I always
believed that there is enough money in the system. We just give it out to
the wrong places and in the wrong amounts.
I.F. will
give me my freedom so that I can call the shots - where I’m doing it, as well
as when and how I’m doing it.
In order
to get I.F. I needed to draw up a plan which I did years ago - a plan of
my life.
We all
know it is going to happen. The question is WHEN is it going to happen?
In 2005,
I phoned the Interim Authority Board (I.A.C.L.B.C.) to see if I could help get
it off the ground and whether there was anything I could do. They said they
would send a facilitator to my house or to a place of my choice to discuss I.F.
I asked them
when the self-advocates would be on the board and they said that MCFD did not
know that, or when I.F. was going to happen. They said that there was a meeting
that day, March 1, but everything was really vague. As I said, I am a really
concrete person. I just want to know when, where and how to access it and who I
am to talk to. I like "ACTION". They still couldn’t answer
those questions even though we had been waiting for what seemed forever. The
person on the other end of the phone said that if I had not received a letter
by the following week then I was to call back.
I talked
to Brian S. and he told me they had a meeting on March 01, 2005 and said, “I
will personally call you in four to six weeks and let you know how things are
going with I.F.” He realized that I was the first person to submit an
application and knew how frustrating it was. I also asked him who my
regional manager was. He said it was Doug F. and he would, in time, help me
with the I.F. project if he thought that my case was easy to handle. In my
opinion, it is so damned easy it should be done already but that is not the way
MCFD thinks. Oh well…..I wait again…..I continue to wait. I should have
heard from Brian S. around April 15 concerning I.F. and I was going to call
him myself if I hadn’t heard.
I was at
a meeting on March 11, 2005 and apparently there was not going to be I.F., but
I thought we’d see what happened. The federal budget came down and there was
some kind of mention of entitlement which meant the same thing to everyone.
The above
still applies today unfortunately.
People
out there will say they have I.F. The difference between me and others is
that I, along with 79 others who left Pearson to join the community, were
promised their services and funding til they die. I have never
actually seen this funding. The I.F. that “others” know and
the I.F. that I almost had and relates to basically does the same thing – it
provides the money directly to the pwd (i.e. they get a cheque in the mail or
direct deposit and can do what they want, when they want with it. They
are the consumer and can decide on all their needs and who they want to provide
them with their care. What I really would like is to have that funding (without restrictions) that was intended for me when I left Pearson.
CIVIL
RIGHTS’ focus is to get 2 statutes, one of which is “Direct Funding”,
made law. I believe that the sooner this happens, the better. We
have all waited far too long for something that is so simple. As I stated
above, I was the first person to apply for and almost get I.F. however
it was cancelled by the government.
If there really is enough money in the government, as
people will say (and I believe this) then why are services and funding etc
being denied or cut?
I have a solution….which a few people have already. It is Direct Funding otherwise known as Individualized Funding. In my opinion it’s a very confusing issue as there appears to be
different views as to what it means.
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