Dozens of protesters took to Cochrane’s streets on Tuesday to voice their opposition to an Alberta government decision that will affect the incomes of people with disabilities all over the province.
Dozens of protesters attended a midday rally in front of the Provincial Building in downtown Historic Cochrane on Tuesday to draw attention to the provincial government’s decision to not pass along a new Canadian Disability Benefit (CDB) to recipients of Assured Income for the Severely Handicapped (AISH).
Protesters argued that a recent March decision by the Alberta government to not pass on the CDB to recipients of AISH does nothing to help move people with disabilities out of poverty.
Elisa Neven-Pugh, the organizer of the Tuesday protest, said the disabled community suffers from every funding cut. “A lot of us in the disabled community are just kind of having a–how do I put this politely–a WTF moment,” she said.
Neven-Pugh said that people with disabilities can’t find work and can’t really make any disposable income. She argued that this decision not only affects the disabled community, but the larger community as a whole.
“Disposable income for the disabled is disposable income for the community,” she said. “We’re standing here for the people who don’t have a support network, we’re standing and saying, ‘we see you and we support you.’”
In literature handed out to attendees of the protest, protesters argued that the AISH program isn’t going to see the $200 increase, but remain the same because it will be “redacted from those eligible for the new benefit.”
One of the protesters, Sonja Neven, Eliza’s mother, said that she would like the government decisions makes to have some empathy for the disabled community when it comes to the CDB payments.
“I would like the people who make these decisions be told, ‘Oh you can live on $20,000 a year, why do you need a big paycheck?’” Neven said. “To be disabled is more expensive than being able-bodied. If you give someone who is disabled less to live on than an able-bodied person, then it’s a no-go. It’s not possible.”
Similar protests were also held in Calgary and Edmonton, showing a broad swath of support that Neven-Pugh believes is a sign of changing perceptions about this issue for both disabled people and able-bodied people.
Neven-Pugh said she hopes the protests show people with disabilities that people without disabilities care about what they go through. “There is a misconception that [people without disabilities] don’t care , but they do, they just need to be made aware of the situation.”
“This is an indication that the community cares about its most vulnerable,” Neven-Pugh said. “I’m proud to be a part of this community.”
