On December 10, International Human Rights Day, ISAC participated in a press conference hosted by Defend Disability at Queen’s Park, urging the Province to protect the right of people with disabilities to an adequate standard of living.
Defend Disability, a coalition of people with lived experience of disability, legal clinics, health care providers, experts and other service providers, called on the government to reverse plans to narrow the definition of disability used for the Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP). Such a change would make it much harder to access already inadequate income support for people who need it. ODSP benefits, which are far below poverty line, should be increased — not further limited.
The press conference also responded to the Ontario Auditor General’s fundamentally flawed report on ODSP, which relied on erroneous assumptions and perpetuated the stigma that ODSP recipients do not really deserve to be supported.
You can read more about the press conference in this Toronto Star article.
Press Conference Speakers:
- Tammy Yates, Defend Disability
- Karin Baqi, Income Security Advocacy Centre
- Andrea Hatala, ODSP Action Coalition
- Scott Guzman, Social Assistance Coalition of Scarborough
- Dr. Michaela Beder, Health Providers Against Poverty
To see the press conference in it entirety, click here or on the image above. To hear a radio interview by Dr. Beder, click here.