Veterans are another example of victims of neo-liberalism. The new Veterans Charter states that "by 2013, the Canadian Forces (CF) expects to provide services and benefits to more than 63,000 CF veterans and still-serving members. Some of the "key features proposed in the new Charter is a broad package of ‘wellness’ services and programs. These include: Rehabilitation services, health benefits, job placement assistance, economic loss support, disability award, death benefit and family support." These programs would seem like a good idea but according to Major Mark Campbell, this is ‘a joke.’ Campbell said in a CTV interview in Winnipeg, Manitoba "why is a corporal who’s missing two legs entitled to $37,000 a year, and me as a major I’m entitled to $75,000 a year based on the 75 per cent insurance model. How is that right? It doesn’t matter if you’re a corporal or a major, you're missing your legs and that's the rest of your life." The army’s senior serving uniformed disabled member called the new Veterans Charter "a joke." Seems like giving these veterans a lump sum of money is only to shut them up and for neo-liberals, eligibility seems to be an excuse to cut people out of money that they deserved.
Looking at other provinces throughout Canada, Alberta has a program called Assured Income for the Severely Handicapped (AISH). The AISH program declaration states that AISH "provides financial and health-related assistance to eligible adults with a disability. The disability must be permanent and substantially limit the person’s ability to earn a living. AISH clients may also be eligible to receive supplemental assistance (a child benefit and personal benefits) through the AISH program." Again, the key word in AISH’s statement is ‘eligible.’ A case study was done by Malacrida and Duguay (2009) called ‘The AISH review is a big joke’: contradictions of policy participation and consultation in a neo-liberal context. In this study, it is discussed how "individuals are only eligible for AISH after exhausting all other options, including private insurers, the CPP and workers’ compensation programs (Alberta Seniors and Community Supports 2005a)." The main concern of people receiving disability benefits (who have no family or friends to look to and where it is physically impossible for these people to work) is that they are living below the poverty line from no fault of their own! These people need to continually prove that they fit into this ‘eligible’ category and this crosses the line of discrimination. This reflects neo-liberals obsession with cost reduction and Malacrida and Duguay (2009) found that through an AISH review that in 2004, the maximum level of benefits that could be collected per month was $850. It is also important to note that a main problem found in this study was how "it was common for the women to describe literally stumbling upon AISH as a support option, learning about AISH not from social workers or other agencies but from acquaintances or friends" (Malacrida and Duguay, 2009).
Okay, so while I have seen so many examples of how neo-liberals are not making the right choices for people with physical disabilities, worrying about depletion for future deserving citizens or using the sad excuse of being ‘ineligible‘, I have come across one example that touched my heart. That is people struggling with Multiple Sclerosis. CTV news reported in November, 2009 that the main researcher, Dr. Paolo Zamboni (Italy) explained that "as the blood moves into the brain, pressure builds in the veins, forcing blood into the brain’s grey matter where it sets off a host of reactions, possibly explaining the symptoms of MS." Zamboni believed that "if key veins of MS patients were blocked, perhaps he could open them and restore normal blood flow?" This angioplasty surgery that unblocks narrowed veins is called liberation treatment. In June 2010, the Toronto Sun reported that the federal liberals were calling on the neo-conservatives to provide more funding for the costly treatment of liberation therapy. Kristy Duncan the MP for Etobicoke North and serves as the Liberal Party’s critic for Public Health, reported that "the province of Saskatchewan announced it will help pay for clinical trials of liberation treatment." I am quite impressed that since 1976, the liberal government has held a firm stance with future research for MS. Karen Blackford (1993) stated in the book Feminizing the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada that "the goal of finding a cure for MS drove all biomedical research directives until 1976. Finally, in that year, women with MS gained an unlikely ally in the Liberal federal government. The Ministry of Health insisted that federal research money, if allocated, must be used to seek improvements in the present life condition of persons with MS. In spite of strong protests from physicians within the MS Society of Canada, the government held firm" (MS Canada, 1976: 2). The neo-liberal government has continued to hold firm on this for 34 years.
In conclusion, neo-liberals main view is all about making the rich, richer and the poor, poorer and as we have seen throughout the last few paragraphs, the government has a tight hold on people when it involves money and anything in regards to the economic perspective. People living with a physical disability do not deserve to live below the poverty line and there needs to be equality.
References:
Blackford, Karen A. (1993). Feminizing the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada. Canadian Woman Studies, 13(4), 124-128. Retrieved November 24, 2010, from CBCA Complete. (Document ID: 450273371).
Malacrida, C. & Duguay, S. (2009). ‘The AISH review is a big joke’: contradictions of policy participation and consultation in a neo-liberal context. Disability & Society, 24(1), 19-32. doi:10.1080/09687590802535360
Mullaly, R. (2007). The New Structural Social Work (3rd ed.). Don Mills, Ontario: Oxford University Press Canada.
Tiffany
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