We hear increasingly often from self-represented litigants who are also persons with disabilities (PWDs), struggling through the court system with an extra level of difficulty. These litigants are forced to deal with the “double-whammy” of navigating the justice system alone, while simultaneously facing the physical and systemic barriers that PWDs deal with on a daily basis.
In an effort to begin to address the needs of this community, we have recently released our newest “primer” for SRLs: “Navigating the Justice System: A Guide for Self-Represented Litigants with Disabilities”. This resource is designed for people seeking justice system accommodations for a recognized disability, either physical or cognitive. The Primer is meant to be a practical legal guide to accommodation requests. It includes (often hard-to-find) sources for accommodation information, and registering complaints about failures to accommodate, in every province and territory (including email addresses, phone numbers, and web addresses).
This is just one very small step to addressing the systemic barriers faced by SRLs who are also PWDs. For more on this, and our other current efforts, see Julie’s recent blog post, “SRLs with Disabilities: Dealing with a Double Whammy”.
As a PWD, and former Self Represented Litigant, who navigated the BC Family Law Courts, I am glad to see that Resources are slowly being developed. The systemic discrimination is particularly difficult for PWD women, who are attempting to retain their Custodial rights. The Courts are neither supportive, or compassionate, toward the daily challenges that affect People with Disabilities. It is quite sad that the Courts enable toxic Litigation process, due to the financial gains reaped by the Courts and their Officers, at the expense of low income women and children. Justice can be both Blind, and selective.