CHAPTER 21

Original (published on Lun's World): 2004-08-01

Rewritten: 2025-06-18

Parents are already exhausted physically and mentally from taking care of their disabled children. When the provincial government provides services, it is often done according to the rules, and the procedures are complicated, so parents have to endure another kind of anxiety.

Lun will be 18 years old at the end of the year (2004). Considering his physical and mental intelligence and the degree of disability, he will never be able to live independently. In order to provide him with basic living security, we applied for a living allowance from the provincial government's Ministry of Human Resources and Development on his behalf. Through telephone inquiries, we learned that he should bring his birth certificate or citizenship card and British Columbia identity certificate (which had been obtained from the driver's license department several months ago) to the office in the area where he lives. Make an appointment with an employment counselor, who will conduct a home visit. After proving that the basic information is true, he will be issued an application for verification of the identity of a disabled person, which he will fill out and return to the Human Resources Department.

The application is 23 pages long and divided into three parts.

The first part is filled in by the applicant or his/her representative, briefly describing his/her disability and its impact on daily life, self-care and independent living.

The second part, from pages 6 to 12, is filled in by the doctor.

The third part, from pages 13 to 22, is filled in by the assessor. Qualified assessors include: doctors, registered psychologists, registered nurses, registered psychiatric nurses, occupational therapists, physical therapists or social workers.

Therefore, family doctors usually fill in the second and third parts. To be honest, there are a total of 17 pages, including a lot of writing. It takes several hours to fill in, the content requires detailed and covers a wide range of content. Generally, family doctors have a headache when encountering this application.

The provincial government will provide a filling fee of $75 per part for professionals who fill in the application, which is really disproportionate compared to the average hourly income of doctors.

If the applicant does not have a familiar family doctor, or the doctor is uncooperative, and asks the parent/s to find someone else to fill in the application, which will be very troublesome.

I think that some people who have been diagnosed as severely disabled or handicapped, or those who have been receiving services or supervision from the Ministry of Children and Family Development do not need to go through this complicated verification procedure again, and the process should be streamlined as much as possible.  

Disabled teenagers in school should also receive an assessment of their academic ability and self-care ability through the school board before graduation (that is another discouraging story). Those with serious conditions do not need to undergo another assessment.  

The British Columbia Liberal Party government's governance style is very harsh. People with disabilities must go through multiple levels of verification before they can receive services. Service funding is growing slowly and resources are insufficient. Many moderately or mildly disabled people lose the opportunity to receive long-term services under rigid standards. Parents are already exhausted from taking care of their disable children, and they have to endure another kind of torment when facing the government.