| Christine Meyer, 42, sits in her wheelchair and her eyes fill with tears as she describes her frustration with the government system she is forced to live under. "I’ve been through the wringer," she says.
For 15 years Meyer lived on her own in an apartment, but as her health deteriorated she was no longer able to physically look after herself. She ended up in a long-term care facility where she says she was forcibly drugged and confined to a Broda chair that severely restricted her mobility.
"I got depressed and suicidal because I couldn’t move," she says.
She describes her roommate as "catatonic," which didn’t help her mental state. Finally after she was allowed back into her wheelchair Meyer wheeled herself onto 16 Avenue North in a suicide attempt. She was sent to a psychiatric ward, and the long-term care facility she had been staying in told her they didn’t want her back. Meyer then tried to go home to her parents, but they were in their 80s and were unable to physically look after her. She didn’t receive enough home-care assistance to be able to continue living there.
Meyer is now in a private group home, which she says is better than the long-term care facility, but still not ideal. She has her own room, but says she feels like she has very little privacy. She has a gluten allergy and the food served at the group home often doesn’t meet her dietary requirements, so she has to pay for Meals on Wheels. She is regularly put to bed at 8:30 p.m. even though she isn’t ready to sleep. Meyer says she also has very little opportunity to get out and socialize with other people or participate in her community.
"There’s nothing to do here. It’s boring as hell. One day goes into another day. I want to be functioning in the community more than I am," she says. "I find it very frustrating to deal with all the systems. I keep falling through the cracks," she says.
Meyer receives Assured Income for the Severely Handicapped (AISH) and she also receives some assistance from the Persons with Developmental Disabilities (PDD) program run by the Alberta government because she has some learning disabilities. Her dream is to live on her own again with a live-in caregiver. However, she’s been told there’s no funding available to make this happen.
Meyer is speaking out because she doesn’t think people with disabilities are treated fairly in the province and aren’t offered enough options to have a decent life. "There’s something drastically wrong with our system. There’s drastic measures that need to be taken. Our system sucks," she says. "No one is hearing me."
Michelle Kristinson, director of government and community relations for the MS Society and also a member of the Alberta Disabilities Forum, which represents 36 disability organizations, says one major barrier in people being able to live independently is the current cap of $3,000 a month for home-care services. The Alberta Disabilities Forum is asking the government to eliminate the cap and consider an individual’s personal circumstances when deciding on funding.
Roxy Porter, communications consultant for the PDD Calgary region, says she can’t comment on any specific case. But she says all people covered by PDD have client service by PDD have client service co-ordinators assigned to them who help them access resources "so they can participate in the community." Porter says PDD recipients can receive funding for a caregiver if they live with their families. Porter says PDD tries to work with the AISH system and the Calgary Health Region to streamline assistance for individuals. |
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