Article content continued

“To be heard, understood, for there to be some compassion. Any action this government is taking to review PDD can do nothing but good.”

Voices at the table

Community and Social Services Minister Irfan Sabir will meet with the PDD community in the coming weeks to help shape the timeline and scope of the review. At this point, he’s eyeing program access, measuring and reporting outcomes, and community engagement.

“It’s important for me and for the community that we hear from them,” Sabir said in an interview Thursday.

“It’s not about us. It’s about what they think their issues are, their needs are and what would work best for them. We will work with them to make sure we get this right.”

Bruce Uditsky, head of Inclusion Alberta, said it’s imperative a review be driven by the community.

They don’t need another group of accountants to determine what life should look like for people with developmental disabilities, he said, as happened in 2011 when the government enlisted KPMG to analyze the PDD system and figure out changes.

Instead, Uditsky said, the folks directly impacted should be an integral part of figuring out the program’s future direction — and that doesn’t mean just throwing more cash at it.

“In health and education, we have an expectation it’s going to move forward and improve, and we’re not just funding the same thing from year to year,” he said.

“Nobody wants outdated medical care. The same should be true with respect to people with disabilities.”

‘Great things will come from it’

McRorie is a realist. She doesn’t expect the review to be a magic wand, “but what it says is we’re finally being heard, and somebody’s going to look at this complex mess.

“Ideas generated by disabled people and non-disabled people and families of how we can make it better, hopefully they don’t leave those ideas sitting on a desk,” she said.

“It needs the action behind it. And I promise, great things will come from it.”

egraney@postmedia.com

twitter.com/EmmaLGraney