My name is Benjamin Williamson, I am 16 years old and I have a physical disability called cerebral palsy.
It is getting more and more difficult to be a person with a disability in Canada. The barriers people with disabilities face are many: physical, legal, bureaucratic, communication, technological and, above all, attitudinal.
This needs to change now
Twenty-five years ago, the U.S. adopted, the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The purpose of the law was four-fold:

• to provide a clear and comprehensive national mandate for the elimination of discrimination against individuals with disabilities;

• to provide clear, strong, consistent, enforceable standards addressing discrimination against individuals with disabilities;

• to ensure that the federal government plays a central role in enforcing the standards; and

• to regulate commerce, in order to address the major areas of discrimination faced day-to-day by people with disabilities.

In short, the ADA gave people legal rights to be full participants in everyday life, and it has had a revolutionary effect.

The most visible impact is the tearing down of physical barriers: Schools, stores, sports stadiums, government buildings, public transit that are accessible to people with mobility-impairments are now the norm.

The law has been used by thousands with psychiatric, development and physical disabilities to leave institutional care in hospitals, nursing homes and other facilities and receive care in the community.

Discrimination against those with disabilities is no longer tolerated in the workplace, and employment rates have improved, though the jobless rate among people with disabilities remains stubbornly high with about two-thirds out of work (compared to about one-quarter of those without disabilities.)
Our system in Canada is anything but clear. We have a mish-mash of vague principles and tame enforcement bodies.

The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees persons with disabilities the right to “equal protection and equal benefit of the law without discrimination based on … mental or physical disability.” The Canadian Human Rights Act also prohibits discrimination, as do provincial human rights codes.

The fundamental difference in approaches is that, in the United States, the ADA was proactive – it forced governments and private businesses to tear down barriers or face punishing sanctions, and it gave people with disabilities legal tools to demand change.

In Canada, we continue to treat inclusion of people with disabilities as a privilege rather than a right.
I urge the party leaders to make this Fundamental change.
If you agree please go ahead and sign this petition.