Alberta Government Cuts to Persons with Developmental Disabilities

There are rallies going on today all over the province to protest the cuts to programs for persons with developmental disabilities (PDD).  I am not going to talk about the logistics of how much and where and when.  What I am going to talk about is the morality of these decisions.

It has become more and more obvious as time goes on that this government has decided that unless they can affix a monetary value to something, it has no value.  As they bowl over Albertan's rights, for the sake of "the economy" and their own agendas, they reveal their lack of concern with the humanity of our society.  I hate to break it to them, but not everything is about economics.

And I'm not just pointing at the Conservatives.  In the last election Danielle Smith, leader of the Wildrose Party called the government "a corporation".  I'm sorry, but it is not.  I am not a customer of the government.  A corporation's mandate is to make money for it's shareholders.  At best, a government should hope to break even in order to provide services to it's citizens; lining their pockets with profits should never be their goal.

Throughout my life I have come in contact with many people with developmental disabilities, both through work and relationships with friends.  It is both a personal affront to those individuals and a disservice to the people that work with them to suggest that they are not already contributing to our society and economy, and to suggest that the only way they can is to close their day and respite programs and move them into the workforce.

Sometimes a person's contribution is the opportunity they give society to sacrifice and serve them.

Service to those in need of help teaches our society empathy and builds character, and that should be value enough.