://dawn.thot.net/list.html
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