The Collective of organizations for the defense of the rights of people with disabilities (CODDPSH) expresses its disappointment on December 3, International Day of Persons with Disabilities. Since our founding in 2020, we have highlighted the flaws in the system and the persistent inequalities towards people with disabilities. Faced with the multiplication of social crises, their situation is worsening day by day. Today, we denounce the manifest inaction of the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) in the face of our needs and its large-scale austerity undertaking.
Despite laws intended to combat discrimination, people with disabilities continue to face significant difficulties in accessing appropriate services. People with intellectual disabilities or autism, for example, struggle to find doctors or dentists capable of understanding them and adapting treatments. People with spinal cord injuries, in hospitals or emergency departments, struggle to have their specific needs recognized, such as therapeutic surfaces or care to prevent pressure ulcers. They are often treated as capricious patients, and specialists only communicate with those accompanying them, ignoring their real needs.
As for home support services, they are insufficient. People with disabilities rarely receive the hours of service they need, and workers in the sector are often underpaid and undertrained. Reductions in hours, even by 15 minutes, seriously affect the quality of care, particularly for essential actions, such as safe eating. In addition, the offer of services for people with intellectual disabilities or autism living independently or with their loved ones is extremely limited, which creates widespread exhaustion among caregivers.
Public transport, whether adapted or ordinary, remains difficult to access. The Legault government seems indifferent, as illustrated by the cancellations of accessibility projects in the Montreal metro. Outside the mainland, in several regions, there is no adapted transport after 6 p.m., if at all. How can we envisage full participation in professional or social life under these conditions?
Furthermore, the worsening economic crisis particularly affects people with disabilities. Many struggle to make ends meet and must choose between food and healthcare, especially those who require regular medication. The housing crisis is also worsening, with a critical lack of suitable and affordable housing. The Home Adaptation Program is so long and restrictive that many owners give up making their homes accessible, thus condemning people with disabilities to live in unsuitable environments. As if the situation was not already difficult, we learned this week that the Société d’habitation du Québec is no longer accepting new requests and upgrades to existing adaptations for the next year!
People with disabilities from immigrant backgrounds, as well as women and girls with disabilities, face specific discrimination. Recent immigration policies aggravate the precariousness of disabled people seeking asylum or refugees. Their mental health is weakening, and their access to francization is hampered. These people, who chose Quebec to contribute to the development of the country, find themselves marginalized. As for women and girls with disabilities, they continue to be denied access to support resources for abused women, as well as gynecological and obstetric care adapted to their needs.
The government must absolutely change its vision and priorities. Ministries must reassess their positions in order to better understand the realities of people with disabilities and their specific needs. The current vision, too linear, ignores these needs and causes suffering which ends up affecting all of Quebec society. Although the future of people with disabilities seems uncertain, it is still possible to offer them a better quality of life by concretely meeting their needs.
It is high time for the CAQ to get out of “autopilot” mode and reevaluate its actions. His austerity project hidden under the terms of budgetary rigor simply does not work. The “endless day syndrome” must end. A real social project must begin to rebuild our social safety net, a safety net that does not let anyone down. Our ideals of social justice and equality are at stake so that Quebec is able to meet the challenges that the coming decades have in store for us. We demand it.
* The Collective of organizations defending the rights of people with disabilities (CODDPSH) brings together: Action Femmes et handicap; Multi-ethnic Association for the Integration of Disabled People of Quebec; Autism Montreal; Radisson Community Center; Regional Committee for Autism and Intellectual Disability (CRADI); Tied; National Institute for Equity, Equality and Inclusion of People with Disabilities; Spinal cord and motor skills Quebec; Parents for Intellectual Disabilities (PARDI); Grouping of adapted and accessible transportation users on the island of Montreal; International Network on the Disability Production Process (RIPPH); Without forgetting the smile.
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