Dozens of organizations have raised their voice to draw attention to the inadequate support for people with disabilities, saying that they have been left behind and have fallen through the cracks in comparison to other social groups receiving support in Canada.
Three months into the lockdown brought by the COVID-19 pandemic, advocates for people with disabilities are asking the government for financial help for a community they say has been forgotten, as per news reports.
People with disabilities constitute one of the most vulnerable social groups and are the worst impacted in situations of disasters and calamity. The Coronavirus pandemic that has gripped the world has also created a similar situation of the vulnerable communities.
“People with disabilities in many cases are already living below the poverty line, and now the living costs have become extraordinary for them,” said Christopher Sutton, CEO of Wavefront Centre for Communication Accessibility, a charitable organization for the deaf and hard of hearing, and spokesperson for the Disability Leadership Coalition.
The coalition has penned an open letter to the federal government pleading for a “dedicated financial assistance package” for people with disabilities. The letter has been signed by 65 organizations so far, including the Canadian Autism Spectrum Disorder Alliance, Canadian Labour Congress, Rick Hansen Foundation, Spinal Cord Injury Canada, and Women’s Shelter Canada, among others.
The letter praises the government for supporting people affected by the pandemic, including business owners, essential workers, students, Indigenous peoples, the homeless, women facing violence, seniors, seafood processors, dairy farmers, agricultural suppliers, energy companies, tourism companies, sports and cultural organizations, and others.
But despite the spirit of being in this together, the plight of people living with disabilities has been largely ignored and they feel “left behind,” the letter says.
