Hope and Healing

At cbm Canada we know that you can’t adequately address poverty without including people with disabilities. People with disabilities are 10% of the population and are the most vulnerable. When I travel I see extreme poverty in many communities – yet within that community there are people with even another level of vulnerability – those with disabilities.

We believe that the Canadian government can be a leader in the world by making disability a “cross cutting” theme. This would mean that every program funded by CIDA would need to show how it is including people with disabilities – people who are the most vulnerable.

• An emergency feeding program after Haiti earthquake – how do you ensure that people with disability have access to that food?
• An HIV/AIDS program in Africa – how do you ensure that the program is designed in a way that people with disabilities can attend the clinics, seminars, and access the medication?
• Income generating program in Latin America – does your program allow for people with disabilities to participate so they too can earn enough money to feed themselves?

We have been talking to the Canadian government. We now need others to join the discussion. We have a link on our web site that will take you to an online petition where you can add your name and thoughts to so many others. We want to get 10,000 people together to let the Canadian government know that they can be a leader in the world on this issue.

Please consider joining!