CAHS FASD Engagement Process

Canadian Association of Health Services (CAHS) is pleased to announce two final targeted engagement opportunities for this first round of engagement in relation to their Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) engagement process:

  1. Zoom conversations with people with FASD. If you have been diagnosed with FASD or think you may have FASD, please join one of these sessions:
  1. Indigenous-led engagement for Indigenous organizations and individuals. These sessions will be facilitated by the Firelight Group and are by invitation.

These two engagement opportunities will conclude the first part of CAHS’ consultations. All of this input, along with other evidence, is being reviewed by an independent panel of experts.

For more information on the panel and CAHS’ process, please click on this link:
https://cahs-acss.ca/assessment-on-fetal-alcohol-spectrum-disorder-evaluation-sur-le-trouble-du-spectre-de-lalcoolisation-foetale/.

DABC's Presentation to the Special Committee on Passenger Directed Vehicles

On November 16th, 2023, DABC made a presentation to the Special Committee to Review Passenger Directed Vehicles.

DABC’s Cynthia Minh identified a number of issues that people with disabilities often face when accessing passenger directed vehicles:

  1. Passenger directed vehicle firms and services may not have enough training or understanding about disability or how to work with people with disabilities.  
  2. There is a lack of Wheelchair Accessible Vehicles (WAV), and not every firm offers these WAV options to people with disabilities.
  3. Passenger directed vehicle services can better communicate with people with disabilities regarding access needs.  
  4. Accessible vehicles may present feelings of concern around safety.
  5. People with disabilities can face additional costs when using passenger directed vehicles.  
  6. Ride Hailing vehicles may not be available for people without digital access.  
  7. Drivers with disabilities may also have access needs. 

DABC made a number of recommendations that could help address the issues identified above:

  1. Regulations around accessibility should be requisite for passenger directed vehicle companies and these regulations should be held to existing provincial and federal accessibility standards. 
  2. Workers should be well trained on accessibility issues and must take a trauma informed approach when interacting with passengers. Trainings should be supported by strong evaluation methods that ensures that knowledge gained does not end with training but is reflected in practice.  
  3. Workers should be protected under standards set by existing working and employment standards, with a disability lens in mind (E.g. better wage protection, work injury protection laws) 
  4. The extra costs around disability should not add financial burden to passengers. Costs should be made lower not higher for people with disabilities on lower incomes 
  5. There should be formal complaints procedures set in place to report any discrimination faced in passenger directed vehicle services 
  6. People with disabilities and disability organizations should be hired and included in the planning stages instead of just as external consultants  
  7. Plans need to implement universal design. Many times, policies are enacted and need to be modified after they are legislated to include accessibility. Ensuring universal design would allow accessibility considerations to be embedded within the beginning stages of service delivery.  

Read the full presentation here: Presentation to Special Committee to Review Passenger Directed Vehicles

Community Update: PWD/Income Assistance Rate Increase Table

The BC Budget for the 2023/2024 fiscal year was announced at the legislative assembly in Victoria on February 28, 2023. The Budget revealed that there would be an increase to the shelter rate for people on income assistance and disability assistance; an increase that has been long overdue. The shelter rate, which hasn’t changed since 2007, will increase from $375 per month to $500 per month for single individuals. Rent prices have increased by much more than $125 since 2007, so while we recognize that this shelter rate increase is a step in the right direction, it fails to meaningfully address systemic poverty in our province.

There are also increases to most income and disability assistance supplements, including diet supplements (increased by 50%) and the monthly nutritional supplement (increased from $165 to $180 per month). These changes take effect as of August 1st, 2023 (and will appear starting with the July 19th 2023 cheque issue).

The provincial government recently released a rate table, detailing current rates as well as the new rates. You can view this rate table here: https://tinyurl.com/5xxh5527.

If you have questions about any of these changes, you can email us at advocacy@disabilityalliancebc.org or call us at 604-872-1278 (Toll-free: 1-800-663-1278). Please be advised that we receive a high volume of inquiries and it will likely take some time to hear back from an advocate.

To read our original response to the 2023/2024 BC Budget, from which some of the information in this Community Update has been taken, please visit our blog: https://disabilityalliancebc.org/dabcs-response-to-2023-bc-budget/.