More than 7,400 living in the Durham Disabled Region in the Durhamradionews.com waiting list – Durhamradionews.com

People with disabilities in Ontario development ask the province for more help.

Community Living Clarington CEO – Oshawa (CLOC) Terry Gray says without additional funding, the waiting list continues to grow.

“Currently, there are 52,000 people with disabilities in development who live in Ontario and in the Durham region we have 7 413 who are waiting for development services,” Gray said.

Cloc provides assistance for 600 people a year, but in the last fiscal year only 1.3 percent made it from the waiting list.

“What we are looking for is that the government is intensifying and we urge them to provide some annual increases in the financing of disability service agencies,” Gray said.

Cloc says the province has increased funding to support agencies less than seven percent, while the cost of living has increased by more than 60 percent at the same time.

The organization says the system is no longer sustainable.

“To avoid reducing services, over the years we have scale in all other areas of the organization until there is nothing left to shorten,” Gray said. “We will soon have no choice but to reduce services if we do not receive sustainable annual funding from the government.”

They provide help to people with disabilities in their daily activities, allowing them to live and work in the community, while offering support and relaxation to their families.

Supporting services range from teaching basic life skills, helping medicines and meetings, to helping people find homes, jobs and activities in the community to participate in, so they can really belong.

Cloc says these are not a luxury, they are rescue lines.

There is more information about what CLOC is doing here.