Personal Services: A Challenge for the Nineties

Abstract

The lifestyles of people with disabilities have been changing rapidly during the last two decades. While in the past people with disabilities tended to remain within the confines of institutions for most of their lives, disabled citizens are now participating in all aspects of community life. Today disabled women and men are marrying, raising families, pursuing a variety of career options, doing volunteer work, and travelling. Many disabled people who lead challenging lifestyles also require personal services which are provided by readers, attendants, homemakers, resource facilitators, and job-site coaches. Consumers are finding that existing delivery systems either fail to meet their needs or unduly constrain their lifestyles. Consequently, people with disabilities have developed a strategy for how personal services should be delivered, and the Coalition of Provincial Organizations of the Handicapped's (COPOH) perspective on this issue is elucidated in this article. This report attempts to convey the concerns which have been raised at various consumer forums in personal testimonies by men and women with disabilities. This is in keeping with COPOH's role as the disabled consumer's voice in Canadian society.