Disability White Paper Consultation

Submitted by: Rick Hansen Foundation

March 11, 2014

Introduction

In this province, in this country and around the world, disability is far-reaching. Fifteen percent of the world’s population, or 1 billion people, have a disability. It is the world’s biggest minority and one any one of us could become a part of at any time.Opportunity and inclusion should be granted to each member of society, but in practice this is not always the case. Many people with disabilities face barriers that limit accessibility, inclusion, and, by extension, quality of life.

Rick Hansen Foundation

At the Rick Hansen Foundation (RHF), it is our aim to break down the barriers faced by people with disabilities to create a more accessible and inclusive society for people with spinal cord injuries (SCI), and other disabilities.

The following submission provides several recommendations, based upon our extensive engagement with British Columbians with disabilities over many years, we believe can make a measurable positive impact on their daily quality of life, and improve the civil society of the province.

Supporting Provincial Priorities

RHF and key partners – including the Government of British Columbia – are mitigating the unsustainable human and economic costs of SCI and other disabilities by delivering programs that boost the innovation, efficiency, and success of services for people with disabilities. But more work can and must be done to ensure barriers for people with disabilities in this province are removed in their entirety.

To create inclusion that is meaningful and long-term, action must be taken across a number of broad areas including:

  • Advanced Education
  • Community, Sport, and Cultural Development
  • Education
  • Health
  • Social Development and Social Innovation
  • Technology, Innovation and Citizen’s Service

Services and programs that are multi-faceted, function across various ministry goals, and support the fulfillment of a variety of needs of people with disabilities are the best approach to break down barriers and build a more accessible and inclusive society. Government needs to pay particular attention to the challenges of servicing people with disabilities across its entire spectrum of programs.

Recommendations

  1. Government should conduct a thorough assessment of the limiting factors for the uptake of recommendations in past projects. There has been substantial, progressive work done, but the implementation of change continues to be inhibited. Therefore, an explicit examination of the obstacles and barriers faced in taking action is required in order to avoid similar problems in future projects.
  2. The cost of confinement should be examined. That is, if no action is taken to remove barriers for people with disabilities, what are the costs faced by society and government? These costs may be financial and/or societal and may span across areas such as health care, EI, disability, etc. This process should be followed by an examination of current policy and what needs changing for policy adjustment.
  3. In addition to the development of a comprehensive action plan, suchas the Province of Ontario’s “Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities,” government should develop a legislative framework to buttress and support the plan and ensure its adoption and implementation.
  1. Because disability issues cross many departmental and agency mandates, the government should create a mechanism within the Premier’s’ office or treasury board (or reporting to), that integrates the mandate of various policies and programs to reduce and ultimately eliminate the negative consequences one agency’s actions have on the others look to other jurisdictions for proven best practices. Other provinces, and many countries around the world have implemented, and evaluated, innovative approaches. Let’s learn from them.
  2. Partnering with non-government organizations with expertise, existing resources and networks provides a cost-effective way to create broad social change. Additionally, partnerships with social and private sectors areneeded to engage all of society for lasting, meaningful and impactful change.
  3. With fiscal mindfulness as a key priority, the development of innovative models of sustainable funding is necessary for support of any plan of action. While action from the government will spur the change process, gaps in action will exist and will need to be addressed by new funding models and partnerships.

Future Consultation

We are extremely thankful to have the opportunity to provide feedback during this process of building a stronger, more accessible and more inclusive province. We look forward to being a part of the process moving forward. For any questions, please contact RHF by:

E-mail:

Phone:778-296-1507

Toll Free: 1-800-213-2131

Fax: 604-295-8159

Mail: Doramy Ehling

Rick Hansen Foundation

300-3820 Cessna Drive, Richmond, BC, Canada, V7B 0A2