Endorse this campaign

My son Kyle

January 21, 2010  at   5:52:16PM

Hello, I'm writing on behalf of my only child, my son, Kyle. Kyle was born with a form of Autism called Asperger's, also known as PDD or Pervasive Developmental Delay, which is the highest-functioning of the Autism disorders. My son is now 17, will be 18 in April, and is about to graduate from high school. He also lives in Alberta's foster care system and will soon 'age out' of that, so much of his present support will fall away. We are not sure what his future will be like because of his disability. He will doubtless require government funding (AISH) and job-training and other daily living support. I would like to ask our provincial government to take its responsibility to ALL its citizens seriously. Please do NOT cut anymore funding to support agencies! Doing so could be disastrous, could cause an increase in homelessness and many other problems, if our disabled people have no supports for job training and other necessary things. You people who run our government, Mr. Stelmach and others, when you took your jobs you took a responsibility to support ALL the people, not just the healthy ones! So please live up to that repsonsiblilty seriously, and don't leave our people who cannot fight for themselves out in the cold! Thank you very much.

How best to help?

January 17, 2010  at   4:44:45PM

Having written my share of letters to PMs, Premiers, MPs, MLAs and Editors over the years I must admit to being more than a little sceptical as to the effectiveness of the letter-writing approach. The best one can usually hope for from a politician is a polite response assuring that the party concerned is aware of the problem and will continue to do his/her best in respect of the concern expressed. If your letter to the editor arrives on a slack news day it may sneak in between never-ending diatribes re hockey, global warming and snow-clearing. Ignorant call-ins to talk radio serve to misinform the public and get politicians off the hook. In a recent interview with Minister Jablonnski regarding the cut-back of salaries paid to care-givers of pdd, one caller criticized the payment of AISH to "crackheads" who should be working. This opened the door for the Minister to state that there had been substantial increases in AISH and that her total budget had been increased, not decreased. A truism, maybe, but totally irrelevant to the crisis created by wholly unsatisfacory wages paid to care-givers. The topic was not the amount of the Assured Income to the Severely Handicapped, only some of whom are persons with developmental disabilities. The topic was the amount of income received by those charged with providing care to persons with developmental disabilities. The care-givers are not on AISH, for heaven's sake, but the spin was now in. The result was that the host sided with the Minister with the impression being given to listeners that it was much ado about nothing. "Yes, there had been a small cut-back, but from a sizeable increase; stop whining". I feel that a very important lesson needs to be learned from this sort of thing: DO NOT ALLOW ANYONE TO DIVERT THE TOPIC FROM THE FUNDING OF CARE-GIVERS TO AISH, which is a totally separate topic. To be honest, I have experienced workers in the care-giving field guilty of contributing to this self-defeating confusion.

stop the cuts to the weakest citizens

January 16, 2010  at   6:25:12PM

I am a both a Senior as well as a support staff for Special needs adults. It saddens me that race horses are given more gov't funds than people in need. The Gov't seems to have their priorities confused. People voted you in not horses. Stop the cuts!!!!!!!!!!! Increase a better life for folks. Sheila Comeau

More funding is needed for the disabled

January 15, 2010  at   6:23:43PM

More funding is needed for those with diabilities not less.

AB health care

January 15, 2010  at   2:54:42PM

Watching the videos is heart wrentching. These children could be my loved ones. I thank GOD everyday that my loved ones are healthy. We need to walk a mile in someone else's shoes. How can we as a society accept the deterioration of our health care system? How can we continually beat down the most vulnerable people of our society? This needs to stop now. The Alberta government needs to step up. Our province is so rich by comparision to others, yet we cannot provide the most human basic needs. Compassion. STOP THESE CRUEL CUTBACKS.

Count me as a supporter.

January 11, 2010  at   11:49:53PM

The treatment of disabled people in Alberta by the Alberta Progressive Conservative Party’s government has been deplorable; I cannot think of something more despicable done by Premier Stelmach and his regime than punishing an already vulnerable group of our citizens by cutting their funding and adding further stress in to their lives. Shame on him and his tainted regime. I pray that come the provincial election time in 2012 people will remember this and other vindictive public policies his government has ordered.

Are we doing enough?

December 04, 2009  at   12:13:50AM

Are we as communities doing enough to help special needs societies in our communities? I am so glad I am not like I used to be. Hate to admit but being honest I would turn away from special needs individuals in public. Over the past few years I have got to know so many of them through church and my wifes employment. What a blessing. When I see what special needs societies are trying to do for these individuals and the road blocks they hit with government red tape it makes me almost cry. I am hoping some of the awareness groups get more people to know about special needs clients because once you meet these people there is no turning back. They capture your heart in a way that is undescribablle. Any cut backs to programs that are helping special needs and any lack of action by the government to not retain and get more employees for the societies is an atrocity. I have seen these employees working and seen what they are paid. They do it for the love of it, not for the money. If it was about money they would be working elsewhere. I know I could not perform some of the duties these people do in their work day. I just urge people to get to know some of these special needs individuals. They are a great addition to any community. They are able to contribute so much. With the right help and direction they could contribute so much more.

young disabled adults

December 03, 2009  at   8:16:17AM

i would like to show my support

Better Paid Care Givers

November 10, 2009  at   9:54:57PM

The government has to ensure that medical care givers are given competitive wages and benefits to stay in their chosen field. It's a shame what these families have to go through to ensure proper care, isn't it enough what they are going through already that they have to combat this also. Do the right thing, what would you do if you or one of your colleagues was in this position, turn your back, I think not. Don't turn your back on these people, they need help, and it's up to you to deliver. Volunteers are not qualified for this type of work, they need trained professionals, and these trained professionals need to been paid what they deserve. Tim Horton's employees to not work as hard as these care givers, so they should be paid in accordance to their training and work load.

cutbacks

November 10, 2009  at   2:50:26AM

Whatever happened to all the hefty oil industry royalties that our provincial government made in the last few years? Just providing us with free (terrible) healthcare obviously should not have broke the government! The current H1N1 crisis shows how inept the provincial government really is!The cuts that are about to happen will reflect how the Conservative government fares in the next election. I'm surre that Albertans will be galvanized in opposing another term for the current despicable administration. Thank you.

PDD cuts to services

November 08, 2009  at   9:10:54PM

This campaign is well organized and provides a variety of ways to be heard. The agency I work for is meeting parents and individuals affected by service cuts next week. I will ensure they have this contact. I presume our newletter at Blue Heron Support Service will also present this information.

Let's hear from the Government

May 13, 2008  at   1:06:08PM

Thank goodness for Who Cares Alberta. It is wonderful to have this forum and to hear the plight of the front-liners, the clients, the families and the agencies. But now we need to hear from the Government. WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO ABOUT THIS?

BETTER WAGES FOR STAFF IN GROUP HOMES

February 11, 2008  at   9:39:52PM

It is of the utmost importance to our group that the needs of the mentally and physically challenged be met. Group Home workers are much underpaid. This MUST change!

Child & Family Centre

December 13, 2007  at   10:47:54AM

If we can stand united and carry one voice, we can make a difference!