Social service accessibility in Montreal’s English-speaking disability community: A needs-based assessment

Health and social service systems can be difficult to traverse, especially in the stressful situations that often necessitate accessing them. In Quebec, these difficulties are exacerbated for English speaking or limited French-proficient persons. This thesis employs a needs-based assessment to explore how linguistic-based access barriers to health and social services affect Montreal’s English-speaking Disability community, focusing on those with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities and their caregivers/advocates. It identifies the community’s needs and proposes three key issues that result in the needs being unmet by the social service system. Specifically, the issues are (i) inaccessible information for limited French-proficient persons, as many important documents are available in only French; (ii) the primary method for bolstering language congruency between service users and providers relies on the service seeker to acquire French, which is incompatible with the lived experiences of many members of the Disability community; (iii) limited options for English services across Montreal. This thesis indicates the protection of the French language under the Charter of the French Language (1977) impacts the ability of the Act Respecting Health Services and Social Services (1991) to protect the rights of English-speaking Quebeckers to receive services in English. Through a human rights model of Disability and citizenship lens, it suggests that language laws can be understood and implemented to protect the Quebecois identity while ensuring active inclusion of otherwise marginalized communities in health and social service systems