Disabilities

Fairness for People with Disabilities

publicpower means that people with disabilities should have the same rights to get good jobs, good education, access good health care, travel by public transit, live in affordable housing and be safe without facing barriers. It means ensuring fairness for people with disabilities by passing laws with real teeth. Everyone has an interest in ensuring people with disabilities are treated fairly.

Terry O'Connor and the NDP would link Ontario Disability Support Program payments to the cost of living. Too many people with disabilities are forced to live below the poverty line.

Conservatives: Conservatives have shown through their inaction that this is not a priority for them. When finally passed after much stalling, the Conservatives' watered-down Ontarians with Disabilities Act (ODA) was roundly criticized for:

• Lacking regulations and standards
• Letting the private sector off the hook
• Not breaking down any existing physical or systemic barriers
• Not offering either timelines or money to guarantee so-called "accessibility" plans will ever be followed
• Failing to follow the 11 principles unanimously agreed to in the Legislature
• Not achieving the barrier-free society the government describes in its own vision statement.

The Conservative government has created a confusing and inaccessible application process for Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) assistance. Many eligible recipients are denied benefits just because they can't meet the complicated and stressful application requirements. The ODSP Action Coalition calls this "denial by design".

Despite ODSP payments being frozen for 10 years, during which time the cost of living has risen by 20 per cent, the Conservatives have refused to increase them.

Liberals: Liberals won't link disability payments to the cost of living, a bedrock commitment people with disabilities deserve.

A recently release letter from the Liberals regarding disability issues says they "will provide a cost of living increase for participants in the Ontario Disability Support Program." This is a vastly different from promising, as the NDP has, to "link Ontario Disability Support Program payments to the cost of living."

A token increase isn't good enough. The cost of living rises by an average of two per cent a year.

NDP: Howard Hampton and the NDP would work with people with disabilities to enact, within one year, a strong, new Ontarians with Disabilities Act that sets enforceable accessibility guidelines and timelines for all sectors. Besides linking ODSP payments to the cost of living, the NDP would overhaul the current complicated and frustrating process of applying for ODSP assistance to ensure efficient and accessible supports.

publicpower would ensure prompt assessment of special needs children and education supports they need within the public school system. It ensures that post-secondary grants are available to accommodate the extra time many disabled students need to complete their college and university degrees.

We would create a single coordinating body, a full program audit and catalogue on programs, information and services for people with disabilities for easier access and more flexibility for catering to individualized needs.

We'd ensure fairness with a Charter of Rights for Persons with Disabilities that would include specific commitments to accessible public transit and accessible, affordable housing.

Howard Hampton and the NDP would ensure that 10 per cent of new affordable housing in urban areas and 5 per cent of new affordable housing in rural areas is built to be fully accessible, while making sure all accessible units have subsidies available if needed. A portion of increased transit funding would be dedicated to fully accessible transit.

Additional Background

There are more than 1.9 million people in Ontario with disabilities. There are more than 250,000 people receiving ODSP assistance. A single person receives $930/month and a single parent with one child under 13 receives $1424/month.

Over 50 per cent of applicants to ODSP are denied benefits, but half of those who appeal are successful in overturning the denial of benefits. This creates a costly and inefficient process that is time-consuming and stressful for applicants.

ODSP rates have been frozen since 1993, and since then the cost of living has gone up nearly 20 per cent in Ontario. Rents have increased 30 per cent or more in some areas of the province, since the Conservatives scrapped rent control.

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