Toronto – We’re reimagining the inclusion of people with disabilities in policy design. Meet Shape the CDB: an ambitious project to hear directly from disabled people and use their knowledge to propose a Canada Disability Benefit that works for them. At International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, people with disabilities continue to struggle to cover basic needs in the face of continued rising costs to food and housing.
Disabled people in Canada make up over 40% of those living in poverty and over 50% of people depending on food banks. The Canada Disability Benefit is law, with the goal of helping to end disability poverty. Determining the details of what the CDB looks like, who can access it, and how, must involve people with disabilities. But the process proposed by the government is not reaching those who need to participate most. Disability Without Poverty (DWP) has created something that does just that – get the views of as many disabled people, from as many backgrounds, as possible.
“Today, we start the hard work of mobilizing to ensure nothing about us without us is represented in the regulation process,” says Michelle Hewitt, Chair of DWP. “We want to make sure that we reach diverse communities of disabled people. We especially want to learn from racialized and newcomer communities, as well as people who live in congregate care settings,” emphasizes Rabia Khedr, DWP’s
National Director. Shape the CDB launches today with an online tool, the first of a 3-part series of activities to gather input from people with disabilities in Canada, especially those in the most marginalized communities.
The online tool will be available on our website until November 17. Initial findings will be shared in an interim report on our website, with our stakeholders and with government. Next steps of the project include: guided peer-to-peer conversations, and a second online process focused on the details to test what we learned. These results will also be shared with government and stakeholders, bringing forward the needs and concerns that must be addressed in the creation of the Canada Disability Benefit. We encourage everyone to visit https://www.disabilitywithoutpoverty.ca/takeaction/shape-the-cdb and make your voice heard!