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Please stop the cuts to disability services

Dear Editor, I am writing on behalf of the individuals I support and care about. I work with an organization that provides for our most vulnerable individuals who have a disability.

Dear Editor,

I am writing on behalf of the individuals I support and care about. I work with an organization that provides for our most vulnerable individuals who have a disability. I am speaking out to stop the funding cuts to services and community access for it is having a saddening effect on the individuals and their families who reply on them.

The reduction in funding means a shortening in hours for the individuals and less one on one time. Which means no time for community access because clients will have to be doubled up or tripled up to get through the day. Also this means loss of staff because of the funding cuts and the doubling up. The reduction of hours has meant many individuals are forced to try things on their own for they are sent home early or have no support at all.

I understand the cuts to community access are happening not just in Barrhead but in other towns also. They are also trying to give support with what money is left after the cuts happened which means each individual could lose anywhere from two to 50 per cent of support. They are trying to give support with what the government told the agencies to cut with the new budget just in the next few weeks.

Do you realize how much this affects the individuals, families and the support workers? The people rely on these services for it is a way of life and it is how people have grown in the community and built a life for themselves. Disability services help provide a normal way of learning how to live on your own with support, hold a job, have a relationship and to be proud of who they are.

Also, their families and support workers want to have the best for them and the best services. Many of the families and guardians are getting older and definitely rely on these services for when they can’t help as much anymore. If they happen to pass away then the disability services are needed more than ever, which means reapplying for different funding. I have seen and experienced first hand on how this is affecting the clients, their families and the workers and no one is happy about. I have seen and heard the anger that the individuals are feeling and don’t understand why they keep having to lose their way of life. Which means reduction of hours, maybe service all together, maybe work out of their homes and the loss of workers. Sounds like things are going back in time and not forward.

This isn’t the time to cut community access funding or any other kind of funding. This is the time for the clients to have a building to work out of and to have the full support they need. Plus, more services are going to be needed as the population grows and people turn 18 and might need support. It looks like things are being done with little regard for the individual and the impact on them. It all comes down to the money end of it and not the individuals who rely on the services to live.

Please help make a difference and stop the cuts to disability services and community access.

Sharlene Wade

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