Pre-Budget Submission to the Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs
ARCH Disability Law Centre, 23 January 2014
Pre-Budget Submission to the Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs
23 January 2014
ARCH Disability Law Centre
425 Bloor Street East, Suite 110
Toronto, ON M4W 3R5
Summary of Recommendations[1]
ARCH Disability Law Centre recommends that greater resources be allotted to direct funding programs that support individuals with developmental disabilities and their families in Ontario’s 2014 Budget. The Passport program and the Special Services at Home (SSAH) program, administered by the Ministry of Community & Social Services are necessary for persons with developmental disabilities to participate fully in the life of their communities and our province. Presently there are thousands of approved individuals and families on waiting lists for these essential support services. Greater resources are needed, and we recommend:
- That sufficient funding is provided to ensure that qualified Passport and SSAH applicants currently on waitlists receive appropriate levels of financial support immediately.
- That additional long term funding is put into place to ensure that the SSAH and Passport programs are robust and responsive to the individualized needs of eligible persons with disabilities in Ontario.
We encourage this government to ensure that people with developmental disabilities receive the supports and services necessary to participate in community life; we believe that implementation of adequately funded and equitable direct funding programs can lead to better and more accountable services and job creation. Without action, Ontario's government programs will continue to fail persons with developmental disabilities.
Terminology
In our submission we use the term “developmental disability” when referring to people with disabilities who use or are waiting for developmental services and supports. We use this term since that is the language used in the Services and Supports to Promote the Social Inclusion of Persons with Developmental Disabilities Act (“Social Inclusion Act”).[2] We note that the term “person labelled with an intellectual disability” is generally preferred to “person with a developmental disability”. However, there are various views regarding the most appropriate language and we defer to members of the community and people with disabilities themselves regarding appropriate terminology.
About ARCH
ARCH Disability Law Centre (ARCH) is a speciality legal clinic dedicated to advancing the equality rights of persons with disabilities. ARCH provides legal services to help Ontarians with disabilities live with dignity and participate fully in our communities. ARCH provides free and confidential legal advice and information to people with disabilities in Ontario. We provide legal representation to people with disabilities whose cases fall within our priority areas of work and who meet Legal Aid Ontario’s financial eligibility guidelines. We work with Ontarians with disabilities and disability communities on community development, law reform and policy initiatives. We also provide public legal education to people with disabilities and continuing legal education to the legal community.
ARCH has extensive experience working with people who have developmental disabilities. This experience is broad and is based on our contacts with people with disabilities themselves, their families and support people, advocates and community organizations. ARCH regularly hears concerns about the delivery of supports and services to people with intellectual disabilities, and we provide legal information and advice on these issues. ARCH has represented clients in litigation dealing with developmental services issues. We have engaged in discussions of these issues with consumer and advocacy groups, and have conducted legal and non-legal research on supports and services for people with developmental disabilities.
Special Services At Home (SSAH) and Passport Programs
In July 2013, the Honourable Ted McMeekin, Minister of Community and Social Services announced $42.5 million in the 2013 budget to enhance support for peoples with disabilities.[3] While we agree with Community Living Toronto, that “this investment is a good first step to helping more individuals and families get the support they desperately need,”[4] we call on the government to continue moving forward on its stated commitments to people with disabilities and provide the resources necessary for people with developmental disabilities to thrive in our communities through the facilitation of their development, independence and participation. ARCH has historically campaigned for changes to the developmental services sector, as we are concerned about the levels of funding and services provided. We are particularly concerned with the Passport and SSAH programs. In 2010 we called on our community members to share their experiences while waiting for services and funding to support young adults with developmental disabilities. Stories poured into ARCH, unanimously underscoring the need for increased funding.
SSAH and Passport programs are individualized programs that focus on investments in family life and building family capacity. They are low cost and highly effective in meeting the needs of individuals and families, resulting in outcomes for people far in excess of what would commonly be expected from such an investment. These programs build bridges for people with disabilities, effectively building the capacity of communities to welcome them as contributing members of society. Direct funding through these programs has improved the lives of people with disabilities who have received support, and has allowed for more full participation in community life.
SSAH has existed since 1982 and while many families have expressed satisfaction with the program, others are concerned as the funds they have received do not sufficiently meet the needs and required supports for persons with developmental disabilities. As of April, 2012 SSAH provides supports and services exclusively for children and youth. Passport was introduced in 2005, and at present provides supports and services exclusively for adults. As with SSAH, we respectfully submit that the passport program is failing adults with disabilities because of under-funding and the ever expanding waitlists.
Thousands on Waiting Lists for Passport and SSAH Funding
We do not have information on the exact number presently on waiting lists; however in 2012 two sources reported the rates as falling somewhere between:
-8600[5] - 8900[6] children and youth approved for services under the SSAH program on a waiting list, and;
-3700[7] - 4000[8] adults approved for funding through the passport program
It is not known how many applications have been submitted and rejected, as this information is not made publicly available. What is clear is that approximately 12,300 adults and children in Ontario have been approved for these programs and are in need of funding. Further, of the approximately 26.000 who do receive funding, we do not know if they are receiving the level of support they actually require. Of the $42.5 million allotted in the 2013 budget, resources were provided for new or additional direct funding to 850 adults to support their community participation, and provide resources for caregivers[9]. While this may be a first step, it is not enough to meet the needs of those presently on waiting lists, nor will it meet the needs of future applicants. Estimates of the currently available resources only allow for approximately 130 applicants to come off waiting lists each year. We are also concerned, as identified by the 2013 Auditor General’s Report that despite this needed boost of money, the Ministry actually spent $10 million less on supportive services programs to help people with developmental disabilities in 2012/13 than they had the previous year[10].
We submit that a person’s ability to find a place in the community should not be constrained by a lack of services and support. As demand for services for people who have a developmental disability continues to grow, substantial investment in these programs is the only effective means of addressing increasing waitlists for supports and services. Without supports, families will continue to slip into crisis with increasingly dire consequences while people with disabilities will miss out on important learning opportunities as they wait for the assistance they require to participate in community life. We would argue that services delayed are services denied and that the underfunding of programs like Passport and SSAH amounts to the denial of rights of thousands of persons with developmental disabilities to participate in their community. We support the position put forward by the SSAH/Passport coalition who have argued that, “chronic under-funding of developmental services and supports fails to transform the lives of persons with disabilities”.[11]
Deleterious Impact of Waiting Lists on Individuals and Families
Languishing on waiting lists for necessary support programs has had a deleterious effect on individuals with developmental disabilities. Many young people who do not get the required supports lose the opportunity to develop important life skills that were acquired through attending high school and participating in the community. These skills are necessary to actively participate in the community and make essential personal choices. In effect, thousands of young adults lives are put on hold, because their families lack funding to enrol them into programs that provide life skills, independence and autonomy. As well there are many on wait lists that are in urgent need including those who are aging out of the child welfare systems, individuals who can no longer be cared for by aging parents, individuals with extreme and complex behavioural challenges, and those who are medically fragile. Many have been on a wait list for years and have reached a point of despair about ever receiving the resources necessary to engage in the community; others have not bothered to apply as they see no money available to help them.
From our work supporting families we have come to understand that they are feeling desperate and beyond frustration. We support the calls from the Family Alliance Ontario for action on rapid changes to the developmental service system. They have argued that families have been devastated and pushed to crisis by a lack of funding which has led to daunting waitlists. We have heard of parents being forced to leave their employment to provide the necessary support for their adult children. For families with two incomes, this can greatly impact their potential earnings; in the case of single parents this represents a potential loss of a family’s entire livelihood. This has an enormous impact on housing and standards of living for whole families, including the denial of opportunities to siblings because of financial pressures.
We have also heard from families who have had to place loved dependents in long term care institutions against their wishes because they do not have the necessary support to maintain them at home. Instead families are forced to rely on the medical health services system to care for their loved ones; while some others end up in the mental health or the justice system. Some argue this process represents a form of re-institutionalization that runs counter to present day policies that guide support for people with disabilities. Families of Ontarians with disabilities are experiencing the development of health problems, marital stress and in some cases complete family breakdown due to the lack of services and supports. We are concerned about our clients and would also argue that this will have negative impacts on the economic growth of this province. As families’ breakdown from the stress, there will undoubtedly be a greater need for more costly segregated services.
We are also concerned that underfunding of the developmental services system is encouraging individuals and families eligible for support under Passport to rely on income supports from ODSP to pay for community participation, supports and services. Just as developmental services funds are not expected to be used to pay for rent, families and individuals should also not be expected to use ODSP to purchase developmental services. This is especially problematic when we consider that the amount of money received by ODSP recipients leaves them substantially below the poverty line; the result will be more families and individuals with developmental disabilities pushed into poverty in Ontario.
Thank you for your consideration of this submission and our recommendations for Budget 2014. We would be happy to respond to any questions that you may have.
1
[1] ARCH Disability Law Centre wishes to acknowledge and thank Michael Brito, law student, for his extensive work in preparing this submission.
[2]Services and Supports to Promote the Social Inclusion of Persons with Developmental Disabilities Act, S.O. 2008, c. 14. [Social Inclusion Act]
[3] Ministry of Community and Social Services, News Release, “Enhancing Support for Adults with a Developmental Disability: Ontario Government Reducing Waitlist Pressures, Improving Services for Those at High Risk” (30 July 2013), online:
[4]Ibid.
[5] Patricia Spindel, “Abuse by Ministry: A Brief to the Minister of Community & Social Services and the Premier of Ontario”, Spindel & Associates (November 2013) at 2.
[6] SSAH & Passport Coalition, “SSAHPC Report: Ombudsmen Investigators” (10 October 2013), online: SSAH Coalition
[7]Supra note 5.
[8]Supra note 6.
[9]Supra note 3.
[10] Office of the Auditor General of Ontario, Annual Report, ch 4.14 (Queens’s Printer for Ontario, 2013) at 383.
[11] Special Services at Home/Passport Coalition (SSAHPC), “Social Exclusion? How Government Programs Are Failing Persons with Developmental Disabilities” (2012), online: