How Could a Worsening Economy Make Things Worse?

I really do not think that too many special needs persons would be too surprised if both provincial and Federal governments were to use the worsening economy as an excuse to cut more services to them. Yes, I say excuse; not reason. For let us face facts: Anytime there is any semblance of hard economic times showing up on the radar, our Federal and provincial governments are always so quick to start cutting services to special needs Canadians as part of their cost-cutting measures. As a matter of fact, services to special needs persons are one of the first cuts that our provincial and federal governments make whenever they find themselves in a financial bind.

I guess that we as a community have become so used to this kind of process but for the mainstream Canadian it would probably be a shocker if they were to discover the naked truth. What would be a real shocker though is if our Federal government was to do a complete turn around and create history by taking positive action to improve the living standards of special needs Canadians. Nothing is impossible but when you apply this to how so many successive Federal governments have dealt with this chronic problem; well, I'm not so sure. Yet as an eternal optimist I continue to hope. If America can create momentous history by electing its first black president then why can't we hope that this Federal government can do something on a smaller scale?

Back to reality though and using history as my guide, a worsening economy could only spell more challenges for special needs Canadians. If our economy continues to slide then you can expect that financial assistance will be more difficult to obtain. Existing social programs that have been designed to help special needs Canadians will more than likely be slashed in a big way. If layoffs start happening then you can be sure that many special needs employees would be some of the first to be down sized. Many companies and even our esteemed government would probably hold back on the hiring of special needs applicants. Universities would probably be forced to cut their budgets and this would directly impact special needs students.

Higher prices at the supermarkets would mean that those special needs persons who are being supported by fixed governmental subsidies would have to find ways to make ends meet. You can be sure that subsidies would not be augmented in order to match the increase in prices. Social services would also be impacted and so too will some of our medical services and as always special needs Canadians will be one of the first to feel it. Based on his past record, we should not expect Stephen Harper to rewrite history when it comes to addressing the plight of special needs Canadians but we can always hope can't we?

I'm Donna J. Jodhan, your freelance writer and reporter wishing you a terrific day.

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