Canadian Federation of the Blind (CFB)
Phone (250) 598-7154
Toll-free 1-800-619-8789
Fax (250) 595-4849
E-mail info@cfb.ca
Web site www.CFB.ca
Improving
Opportunities for Blind British Columbians
Brief
/ Written Recommendations
For
the
2006
Budget Consultation Paper
This written submission
provides specific recommendations for improving opportunities for blind people
in
Summary of
Recommendations
1. Persons applying for public assistance disability benefits because of blindness should be presumed eligible provided they meet the legal definition of blindness.
2. The province should assign staff to evaluate all
programs which serve blind people, with the objective of consolidation and co-ordination
of blindness-specific services in a publicly-accountable framework.
3. The province should enter into meaningful and ongoing consultation with organized blind consumers, such as the Canadian Federation of the Blind, to develop objectives and improve services.
4. Government should report all statistics concerning disability in a manner which makes it possible to identify the impact of programs on blind people.
5. All contracts to serve blind people should be evaluated based on their outcomes.
Explanation of
Recommendations
The
Canadian Federation of the Blind encourages a model of service delivery in
which blindness-specific programs empower and are accountable to blind people.
We also believe blind people should not be required to surrender their dignity
in order to receive financial assistance and that the program should be
structured to create incentives for independence and self-support.
The current welfare system
has an enormous impact on blind people. Although Statistics Canada does not
keep specific data, the Canadian Federation of the Blind estimates that seventy
to ninety per cent of blind British Columbians between the ages of eighteen and
sixty-five are either unemployed or severely underemployed. Many must rely on
public assistance.
Blind British Columbians
receive financial support if they meet income and resource requirements and can
prove that their blindness makes them unemployable. This last requirement is
destructive. Society, through its government, should be in the business of
convincing blind citizens that they remain worthwhile and contributing people.
Instead the current system says “Convince us that you belong on the economic
scrap heap.” It takes focused effort to qualify for disability benefits under
the current system. Applicants must explain why they cannot work now or in the
future. Helplessness must be emphasized. Deficits must be spotlighted. The
mindset required to receive benefits is exactly opposite of that required to
regain confidence and independence. It is unreasonable to expect someone who
has just spent months convincing government officials of the hopelessness of
his or her situation to begin rehabilitation with a positive, upbeat attitude.
Blindness is the only
disabling condition which has been legally defined. An individual is either
blind or sighted under the law. Therefore, there is no need to engage in
subjective decision-making concerning the ability to work. As long as an
individual remains blind, he or she should meet the disability standard with or
without a work history as a blind person.
In an attempt to reduce
dependency,
The result for blind people has been fragmentation,
ineffectiveness, and enormous gaps in service. In education, job training and
placement, financial assistance, and social services, ideas have been adopted
haphazardly rather than as the result of careful planning. Employees of one
ministry cannot accurately tell citizens what another ministry may have to
offer. Eligibility criteria vary from program to program. Application
procedures for public assistance are demeaning and counterproductive.
“If you do not know where
you want to go, any road will get you there.”
The first task should be to
evaluate the current state of programming to determine what is being done well
and what still needs to be done. Staff should be assigned to gather
blindness-specific statistics and to survey present and former clients, service
providers, and employees of provincial programs who currently work with blind
people. Above all, the organized blind must be consulted.
Whenever the province
enters into a contract with a private service provider, that contract should
undergo a thorough public evaluation with consumer organizations of the blind
playing a major role. Every new contract needs to include outcome-based
criteria. The province should renew contracts only when there is clear evidence
that the contracted services have improved the lives of blind British
Columbians.