The G20 Summit

(ORIGINALLY WRITTEN JUNE 28, 2010)

This was actually the first blog entry I wrote under the "And I Am The One Called Disabled".  Fitting honories for the inaugural "And I Am The One Called Disabled" were the organizers of the 2010 G20 summit. 

First off, downtown Toronto was an extremely poor choice of where to hold it.  As a general rule of thumb, if you want many people to attend an event, you would do it in a central location, with easy access.  If you do not want people attending, maybe you should do it in a more remote location?  It was interesting that when rioting started on Saturday, the police closed the subway lines in downtown.  Why not do it somewhere where there are no subways?

This brings me to a second point.  $19 million for a fake lake?  I have to admit my high school geography is a little rusty, but last time I checked, we had quite a few bodies of water in this country.  So here is a way to cover off both points.  Find a nice resort, next to a lake, in a remote area.  Close it off for the time of the G20 and compensate the owners accordingly.  This would be a lot less disruptive and easier to manage.

Then there are the protestors.  Given that many people protesting the G20 are opposed to big business and capitalism, among other issues, doing the summit in the financial capital of Canada was probably not a good idea.  The only way to have given protestors a better target would have been to hang the CEO of BP by his feet like a giant piniata and let people throw things at him.  Doing it in a remote area would limit the number of people who would come, which also raises the question if the location should be disclosed, or only disclosed to media covering the event.  While I realzie there are those who would say that this violates the principles of transparency and accountability, how much accountability do we really have from the leaders now?  We basically can march, and speak, but do we change or influence anything?

An interesting comment in one article I read about the rioting on Saturday was that there are those that feel they need to protest and make noise in order to be heard by the leaders.  While I do not condone the use of violence, I would suggest this is a sad state of affairs if our elected leaders can only hear us when there are protests.  I believe that perhaps the solution is to have some time at these summits dedicated to interested parties to come and question the leaders.  I am not talking about having President Obama and Prime Minister Harper sitting down with Bono to talk about the environment or aid for Africa, but to have average citizens be given the opportunity to present their concerns...and have their questions answered.  If security is an issue, then perhaps do it over the internet, as a sort of webinar.  Have the leaders on camera and they need to answer questions presented by the people they are elected to represent.

I think my favorite part of the G20 summit is what came out of it.  The G20 countries have agreed to reduce their deficits.  So essentially, all that effort, to come out with a basic economic principle of do not spend more than you bring in.  And it only cost us $19 million for a fake lake, and I do not even know how much in security, and compensation to people who lost business, or had their stores damaged.

Like I said...and I am the one called disabled.

Government sponsored prostitution

(ORIGINALLY WRITTEN JUNE 19, 2010.)

While I was working on a recent article on relationships, and dating for people with disabilities for my column in Exceptional Family magazine, I remembered a documentary I had seen about a program in Denmark, where the government has a program to pay for prostitutes for people with disabilities.  (And Obama thought he was impressive getting his health bill passed.  Let's see him get prostitutes!!)  While a family magazine is not an ideal forum to discuss prostitution, I figured the 'Sex, irrespective of disability' campaign would be a great topic for a first blog.

Now, being male, my first reaction was "Damn...I live in the wrong country."  However, as I stop to think about it, perhaps this program is not as good as it sounds.  Needless to say, the program has created a lot of controversy.  One government opposition official commented that it is wrong to be spending tax money on paying prostitutes for sex with people with disabilities, when so much money is spent on trying to get women off of prostitution.  Putting aside the issue of getting women off of prostitution, what about the person with the disability?  While this may satisfy the physical urge, what about letting the person with a disability experience the emotional connection of a relationship?  As a matter of fact, the documentary I had seen commented on the fact that a problem that arises with this program is that the person with the disability develops an attachment to their sex worker, who of course sees him simply as a client. 

In defending the program, Stig Langvad of Denmark's Disabled Association said the politicians critical of the plan are showing "double standards". He said: "The disabled must have the same possibilities as other people. Politicians can debate whether prostitution should be allowed in general, instead of preventing only the disabled from having access to it."  I can't help but think is having access to prostitutes really the biggest issue people with disabilities face?  Would it not be better to educate people and integrate people with disabilities into society more, so that they could interact and date people in a healthy loving relationship, and experience the joy of an emotional connection?  That would be the way to ensure that people with disabilities can truly be treated equal in the romance game.

When common sense needs to supersede rules

Over the last week, I have heard two stories that definitely proves that sometimes, common sense needs to supersede the rules.

The first one was an incident at a Ontario Minor Hocley Association.  A 16 year old player by the name of Andrew McCullum got into an argument with one of the opposing players.  As they were sitting in the penalty box, they continued arguing and the opposing player called Andrew the N-word.  While the opposing player was initially benched for the racial slur, he later returned to the game.  Upset that the player returned and there was no apology from the player or the opposing coach, Andrew's coach pulled his team off the ice and refused to continue playing.  As a result of this action, Andrew's coach, Greg Walsh, is now not allowed to coach until a hearing is held to determine how long he will be suspended for, because under Hockey Canada rules, any official responsible for having his team leave the ice and not return is subject to a suspension of up to one year. 

What happened to the opposing player and his coaches?  They were each suspended for three games.

Should we not expect coaches to teach their young players good values?  Mr. Walsh took a stand against racism, something which has no business being in our society, let alone in a junior hockey game.  Common sense would dictate the opposing player and coaches should face a stiffer penalty, regardless of what the rule book says.

The next example of when common sense should have been used was an incident on an Ottawa bus.  OC Transpo has a policy to give priority seating to a person with a disability.  That is nice.  The only issue is that the driver decided to kick a woman and her newborn baby off the bus because he could not fit the stroller and wheelchair.  While I agree that accomodations should be made to allow a person with a disability to take public transport, someone else should not be kicked off in order to make room for them, especially someone with a newborn baby.  This is not like a shopping centre where people are asked to give priority on the elevator to people in a wheelchair or carriages.  In a shopping centre, people can take the escalator or stairs.  On a bus, they have to wait for the next one.  If someone is already on the bus, they should not have to get off.  With a little common sense and shuffling, I am sure everyone could have been accomodated.

A little common sense can go a long way...certainly farther then blindly following a rule book.

Health Insurance for Serial Killers

Having a disability, I love dealing with insurance companies, if for nothing else, to get new comedy material.  For example, I was doing a life insurance application.  I did a telephone application (i.e. you give basic information and the company calls to ask you the health questions).  Quite frankly, I was too lazy to start writing out all the answers.  So as I am talking to the person from the insurance company, we get to the category of skeletal problems and I take a deep breath and start going into the explanation.  Here is approximately how the conversation went:

Me: I have Multiple Congenital Musculoskeletal Abnormalities.  (Now...for those who have seen me perform comedy, my standard joke is that I have Multiple Congenital Musculoskeletal Abnormalities...or as it is better known...slightly f&@$*@ up so in the back of my mind I am telling myself don't say slightly f&@$*@ up don't say slightly f&@$*@ up because realistically, insurance companies do not give life insurance to f&@$*@ up people.)

Insurance company: What does that mean?

Me: Well basically, I have an artificial leg, my hips were constructed, my....

Insurance company: Hold on.  One at a time.  (By this point, I am thinking maybe I should have written it out.)

Me: I have an artificial leg.

Insurance company: When was the last time you had symptoms?

Me: Ummm...it is an artificial leg.  It does not really come and go.


Now, let's fast forward to present day.  Recently, I got ready for winter.  I winterized my car (changing the tires), and then winterized me, buying two new canes (in winter I use two canes on the ice) with two new ice picks.  I am now ready to bring on the snow.  So I submitted the bill to be reimbursed by my health insurance for the canes.  While I doubted they would cover it, I figured I would include the cost of the ice picks, figuring it does not hurt to try.  To my surprise, they covered the ice picks, but not the canes.  They want a note from my doctor as to why I need the canes, which is not an issue, but if they are questioning the canes, what the heck do I need the ice picks for?  Did they get me confused with the serial killers health plan?

"Access" Montreal

Réseau Accès Montréal is an initiative City of Montreal came out with to make their services more accessible.  In addition to points of service around the island, the City offers a phone hot line and online access.  Online access is an excellent idea...particularly in light of the fact that no one can actually drive anywhere with all the construction in the City.  One side point for the marketing department at the City of Montreal.  If you would like to truly capture the spirit of the City of Montreal.  I suggest that the website should just be the following picture:

 The website should then redirect you completely out of your way...I am thinking the site for a city in Indonesia.

Now I know the argument that  the City keeps on trying to improve public transport so more people take public transport and ease traffic.  Mayor Tremblay even proposed a new car tax that every car owner will have to pay as part of their car registration beginning in 2011.  Where the logic with the car tax breaks down is that at least with a tax on gasoline, you are penalizing the people using their car.  With the car tax, even if someone chooses to leave their car at home and take public transport, they will still be charged a car tax.  It makes no sense.  However, this is part of the Mayor's continuing complaint that the City needs to find new sources of revenue.  This coming from a City that had a surplus in 2010 and still plans to make budget cuts.  Mr. Mayor, how much money is enough for you?  Perhaps if you want a new source of revenue, you could grab a squeegee and head down to St Laurent street and go to work.  Maybe it will do you some good to speak with regular Montrealers, who have to actually live within their budget.  The reality is that people are still hurting from the economic crisis we have gone through, and the last thing they need is another tax, particularly when a majority of people do not see value in the taxes they are already paying.

As a person with a disability, I have to cringe every time a new tax is announced to help fund public transportation, a system that I am not able to use.  With the cost of gas, I would love to be able to go places by public transport, but, while some progress has been made, I am still not able to use my electric wheelchair throughout the public transportation network.  A friend of mine who has cerebal palsy and uses a power chair was recently in Montreal, and decided he would take the metro, since now there are five metro stations on the orange line with elevators.  My friend bought his ticket, and went down to the metro.  Once he arrived to the platform, he realized there was a gap between the platform and the metro car so he could not get his wheelchair on the mtro.  Now, in the world of logical people, there would be a portable ramp at each metro station so the person could get on the metro.  In the world of Ville de Montreal, there is a guy who rides around on the metro with a portable ramp.  When someone with a wheelchair needs to get on a metro, they have to give 1/2 hour notice so that the guy with the portable ramp can get to them.  He will then ride with them until their destination and then get them off the metro.  What happens if multiple people in wheelchairs need the metro at the same time?  If there is a conference for disabled people, that poor guy is going to go off on stress leave!!

When my friend asked why the person who sold him the ticket did not warn him about the 1/2 hour delay, the person told him that it was up to my friend to tell him that he needed the ramp.  Ummm...what was he going to do with the power chair?  Did the person selling the tickets think he would be cured by going into the metro.  Hallelujah....it's a miracle!!  Now we know why the STM costs so much...they are healing people.

So given the challenges with public transport, that leaves me driving downtown and parking.  Now in the best of time, that can be challenging for anyone, but then there is finding a spot where I can get my wheelchair out.  Over time, you learn where are the best places to spot.  Then you have to feed the meter.  In Ottawa, they have a program where people with disabilities can park for four hours for free, even though they have a more accessible public transport system.  It could be nice if Montreal would do that, particularly since our public transport is not accessible, but I understand, our City is poor, so I feed the meter. 

Back in January, I was down near Atwater and fed one of the meters reserved for disabled drivers on Ste Catherine in Westmount to go for lunch with a friend.  When we came back, just shy of the two hours, there was a ticket on the car and the meter was expired.  The next time I parked in that place, I realized that it does not necessarily recognize all the money you put in, which must have been what happened when I fed the meter to go eat lunch with a friend.  Have you ever noticed the meter never gives you too much time? Anyway, my friend wrote me a letter saying he had seen me feed the meter for two hours, and I sent in the plea saying I fed the meter and I guess it was defective and did not register, and noting that while usually a defective meter is not a valid defence, I was asking them to make an exception given that I am a disabled driver and do not exactly have many other options where to park.  The answer was that I had to come to court to plead my case.  My court date was last week.

The first thing I find interesting about going to municipal court is one would think that the reason to have multiple service points is to make it easier for people.  Like if someone lives in West End, have them go to a court near them.  Instead, my court case, although I live in West End, was in Anjou.  So I drove out to Anjou, go into court, and before the judge even arrives, the prosecutor asks why I did not pay my ticket.  So I basically tell him what was written on my ticket, and he tells me ok you can leave, we have no evidence and I will tell the judge to cancel the ticket.  Really?  We have gotten so desperate for money that we send cases to court in the hope the person does not show up and we can find them guilty.  Or maybe that is why the City needs more money...so they can find people who can read a plea and not waste resources bringing cases to court that have no merit.  Here is an idea.  When you go to court to fight a ticket, and you lose, you have to pay a $25 administration fee.  How about every time a ticket with no merit gets sent to court, if we take the time to show up and the ticket is thrown out, the City has to pay us $25?  To finance it, the City can charge a refund tax.  Every person who receives the $25 has to pay a $50 tax on their refund. (Yes..I realize that makes no sense...but doesn't that sound like something the City of Montreal would come up with.) 

Ville de Montreal...we have "Access" to your bank account.