Alberta’s UCP government is using IQ tests as “a guillotine” to cut Albertans out of the Persons with Developmental Disabilities (PDD) program, asaid St. Albert MLA and social services critic Marie Renaud.
Her statements come after Alberta’s ombudsman, Kevin Brezinski, said in a report released last week that the program is over-reliant on IQ scores to determine eligibility.
The report focuses on the case of 21-year-old Evan Zenari, who was denied PDD when he turned 18 because he scored 79 on an IQ test, nine points over the benefit’s 70-point cut-off. Zenari was born with developmental disabilities and autism spectrum disorder.
PDD offers independent living, employment and training supports to Albertans who have developmental disabilities, and it provides respite services for caregivers.
A PDD review panel found that Zenari’s IQ score was unreliable but said they were bound by the IQ cut-off because of a previous court decision, which found that the regulation’s “reference to IQ scores limits the program’s ability to properly assess applicants.”
Alberta’s government has been aware of the problem for over a decade, according to the report.
Brezinski recommended that the PDD program should work to meet “current psychological standards for assessing intellectual capacity,” which focus more on adaptive functioning, an individual’s ability to independently manage daily life tasks. But last week, Seniors, Community and Social Services Minister Jason Nixon told reporters that the government doesn’t plan to make any changes to the PDD evaluation criteria.
That is “very alarming” for Renaud, who believes that the province’s refusal reflects “short-term thinking.”
“There are a couple of groups of people that this is really going to impact disproportionately: people that are on the autism spectrum and people with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder,” she said. “They are disproportionately represented … in prison, in acute care, homelessness …so you know, all of these decisions … have a real trickle-down effect to other systems.”
IQ is a somewhat dated measure for assessing ability, Renaud said, as someone with a relatively high IQ score may be nonverbal or have other, severe problems that limit functioning. It should not be the sole determiner of a government benefit, she said. “Experts are saying it's inappropriate, we know it's inappropriate, I certainly have seen that it is inappropriate -- and the UCP are refusing to listen or budge.”
“They're looking to save a few bucks,” she said. “I don't think they realize by enforcing this kind of selection of people that are applying for PDD, they're creating more problems.”
Minister Nixon’s office did not respond to the Gazette’s request for comment.
However, Nixon told reporters at the legislature last week that “[PDD] is successful, and we will continue to make sure that PDD continues to serve Albertans who need it for decades to come."
The province projects it will spend about $1.2 billion on the program in 2023-24.
