I have rights, we have rights...

 
Hi everybody!

My name is Kenneth John Milne. I am 54 years old. I have lived at L’Arche in Vancouver for 35 years. Before that I lived in institutions since I was about eight years old. When I was very small I lived with my family in Powell River. Powell River is a really small town on the West Coast of Canada. I do not like it when people who do not know me talk about me as just a “person with a disability”. My name is Ken and I prefer it if people talk about me as “Ken”.

I am really interested in politics. I am a member of the Conservative Party. I help with election campaigns. I am a citizen of Canada. All citizens in Canada, including people like me, have the right to vote in elections.

I am interested in rights. People with disabilities have rights and everybody, including the assistants, needs to know that. In Canada we have the right to be treated the same as all other citizens. We have the right to be treated with kindness, with respect. We should not be bullied, abused, or called bad names. We have rights about how we are treated at work and at home. We have the right to a safe and clean home and workplace. We have the right to own our own things and to say what should happen to our property: our clothes, our music CDs, our photos, all our stuff.

We have the right to know about our finances. I have my own bank accounts. With one bank account I can spend the money in it in any way I want. With my second bank account, the assistants help me: the money in that bank account is for activities, holiday trips, clothes, and things like shampoo and toothpaste.

We have the right to have our own friends and to have help to stay in touch with them and with our families.

We have a right to privacy. I can decide who can and who can’t know some personal information about my life. I can ask the assistants to explain to me any information about me that is in my records. Also, nobody should touch my body in a way I don’t like. People should ask for my permission before they touch me.

We have the right to have our own thoughts, wishes and opinions and to have others listen to what we think. As long as we are not wanting to do something unreasonable or unsafe, we want people to respect our wishes as much as possible.

We also have the right to decide which church we want to go to. I belong to the United Church of Canada.

Some people like me who lived in the institutions a long time ago were not treated very well. I am part of a group called Woodlands Survivors. In the institution at Woodlands our rights were not respected. We are asking the government to say it is sorry for how we were treated. We are also asking for some money from the government because the institutions were not very nice. My friend Gregg and a lawyer are helping us.

A long time ago one assistant really hurt me. He did not respect my rights. If somebody hurts you or does not respect your rights it is really important to tell somebody: your Community Leader, your House Leader, or somebody you trust. Even if it is really scary to go and tell someone, it is important to tell them.

In L’Arche today the assistants are very nice people and they support the core members. And we support the assistants too. They treat us with respect. I have a good team in my house. Today I live at Nazirah House. There are four core members in my house, including me. When assistants leave I try to stay in touch with them by letters, Christmas cards and e-mails. I like to hear the news about them.

I work for L’Arche Vancouver. I am the janitor part time. I keep our big building clean. I also go to the Emmaus Day Program part time. At Emmaus we go swimming, bowling, shopping and on outings. I go to Powell River often to see my mother, my sister, my brother and some friends. I have lots of relatives. I try to stay in touch with everybody.

I like my house, my job and my friends. I am happy with my life today. Except I can be a bit cranky in the morning until I have my coffee. But most people are cranky if they do not get their coffee!

I would be interested to know what other people think about their rights. If you want to, you can e-mail me at kenmilne55@hotmail.com and we can share our ideas.

Ken