COVID and people with disabilities

This week we were upset to learn how the Covid 19 epidemic is affecting people with disabilities. Chris Stigas lives in assisted living in downtown Toronto and uses a wheelchair. Stigas is afraid for his safety, given that multiple PSWs come into his home throughout the day, who he knows are also working in other assisted living homes.

Then there is Michael Wilson, a Kitchener man who was homebound for weeks, when his power wheelchair broke down. Ontario’s Assistive Devices Program was closed because it was not deemed an essential service. His plea for a new chair went unheard, so he crawled around his home until media reports brought action.

There is also the story of Ten Morgan, a teenager who has been bed ridden for the better part of a year as she’s waited for ADP to approve a power wheelchair. Her wait was prolonged by the shutdown of ADP’s officials.

The NDP is calling for a plan to include, but not be limited to:
  • Adopting a clinical triage protocol that respects the human rights of people with disabilities
  • Ensuring that attendant care workers who help people with disabilities in their own homes have access to personal protective equipment
  • Resources and clear guidelines to support 330,000 special education students with e-learning
  • Provide remote and distance supports to assist the families of people with developmental or intellectual disabilities living with them, to provide respite for family members during mandatory periods of isolation at home
  • Declaring the Assistive Devices Program an essential service so that no one is deprived of critical mobility or medical aides

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