Staying upbeat despite all
By Stephen Pate
PEI Disability Alert
January 1, 2009
Being a social advocate is not the easiest job. You are constantly prodding a reluctant government and society to change.
What keeps me going is the progress we have made in just a few years. Certainly the recent passing of Kay Reynolds and thinking about her life’s work spurs me onward. She and others who worked tirelessly for the benefit of others are examples to us even after they pass on.
We have made great progress even in the past two years. When I tried to get anyone interested in the $1 million cutback in disability support spending in 2006, there was nothing but a wall of indifference. Today people are discussing disabilities and other social issues regularly in the paper and in public. Yes the Liberal government has tried to deep-six disability reform but they will not succeed. Ghiz will be gone and we will have significant reform.
Two years ago, people tried to belittle my letters to the Guardian an Graphic about disabilities and seniors without wheelchairs. Today, those are recognized social problems. Poverty is moving from a charity case to a problem we can solve.
Government corruption is no longer a backroom story: it’s headlines and even story of the year with the PNP Immigrant Scam. The December 27, 2008 story in the Guardian Deal over Internet angers Liberal got the public talking with 57 comments that discussed underlying issues such as 1) the need for more open tenders, 2) political patronage and 3)corruption and deceit in the Ghiz government. It was a decent discussion of the social and governmental ills I have been writing about for two years.
I was encouraged by the level of discussion and the number of people who used their real names which rarely happened in the past. Islanders are getting fed up with the corruption of the Ghiz government and taking the leap to open and fearless criticism. Especially encouraging was I didn’t have to make a single comment to keep it moving along.
So despite the fact we don’t have seniors in the Disability Support Program, nor has the cutback been returned, nor has UPEI put accessible parking back on campus, we are making progress. We will solve these and other problems.
I take little credit for what is happening. Consider the 22,000 people on PEI with disabilities who live through their pain and challenges. Consider too the tireless caregivers, parents, spouses, friends and helpers who make their lives bearable. These people are saints.
Some people thank me for being an advocate with emails and one-on-one comments. Other people take it on themselves to tell me to bugger off.
On New Year’s Eve an old friend decided that Old Ang Syne need to come at 5 PM. According to him, he was already over the 0.8 reading.
First he showered me with faint praise for the good work I do then gave the example of the person I should be. Apparently someone had accomplished more in 10 short years than all the other social advocates on PEI and they had a NICE personality.
After supper he called back to continue the thread until my migraine was out of control. Such is life.
This I take with a grain of salt since I am a nice person and get along with more people than I can even remember. If I wasn’t social, my work would be impossible.
However, after someone who is abusing the poor, the disabled or the otherwise disenfranchised refuses to help, change or even acknowledge the problems at hand, well I do put them on my public exposure list. And that’s the way it works.
You know I have a disability which is characterized by fatigue so you might wonder how I get all the writing, research, videos and everything else done. Sharon Cameron, deputy minister of Social Services and Seniors asked me that question, perhaps hoping to discover my Achilles Heel.
Well, I’m not telling you will tell you a story!
At about the worst time in my life, in the middle of a family crisis and when walking had become next to impossible I said to my lawyer “I apologize for being so slow.”
He replied “You get more work done in a few hours a day than ten new associates all week. I could use you.”
That’s not a boast, just a promise to not quit until the work is done. If you would like to help, don’t hesitate. Volunteer to help someone today and any day.
Jesus said “The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few: pray you therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth laborers into his harvest.” Luke 10:2
Everyone can be a worker for social justice and make PEI a truly beautiful home for all. This is not Stephen Pate’s cause: it’s belongs with all of us.
As we begin 2009, we will renew ourselves and work to accomplish good the task.
Happy New Year.
