Nunavut’s disabled people plead for help

Whether they’re physically handicapped, blind, or deaf, Nunavut’s disabled people say they’re tired of the grinding struggles they endure just to get through a normal day.

So at the first annual general meeting of the Nunavummi Disabilities Makinnasuaqtiit Society, held in Iqaluit last week, delegates made it clear that they want their rights to be recognized in Nunavut.

“These people have been neglected for too many years,” said Jessie Idlout of Taloyoak, who participated by telephone.

Idlout, like many other delegates, said disabled people in Nunavut’s small communities face overwhelming barriers, including severe limits in gaining access to transportation, education, communication, and health services.

He said, for example, that disabled people in the Kitikmeot who go to southern centres like Yellowknife need help just making a phone call, and are not always accompanied by patient escorts.

And, like other delegates, Idlout said there are no training centres for deaf or blind people in Nunavut, a situation that sometimes leaves such people unable to read or write.

Johnny Itinnuar of Rankin Inlet, the society’s treasurer, said people in wheel chairs, especially when they arrive at the Iqaluit airport, often face discrimination from taxi drivers.

“Some of them take one look at you and say it’s too much trouble,” said Itinnuar, who for 12 years has used a wheel chair to get around.

But unlike Iqaluit, airports in larger centres like Winnipeg display direct-line phone numbers to taxi companies that offer handicapped-person van services.

“You just call up and ask for the wheelchair van,” Itinnuar said, adding that he can’t understand why Iqaluit’s taxi companies can’t acquire at least one vehicle that is wheelchair-accessible.

In an illustration of how hard it is for handicapped people to get from one place to another, Davidee Arnakak of Pangnirtung, the chairperson for the society, was late for the AGM’s afternoon session.

That was caused by the struggle involved in making a short trip from the Navigator Inn to the second floor of the Igluvut building.

Leesee Mary Kakee of Pangnirtung, who accompanied Arnakak to Iqaluit, said many of Iqaluit’s taxi drivers are “kind,” but she said that her partner’s wheelchair is too big to fit into a lot of taxis.

“We both struggle with so much. It’s a really big struggle. We’re looking for help,” she said.

And Kakee said that it’s about time that disabled people in Nunavut were treated the same way as everyone else.

“Their rights have been neglected for too long,” Kakee said.

Arnakak, who has been in a wheelchair for 41 years, said the capital of Nunavut should at least have one wheelchair accessible vehicle for handicapped people.

One delegate mentioned one rarely-used vehicle that sits parked most of the time in front of Iqaluit’s elders’ home.

To find ways of fixing the local transportation problem for handicapped people, the society invited Craig Dunphy of Pai-Pa Taxi to answer questions about why there’s no wheelchair accessible taxi service in Nunavut’s capital.

Dunphy said taxi companies have never brought such an expensive vehicle to Iqaluit because the cost is prohibitive.

But Dunphy added that taxi drivers should not turn away customers in wheelchairs.

“The fact that you’re handicapped shouldn’t be a problem in getting a taxi,” he said.

Delegates also questioned Betty Ann Eaton of First Air about the way airlines treat handicapped passengers, especially deaf or blind people who have trouble reading or hearing instructions.

Eaton responded by saying that all airlines have programs for helping disabled people. And she said her company is willing to work with the disability society and may be willing to help them financially.

Another delegate burst into tears during a lengthy description of the struggles endured by her aging father, including the absence of anyone willing to help change his dressings.

“There are a lot of disabled elders. You get more disabled when you get older,” she said.

The Nunavummi Disabilities Makinnasuaqtiit Society is a new body that registered itself as society this past September.

Virginia Lloyd, a policy analyst with Nunavut Tunngavik’s Department of Social and Cultural Development, says the process that led to the creation of the society began in 2003, when NTI notice that there was “not a lot of co-ordinated effort” on behalf of disabled people.

A disabilities council set up in 1999 by the GN under its CLEY department foundered soon after for reasons that still aren’t clear.

In April 2004, a task force spearheaded by NTI met in Iqaluit with members of the old council. By the end of that gathering, delegates agreed to create another advocacy group for disabled people.

Lloyd said the current disabilities society is funded by the GN, with in-kind support, such as meeting room space, provided by NTI. But she said it’s an independent body that sets its own priorities.

Teresa Hughes, who works with the council, said the new body’s next priorities are to do a Nunavut-wide needs assessment to find out how many disabled people need help, and to get recognition for disabled people’s needs written into the Nunavut Education Act.