Since 1989, PLAN has been working with individuals and families from across Canada to identify the barriers that people with disabilities face every day. By exploring solutions, and making recommendations for reforms to public policy, PLAN has seen significant changes in the way in which society and government view our family member with a disability. PLAN's public policy work makes it easier for families to secure a good life for their relatives with disabilities by reforming laws and policies and creating tools and mechanisms to create and maintain a good life.
"We learned an important organizational lesson in PLAN's early years. Our innovative programs would not have much impact unless they were recognized by society's systems and institutions. We needed our governments to recognize and adjust their regulations, policies and statutes to accommodate the solutions that we were developing. Since then we learned that all social innovations require corresponding structural changes in order to be sustainable, long lasting, and to have widespread impact". - Al Etmanski, Safe and Secure
With support from the Law Foundation of BC and the Max Bell Foundation, PLAN has been working to create a new policy framework that will:
- Provide more ways for families to assist relatives with disabilities
- Remove existing impediments to assisting relatives in achieving a good life
- Recognize the extent of family contributions
- Make the most of both government and family resources
The most important lesson we have learned over 20 years of advocacy is the power of families to create change. At PLAN we see families trying to better the quality of life of their son or daughter with a disability, and as a result shift the social landscape for families across the country.
At PLAN we are lucky enough to see these shifts happening on a regular basis. When we advocate for policy changes, we are basing our recommendations on the families and individuals around us who find inventive and ingenious ways to create a better life, a good life for their family member. When you join the PLAN community and engage with other families, you might be surprised at the change you will help create.
