People with disabilities in New Brunswick have been living in deep poverty as New Brunswick has one of the lowest social assistance rates in the country, but not one of the lowest cost of living rates. This leads to food insecurity along with financial hardship. Rent subsidies are also scarce and with huge demand, many people have found themselves either ineligible or placed on a very long wait list. Furthermore, the price of rent has skyrocketed overnight with no sign of it decreasing. While, rent increased 2.5 per cent in the 12-month period prior to May 2020, in New Brunswick, during the same time period, it rose 10.9 per cent. Life has become unlivable for anyone on social assistance.
First, and foremost, one way the government of New Brunswick can help is to change the archaic Household Income Policy. This policy limits the ability for a person with a disability on social assistance to have a roommate, unless the roommate is also a person with a disability. If a person chooses to get married, or just have a roommate, who is able bodied, they must end their current claim and reapply after the marriage or cohabitation has occurred. After they re-apply, the Department of Social Development will re-asses and let them know what, if anything, they qualify for. It is as if they expect the roommate or spouse to take on all costs of care and living that the government was previously responsible for.
We are not chattel to be traded, we are people.
The Household Income Policy decreases the economic value of each person. By allowing people to live with roommates and/or spouses, each person will be able to economically benefit; which also means the province as a whole will benefit as there will be more tax revenue and a little bit more spending money per unit to put back into the local economy. Currently, the Household Income Policy allows two disabled people to live together but both have to have the designated disability status. If the policy was changed, both people could economically benefit from sharing expenses of the household thereby improving their quality of life.
Secondly, the province needs to improve access to social workers, who are properly trained on our needs. Today’s social workers have too much on their plate, and way too often our needs are overlooked as a result of their workloads. This is one reason many disability advocacy groups have called on the Minister of Social Development to create a separate silo within Social Development to focus just on disabilities.
Third, the province needs to improve overall disability supports. Too often, we are expected to cover costs of items we require to just survive out of our own pockets. There is no real list of what is and is not covered and it is often dependent on which way the wind blows on a particular day. This is no way to live or to run a department!
Fourth, there should be a better system for two-way communication and feedback. Too often, persons with disabilities are not included in conversations about our needs. Those discussions are often held with advocacy group leaders, who are often able-bodied. They really mean well, but until you actually live it- you just don’t know. Those of us living with disabilities need to be asked, and need to be able to easily communicate our needs to those who make decisions.
Our fifth, but no means final recommendation on ways to make improvements, is to create clearer documents and policy with step by step directions. The policy is very convoluted and uses difficult and specific language, accessible to only those who work in the Department of Social Development. A person with disabilities, who is not privy to such language, is at a huge loss. We need to be able to determine next steps, which is currently impossible, unless of course you have a Master’s degree in Social Work.
These are by no means big asks, in fact, we see these as simple, doable asks! Until such a time where persons with disabilities have experts in disabilities working only their cases full time at Social Development, these asks are the very least they can do to help us achieve not only a better quality of life, but an equal quality of life.
Kaitlyn Layden is a disability rights advocate in New Brunswick. Shelley Petit is the Chairperson of the New Brunswick Coalition of Persons with Disabilities.
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