New program to help lift disabled out of poverty

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This article was published 21/11/2019 (2252 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A provincial income-support program in the works will finally give people with severe disabilities a livable income, a local advocate says.

“It’s about providing a dignified income for Manitobans with profound and long-term disabilities,” said Tracy Williams, chair of the local steering committee for Disability Matters Vote.

The Manitoba government will be introducing a new income-support program for people with disabilities and has launched an online consultation to gather feedback that will help guide program design and eligibility criteria, Families Minister Heather Stefanson announced Wednesday.

Currently in Manitoba, individuals with disabilities are eligible for Employment and Income Assistance (EIA) if they have a mental or physical illness or disability that prevents them from supporting themselves.

Other provinces offer separate programs tailored to the needs of that same population.

“EIA was sort of created as a last resort. It was designed for people who have become unemployed and to provide short-term assistance,” Williams said.

“It was never designed, nor was it intended, to provide a dignified income for people with severe and prolonged disabilities who are not able to work or ever work,” she said. “Because of that, those individuals are condemned, sort of, to live below the poverty line their entire adult lives or until they’re eligible for old age security and stuff.”

A program such as this is one of the things the Disability Matters Vote campaign was advocating, “so it’s great that they’re listening and that they are looking at ways to change the system for those individuals,” said Williams, who is also executive director of Career Connections Inc., which assists individuals with intellectual disabilities gain employment.

“They’re definitely moving in the right direction. We’re very excited to see it.”

The province is conducting four focus-group consultations this month and future opportunities will be available for Manitobans to provide feedback as the new program is being developed and implemented.

The first session in Westman is in Brandon on Nov. 25 at Central United Church with registered participants. The department worked with stakeholders such as the Disability Matters Vote steering committee to distribute invitations in advance.

Both the online consultation and focus-group sessions will focus on fundamental questions that will help inform the parameters of the new program.

“Our government committed to begin consultations within the first 100 days of our renewed mandate to support the development of a new income-support program for Manitobans with disabilities,” Stefanson said in a news release. “This first consultation phase is an opportunity for Manitobans to share how they feel the new program should operate and what types of assistance should be provided.

“Through the Disability Matters Vote campaign, Manitobans have called for the type of alternative income programs available to people living with disabilities elsewhere in Canada,” she said. “We’re moving in that direction and now want help from the community to design a made-in-Manitoba program that can improve the quality of life for people with severe and prolonged disabilities.”

The consultation document is available in alternate formats on request and online at gov.mb.ca/fs/disability-income-program-consultations.html.

The deadline for submissions is Jan. 31.

» brobertson@brandonsun.com