Mere Words Are Not Enough

This was also posted in the Letters section of the The Toronto Star, Sept. 7, 2007

Onley makes appeal for 'a helping hand and an open mind' Sept. 6

While the installation of David Onley as Ontario's new lieutenant-governor is symbolically important, bringing Ontarians with disabilities into the mainstream will take far more than "a helping hand and an open mind."

To achieve Onley's goals and the elusive promise of the long-ago International Year of Disabled Persons in 1981, "full participation and equality," the Ontario government needs to show real leadership and help develop and implement a new economic strategy that will bring together government, labour and consumer organizations to address the historic levels of poverty, marginalization and unemployment that remain the reality of so many Ontarians with disabilities.

Such a strategy must do more than what has taken place to date under the much-touted Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act to remove old barriers and prevent the introduction of new ones, and it must also address both the poverty and labour-market exclusion that continue to confront so many Ontarians who live with a disability.

John Rae
Alliance for Equality of Blind Canadians
Toronto
Email: rae@blindcanadians.ca.

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