B.C. Premier Christy Clark unveiled an accessibility strategy Monday, but a Burnaby disability advocate who ran for the Liberals wants to see action.
Ken Kramer, who ran in Burnaby-Lougheed in the last provincial election, has spent roughly three decades advocating for people with disabilities.
"From a disability advocate standpoint, clearly we always want more," Kramer told the NOW, following the plan's launch in Vancouver on Monday. "From a disability-community perspective, we want to see definite results. We're moving in the right direction, but I think that clearly there are areas this report is lacking on completely, the one really big omission is around home supports."
Kramer is a lawyer and has muscular dystrophy and has a home support worker to help him with day-today living, something people with disabilities need to participate in the workforce.
"If I can't get up in the morning, and I can't get dressed, and I can't get to work ... a job isn't gong to do me much," he said. "It's great there are jobs out there for folks with disabilities, but for someone to be able to work that has a disability, there has to be a foundation around them for them to be able to work."
The government's 10-year strategy, which was based on public consultation with the disability community, promises funding to help make the province more accessible by 2024. The report outlined 12 key areas of focus, and Kramer lauded the inclusion of transportation, housing and income support. In particular, Kramer was pleased with the government's plan to separate disability assistance from income assistance.
"I think there are definitely some positive things in the report, and an example of that is this recognition that people who are receiving disability benefits under the provincial module have always been lumped in with the income assistance approach. A lot of people who are receiving those benefits feel that can be really demeaning. They are not there by choice; they are there because they truly can't work for an income," he said.
"I think this is only the beginning," Kramer added, "and the citizens of this province are going to look at this cautiously, but there is some optimism that there is focus on these issue. Really, the proof will be in the pudding."
The 17-page report, titled Accessibility 2024, is available at www.gov.bc.ca/sdsi.
