PWD - people with disabilities

DWP - Disability Without Poverty

December 3rd of this year marks 30 years since the United Nations adopted this date as the International Day for Persons with Disabilities (IDPD). The theme for IDPD 2022 is “Transformative solutions for inclusive development: the role of innovation in fuelling an accessible and equitable world“.

What is Disability Without Poverty (DWP)? What is Bill C-22 (the Canada Disability Benefit)?

This week on Outlook we speak with Janet Rodriguez – Disability advocate; Ontario coordinator for DWP about Janet’s international perspective (speaking of coming from Peru to Canada) and then what it’s been like living here in this country with the push for Bill C-22 as 2022 comes to a close.

Janet tells us about this organization and this bill as the three of us have an open discussion about our own, individual experiences with disability and the connection between disability and poverty in Canada specifically, both before and since Covid-19 came along, contributing to so many societal cracks, all of which were already forming before the pandemic but of which have only widened more vastly since.

When Covid hit, the government snapped into high gear for Canadians when they were unable to go to work. The Canadian government created the Canadian Emergency Response Benefit or CERB, but with cost-of-living on the increase, those living with disabilities (both visible and invisible) have fallen further and further below the poverty line. This ends up harming society more, in the long run, but with disability there’s always been stigma and feelings of being a burden, on the system, in the capitalistic culture we’re all living in. We wanted to speak with someone who is doing something, as part of a group of Canadians living with disability, to engage with policy makers and fellow stakeholders to make life better for pwd, a group any one of us could join at any time.

“Transformative solutions for inclusive development: the role of innovation in fuelling an accessible and equitable world“.

This may be a global truth, but it must begin and end in the country in which we live, and Janet Rodriguez is our guest for this broad strokes discussion broken down. Those of us with disabilities in Canada (PWD/DWP), we must have a highly visible seat at the table for all consultations on the creation of a Canadian Disability Benefit and that’s just what Disability Without Poverty and Rodriguez are doing by pulling up a chair for human rights here at home.

And as we wrap up 2022, on this first Outlook of December, we promote Disability Without Poverty’s webinar taking place Thursday, December 8th beginning at 9 AM PT/12 PM ET. It’s a year-End review of the Canada Disability Benefit. Together with hosts Michelle Hewitt, national co-chair) and Rabia Khedr, national director, DWP will be discussing "how far we've come and the challenges that lie ahead in making Bill C-22 a reality.”

Register here:

https://plan-9.hubspotpagebuilder.com/reg-dwp-year-end-townhall

You can also register by phone at:

1-877-775-6652

Read more about what Disability Without Poverty are all about by visiting their website where you can sign up for the DWP newsletter for updates in your inbox:

https://www.disabilitywithoutpoverty.ca

And find them on Facebook:

http://facebook.com/disabilitywithoutpoverty