In the Ontario Government’s Fall economic statement released yesterday, Finance Minister Dwight Duncan made assurances that the current government “will never lose sight of the fact that underneath all the statistics, all the uncertainty and all the turmoil, there are real people with real fears, real concerns and very real needs.”

In the Ontario Government’s Fall economic statement released yesterday, Finance Minister Dwight Duncan made assurances that the current government “will never lose sight of the fact that underneath all the statistics, all the uncertainty and all the turmoil, there are real people with real fears, real concerns and very real needs.”
 
These assurances are essential to members of our communities that were already vulnerable and become even more so in this challenging economic environment. In particular, the impact of a downturn is substantial for people with disabilities who are already disproportionately represented among the poor.  Over 55% of working-age adults with disabilities are currently unemployed and that rate is almost 75% for women with disabilities. Ontarians with disabilities are almost twice as likely to live in poverty compared to other Ontarians.
 
It’s precisely because of the current economy that the government’s development of a Poverty Reduction Strategy takes on new urgency.  Although mention of the strategy was missing from yesterday’s economic statement, the commitment made during the most recent Speech from the Throne to meet the very real needs of Ontarians living in poverty undoubtedly remains a priority.   
 
After all, how can it not? An investment in this critical strategy makes good financial sense for a government looking to make prudent economic decisions.  Indeed, it is false economy not to make up-front investments that will have 10-fold return.
 
David Lepofsky, former Chair of the Ontarians with Disabilities Act Committee noted that for any poverty reduction strategy to be effective it “must include an aggressive and proactive disability component to address the unique forms of poverty experienced by Ontarians with disabilities without in any way reducing or compromising the vigour of addressing poverty by others.” 
 
Those “aggressive and proactive” initiatives Lepofsky references are already available. There are agencies in Ontario that work with specific disability groups and are experienced in meeting the unique needs of those groups. Our agency, The Canadian Hearing Society (CHS), and other agencies including CNIB, the Ontario March of Dimes, and the Canadian Paraplegic Association are invaluable resources to the government.  They offer ready-made programs with proven results that can make a significant and positive impact on the province’s overall economic health, not to mention the overall well-being of the person for whom the program was designed.

For example, 85% of deaf, deafened, and hard of hearing Ontarians are under or unemployed.  CHS offers an employment services program that provides personalized employment counselling and works with employers to ensure workplace accessibility employees with hearing loss. The dividends of such a program are irrefutable: reduced social assistance, reduced health care costs, reduced barriers to housing, and increased tax revenues.  Working as a partner with the Ontario government, even just this one program can have a significant and positive ripple effect. 
 
Together we can meet the very real needs, and address the very real concerns and fears of real people.

Kelly Duffin
President and CEO