Canada Must Develop Humane Housing for Developmentally Disabled People: A4A’s Statement to Government of Canada Housing Consultation

Recently, the Government of Canada called for disability groups to submit statements/ideas on housing in Canada. The Government then issued a full report on the many statements by disability groups from across Canada. (Read the Govt’s full report here.)

Autistics for Autistics submitted a statement (below) on the abysmal state of housing for developmentally disabled people—and the simple solutions that can bring long-awaited relief to individuals and families. (You can also read our statement here.)

We hope you will share our statement & link with your member of Parliament.

Let’s hope that the Government of Canada reads, and acts on, the many important statements from disability groups. (If they don’t, was it truly a consultation at all?) We will update this blog and our socials—hopefully—about future meetings and consults on this.

Our statement

To the Government of Canada:
Autistic, non-speaking and developmentally disabled Canadians have been almost entirely excluded from accessible housing strategies nationally, provincially and municipally. 85% of new federally funded housing projects in our sector are segregated group homes, where autistic and intellectually disabled people are kept apart from the rest of the community and where their movements are controlled in a quasi-prison-like environment, kept in their rooms many hours of the day, only let out of their homes for sanctioned group activities they do not choose, and not allowed basic choices such as what they’d like to eat for a meal, or what time of day they would like to have their meals.

Having friends over, or having relationships, is often impossible in these settings, and in some cases, developmentally disabled people are even being shunted away in seniors’ long term care homes.

Group homes for the developmentally disabled in Canada are not regulated or monitored in any
standard way; as a result, many homes (which are typically run by private companies) employ care workers that are unqualified, with many high-profile reports of people with violent criminal records being employed by group homes and subsequently assaulting residents, including sexual assault, leaving some with permanent injuries and extensive trauma.

This federal and provincial approach is not being pursued in the best interests of developmentally disabled and autistic people, nor with any concern for their human rights, but rather because it is simply more convenient for the government to warehouse them this way, than to use creative new approaches as our neighbours in the United States do.

It is a national scandal that Canada, a wealthy nation, continues to treat this vulnerable population in a manner akin to the era of large residential institutions, merely replacing the large institutions with smaller versions that embody the same mentality, without regard for autistic and developmentally disabled people’s thoughts, feelings, preferences, happiness, quality of life and God-given, Charter-guaranteed right to basic autonomy and safety.

While people with other disabilities can live independently with supports, and choose their care workers, make choices, there are almost no [Canadian] programs in which our community can. In the United States and other similar Western countries there are many federal and state innovations that demonstrate how autistic and developmentally disabled people can live with supports in smaller settings, with a roommate and support workers, to varying degrees as needed.

These model programs give dignity, safety and quality of life to the residents, who are capable to make basic decisions and should have the right to do so (for example, who to socialize with, when to eat, when to go to bed). The ideal of “just enough support” means determining how much support each person needs, rather than imposing control over them in a punitive environment that is prone to abuse and dehumanization.

In Canada, groups like LiveWorkPlay have adopted these new models in an exemplary way, but they are not properly funded by our government and remain the exception, rather than the norm.

The solution is simple.

1. The federal government can no longer entrust provinces and territories to adequately create, manage and oversee housing for the developmentally disabled and autistic people. All provinces and territories have failed at this for decades. Thus, federal oversight, as well as incentivizing programs for new models, are ESSENTIAL.
2. The federal government, as well as provincial/municipal governments, should meet directly with Autistics for Autistics, Community Living, LiveWorkPlay and other advocacy organizations not merely to hear our “lived experience” but to hear our IDEAS for best practices based on experience.
3. The government should research best practices in the UK and the US, and develop pilot programs, and be proud of these programs as a part of a humane country that cares for all its citizens.
4. The federal government should disabuse itself of the idea that land developers and private care companies have the “right idea” for group homes, because in reality their segregated projects have been an abysmal failure. Start fostering new relationships and think outside the box.
   

   It’s not too late to end the national shame of Canadian group homes, and bring dignity to developmentally disabled/autistic/non-speaking Canadians and our families. It merely involves the federal government taking an active role and–importantly–refusing to continue to kick the can over to the provinces, who have failed us!

Thank you and we hope you will be in touch to discuss this more.

Autistics for Autistics-Canada