Cutting Funding for Disability Organizations was WRONG! Simply Re-instating that Funding is NOT Good Enough!

 By Kendall Worth

For the past month, the province of Nova Scotia has been caught up in a flurry of protests, petitions and lobbying of MLAs as ordinary citizens push back against the proposed cuts in program funding that the Houston Government introduced in its 2026 budget. These cuts would impact a wide range of organizations that work with different vulnerable communities, such as seniors and the disabled, as well as groups in the arts and culture sector plus environmental protection. 

I have spoken about these cuts in earlier BLOGs including here and here. But in today’s BLOG I will focus on the unfairness of these cuts on the disability community.

I have long been concerned with the treatment of the disability community by our provincial government, and have addressed in various BLOGs my own struggles with invisible disabilities. In July, 2024, this BLOG post highlighted the need for serious reform of the Disability Support Program (DSP). A few months later, I wrote a follow-up BLOG that drilled down further on the same issue, highlighting the weaknesses and gaps in the programs that were administered at the time by the Department of Community Services, - since renamed to the more optimistic sounding Department of Opportunities and Social Development.

When this year’s provincial budget was first introduced, I wrote a BLOG on the specific implications of an austerity budget for the disability community in Nova Scotia. Several weeks of public protest followed, including much lobbying of MLAs by members of the disability community, their supporters, associated organizations, families and friends.

All this sustained political pressure had the desired impact, at least in part. A week ago, the Premier agreed to rollback some cuts and re-instate funding for some of the programs that had been on the chopping block, as I reported here.

The implications of this reversal are not entirely clear, as the Government has not pledged to return funding to existing programs, but instead proposed changing some of the program criteria and processes. For example, the Deputy Premier, Barbara Adams has stated that moving forward, funding for services through DSP will be attached to individuals, not the program or service.

What this will mean for the affected individuals, programs and organizations is wholly unclear!! Deputy Premier Adams, surely you owe the disability community in Nova Scotia a clear explanation of what this policy change will mean in practice?

The fundamental problem here is that DSP programming does indeed require a wholesale review and restructuring. However, the driver for these changes should be concerns about program quality, access and impact – not the pursuit of budget savings and so-called “fine tuning”.

In past BLOGs I have identified a number of long standing issues with the DSP that require attention:

·       Access to the DSP seems selective and unfair. The program seems to focus exclusively on individuals who move straight into DSP from school, - and excludes those adults who have moved on in life, accessed Income Assistance along the way, and then apply for DSP later in life. This seems wholly unreasonable.

·       Perception in the community seems to be that those who need the services of DSP should not be living on their own: they should be living in Group Homes or Small Option facilities, where they are supervised. I consider this a type of stigma against DSP recipients which should be actively challenged.

·       Housing Allowance requirements of people with disabilities are often greater, due to the additional costs associated with accessible homes (eg, issues of wheelchair accessibility). However, the amount of money you have to live on DSP is the same as when you are on Regular Income Assistance. This makes no sense.

·       Home Visits:  DSP clients who do live independently in their own homes and apartments have a DSP worker who visits at least once (and sometimes more often) each week.  While for some these visits are appreciated and helpful, for others, these visits are more of an imposed supervisory or inspection nature, not unlike the Annual Review visits undertaken for Income Assistance recipients. Surely the nature and frequency of these visits should be negotiable between the social worker and DSP client. I have been told that attending these visits can become a real burden for people, greatly complicating their efforts to get out during the week and meet commitments for part-time work, volunteer engagements and attending school.

Looking for Solutions:

It is clear that Nova Scotia’s Disability Support Program needs to be redesigned from top to bottom. Ill defined efforts at “cost cutting” and “streamlining” will not do the trick. The three major elements that need to change are:

1.     Improved assessment processes and accessibility: In January, I shared Bob’s story, in which Bob – a man in his 40s – had just been diagnosed with autism. But he was then informed that he was not eligible for the Disability Support Program, despite the nature of his disability. This seems wholly unfair and needs to be addressed.

2.     Access for those from other provinces: I have recounted over a series of BLOGs the challenges faced by Carrie Ann Budgen as an example of someone who moved to Nova Scotia but struggled to access the supports provided by the DSP. Such supports should be accessible to all those who qualify, even if they moved here from another province to live, work or go to school. But still these issues remain, as I discussed in this follow-up BLOG. Even today, I hear from Persons with Disabilities who admire the determination and strength of Carrie Anne to complete her University studies, - but who continue to struggle today with these very same issues of program access and support.

3.     Broadening the focus: We need to re-imagine DSP as a program that is designed NOT just to help clients survive on a day to day basis. Many people with disabilities aspire to live a fuller and richer life, beyond living in a group home with part time work in a sheltered workshop. The DSP should include programs and benefits that support clients to move up and move on in life, as best they can. It is fundamentally wrong that we have talented persons with disabilities right here in Nova Scotia who feel that their way forward in life, including the pursuit of higher education, is not being respected.

In Conclusion:

Disability Rights have long been a central focus of my journalism and advocacy. This latest set of budget cuts highlights the need to continue promoting disability rights, - and to defend what little the community has in terms of benefits, support and services.

It is a credit to the community and all other activists that the very loud and public pushback successfully shamed the Houston Government into re-instating its meagre funding for various disability focused programs and services. But it is a DISGRACE that the community had to rise up and organize to pushback against these heartless cuts.

Disability Rights are Human Rights!!!  And need to be respected!

The First Voices I have spoken with from the disability community feel both angry and betrayed by the Houston Government’s approach to austerity, - its apparent belief that the weight of the province’s financial deficit should be born by the poorest and most vulnerable members of our community. I suspect that it will take more than the begrudging re-instatement of these funds to offset this sense of anger and dismay.

If the Government wants to re-build relationships of trust and respect with the disability community in Nova Scotia, it should start by convening a series of community conversations between policy makers and community members. There is much that needs to happen if we are going to fix DSP. And a good place to start would be in listening to members of our community.  Even if what comes out of those conversations is not too different from the 2023 report on Human Rights Review and Remedy For the Findings of Systemic Discrimination Against Nova Scotians with Disabilities.  Which it now appears NO ONE in this Government has read!! 

A Footnote on Club Inclusion:

Speaking of organizations that work with the disability community, I received a number of inquiries lately about the impact of cuts on Club Inclusion. Club Inclusion is a Halifax based organization that brings people together to explore new opportunities and have fun with friends. It provides an inclusive Drop-In space which focuses on building pride, capacity and social networks for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDDs), physical barriers, and Autism. I did a little investigating and found out that Club Inclusion did indeed get their funding restored. Hooray! 

My particular interest in Club Inclusion is that it is one local organization that has taken the principals of social prescription to heart, and has developed their programs accordingly.  However, the limited scope of their target group (persons with neuro-developmental disorders and developmental disabilities) means that this does not negate the need for a broader based Social Prescribing Organization,  for which I have long been advocating.

Kendall Worth is an award-winning anti-poverty activist who lives with disabilities and tries to make ends meet on income assistance.