Ontario’s Austerity Hurts Students With Disabilities

By Sarah Jama

We all know what it feels like to sit in class with an uncontrollable urge to pee. Most of us would raise a hand, get granted a hall pass, and go relieve ourselves in the nearest bathroom or tree. For others, the process is more complicated. Picture wearing a catheter, or needing help to transfer from a wheelchair to a toilet. Not so simple in a school setting.

Educational assistants (EAs) are individuals who help students with disabilities gain access to the accommodations required in order for them to benefit from receiving an education. Simply put, EAs are meant to assist students with disabilities in closing the gap between able-bodied individuals and themselves, or to ‘even the playing field’. They scribe notes for students who can’t move their fingers, or assist in monitoring students with severe anxiety in testing situations. Yes, they even help students in the bathroom.

Dwayne's home fire raises huge questions

By Corinne Benson,
Peoples Voice newspaper

On February 12, there was a fire at Dwayne's Home, a hotel in Edmonton that has been converted into a transitional housing facility for 130 people, who are probably all on AISH, Alberta's "assured income for the severely handicapped" program.

These individuals are in the category of homeless and considered hard to house. I know one of them because the community of the disabled are highly ghettoized, and my daughter, also disabled, is friends with her. As I was listening to the radio, my sobbing was stilled when it was announced that all 130 had escaped the fire, and only one had been taken to the hospital.

Cuba Guarantees Employment for Youth with Disabilities

Havana, Oct1 (Prensa Latina) The employment for more than 1,000 youth with disabilities in Cuba is a guarantee, Special Education officials told the press today.

According to Moraima Orozco, national director of that teaching, the Ministries of Education, and Work and Social Security ensure blind, deaf, people with physical limitations, and those with mental disease, a training in skills required for the performance of trades.

Depending on the labor demand, both institutions determine the necessary workshops in schools, Orozco told Trabajadores newspaper.

Special Education methodologist Osmel Garrido stated that job training of students adapt to new forms of employment, taking into account the changes the country has implemented.

Garrido acknowledged as a challenge the maintenance of education quality provided to people with special educational needs.

He also ratified the fundamental mission of his sector, consisting of ensuring the social integration of students, and prepare them for life.