On October 3, 2013, the Ontario Legislative Assembly unanimously passed a motion to appoint a Select Committee on Developmental Services to investigate the province's current strategies for addressing the needs of children and adults with intellectual disabilities. Last Thursday, the committee issued their interim report.
For Chris Beesley, CEO of
Community Living Ontario, the report's release was a reassuring sign that "a broken system" might be on the mend.
"The interim report highlights many of the major issues in the system," says Beesley. "We've been saying for years that we're heading for a crisis and it's clear that the Select Committee understands that crisis is now upon us. I'm glad to see the committee really listening to families and to those of us in the sector.
"But," he adds, "the real nuts and bolts of this issue will be address when they come out with their final report."
The interim report, which cataloges issues that came up during the consultation process, does not include recommendations. A comprehensive strategy will be outlined in the final report, which is due in May of this year.
"We're excited to see what recommendations the committee ends up making," says Beesley. "It gives us another tool to say 'you know its not just us saying the system has to change, this independent committee is saying the same thing too, so lets get together and figure this out because now is the time'."
Community Living Ontario, a non-profit advocacy group for people with intellectual disabilities, has over 12,000 members and represents 107 local Community Living Associations across the province. For years, they have been among Ontario's loudest voices calling for provincial reform in the disability services sector.
According to Beesley, adults and families in Ontario dealing with intellectual disabilities contend daily with bureaucratic barriers and an underfunded and ill-equipped system.
One of the most egregious flaws in the system, says Beesley, is the way that supports drop off for adults with intellectual disabilities at the age of 18.
"At 18 you're suddenly an adult and all of a sudden you don't qualify for many of the services and supports you might have received as a child. It's not that your disability goes away, it's just that the system considers you an adult now so you're cut-off and have to reapply to everything again and get yourself on new waiting lists. And in the meantime, anything you and your family put in place in terms of support, like a residence or a worker you had to work with you, that's all gone."
But it's not just re-applying for services that's the problem, says Beesley. It's that at the end of all the re-applying, there's often only endless waiting lists for supports that never materialize.
"If we had more funding at least this process of reapplying as an adult, though problematic, would lead to something. If there was funding then at least you'd get something again, instead of nothing, which is often what happens."
The problems are so endemic that an Ontario Ombudsman report due later this year is also assessing the province’s developmental service sector.
Ombudsman André Marin announced the investigation in November 2012, after receiving a steadily increasing number of complaints about the Ministry of Community and Social Services from families and individuals with intellectual disabilities.
With two reports now on the way, Beesley sees 2014, as "an absolutley pivotal year in Ontario in our sector."
"The ombudsman, I think, is coming to that same conclusions that we have and that the select committee has. So that's another third party voice saying 'look the system is fractured and broken and we need to fix it'. Once the final reports come out we hope there will be a lot of constructive recommendations and that we can work with governments and other stakeholders and make changes happen.
"What we're all about at Community Living Ontario is choice and community inclusion and dignity...Most of us derive our self worth out of choice, voice, and inclusion. We need to make sure that dignity of person is available to everyone and this is our chance to get this right. Because, honestly, if we can't even get this right for one of our most vulnerable populations, that really doesn't speak well about us as a society."
Writer: Katia Snukal
Source: Chris Beesley, CEO, Community Living Ontario