No Legal Support for the Disabled?

I just discovered another farce as far as legal representation goes.

I contacted ARCH Legal Services several months ago to ask for help with several things:
  1. Get answers for ODSP about the trust fund my family has been declaring on my income tax. It turns out it was perfectly legal, but ARCH didn't provide this answer. Instead, I had to do the work to answer a question for ODSP because my caseworker would not make the enquiries herself. She has full consent to call whomever she needs to, and yet she won't.
  2. Get answers about how to get medical care. Referrals made by my family doctor for rehabilitation and improved seating on my wheelchair to accommodate the degenerative disc disease, are being dismissed by specialists as being a so-called mental illness.  I have no idea what they're talking about. I have MRI results to prove there is a problem and my family doctor continues to make a point of stating I am NOT mentally ill. Now that the problem has become so bad (I have accumulated something like 18 mental illnesses) she has advised me I must get a lawyer. She's even written letters to lawyers on my behalf, but no one will take the case one.
The outcome of this ARCH contact, was I got nowhere. I was advised to contact 3 different types of lawyers and then given the phone number for the Lawyer Referral Service. The 3 types of lawyers were ones who specialize in:
  1. Trust Law, 
  2. Civil Litigation, 
  3. Tax Law.  
No consideration was given to the fact I have no income to pay a lawyer, and no names of lawyers were recommended.

I've been through the Lawyer Referral Service twice, so I didn't bother calling them again. On those two occasions I learned that:
  • There are very few lawyers in Kingston who will take on legal aid cases
  • Many are not wheelchair accessible
  • The lawyer has a right to refuse clients. 
Despite ARCH not being able to help, they sent me a Customer Satisfaction Survey. I decided to answer it fair and factually.

For this reason, when I got to the part of the survey where I could write my opinion (instead of checking off boxes that said yes/no or satisfied/dissatisfied), I went back to their web site to read what their mandate is, who they serve, etc.

The first page I read contained their MISSION STATEMENT. It said, in part:
VISION
A world in which all people with disabilities enjoy social justice and equal participation in society and our communities
 MISSION STATEMENT
ARCH Disability Law Centre, as a specialty legal clinic with a provincial mandate, undertakes to achieve this Vision by:
  • Ensuring our work has Ontario wide impact focusing on, identifying and removing systemic barriers 
  • Addressing issues that have an impact on low income people with disabilities, including the root causes of poverty
From this, it appeared I qualified for their service. I have a disability and I live on ODSP (the Ontario Disability Support Program). My income is well below the poverty line.

However, the lawyer informed me I do not qualify for their service. I wanted to know why so I read more.  I wanted to know if I could possibly have predicted I was barking up the wrong tree simply by reading their web site.  As it turns out, the answer is yes. It took a lot of time though because the answer was not obvious.

After reading the Mission Statement, I moved on to read more about Services to Individuals.  Part way down the page under the heading, "Legal Representation," I read:
ARCH provides legal representation to people with disabilities whose cases meet the priorities set by ARCH's Board of Directors and who meet Legal Aid Ontario's financial eligibility guidelines. For more information about ARCH's current priority areas, please contact us or see the toolbar to the left.
Hmmm. Priority Areas? What are those? It was time to read on. I read the toolbar on the left to find out what their "Priority Areas" are. They are:
  • Attendant Services
  • Education Law
  • Legal Capacity
  • Services for Persons with Intellectual Disabilities
  • Priority Area Archives.
I read each page and discovered the lawyer was right. I don't qualify.

My issue is about the lack of medical services such as Occupational Therapy, Physio Therapy, Social Work, and others related to getting rehabilitation, as a person who uses a wheelchair.  The CCAC (Community Care Access Centre) offers these service on a home-care basis so I thought I might find some useful information under the heading, "Attendant Services." I was wrong.

I then went through the list. My issues aren't related to Education Law, I'm not declared legally incapacitated, I don't have an Intellectual Disability, and after reading the archive page, I see I don't qualify for assistance for things related to technological barriers.

So much for ARCH being a good resource for people with disabilities to get legal advice. ARCH is considered to be the #1 source in Ontario for people with disabilities to get legal advice and yet by the looks of things, many people will be denied their Charter right to legal representation.

How can a service, that is funded primarily by the Province - the taxpayer - exist, when it has narrowed its criteria on who it serves so much that  excludes the needs of many people?

If you too are outraged, please contact your MPP and make your views known. Here is a link to find the MPP who represents your riding: http://www.ontla.on.ca/web/members/members_current.do

Thank you for your support.

Please read my other Blogs:
Transportation: http://wheelchairdemon-transit.blogspot.com
Health: http://wheelchairdemon-health.blogspot.com

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