What Is A Support Person:
A support person is an individual that helps someone with a disability (or disabilities) by either assisting or completing certain tasks based on their needs. A support person can come in many forms; they can be family members or friends to even nurses and other professionals depending on the assistance they provide. Common areas of assistance are medical, mobility, communication, daily living and accessibility. An example can be a parent transporting a child who is in a wheelchair, or a sign language interpreter assisting a person who is deaf during an interview.
Accessibility:
In Ontario the law states that for anyone who needs a support person must be allowed to bring said person wherever they need to go. For a lot of businesses and services the cost for the support person can be reduced or even waived. Many of the public transportation organizations such as the TTC allow for support persons to ride for free with the individual who has a disability. The only catch is that they may need to provide identification. Even in the case of medical or legal consultation as long as the individual requests for a support person to be present, the doctor or lawyer must make the required accommodations. Most of the time this requires a support person to sign a confidentiality agreement.
Do I Need A Support Worker
Do I need a support person or not? This is a very situational question. It is important to figure out what are the tasks that need to be completed that I am unable to do on my own. Many support workers have a cost associated with providing help and the free one may not be as available. I would recommend creating a list of tasks that are difficult for you to complete and figuring out which ones are most important. The last step is to determine how long each task will take to complete. Armed with that information you can determine what are the minimum amount of hours you need from a support worker that fit your schedule and your wallet. It is also good to remember that not all tasks need to be completed by the same person. Spread out the help, for example asking a family member to take you to the doctors and another friend to help with groceries in order to leave the maximum time for the support worker to help with tasks that only they can or are willing to assist in completing
How to get one:
This is probably the hardest part. As everyone’s needs are drastically different it is very difficult to create a list of support workers that can help everyone. First place to start is your local community center, they are usually a wealth of information and can help to at least point you in the right direction. March of Dimes is a Canada organization with wide array of services to help people with disabilities including getting a support person. For those of you living in Ontario with mental disabilities the DSO (Developmental Service Ontario) has a program called APSW (Adult Protective Service Worker) where they pair you up with a social worker to find local support in your areas such as support workers.