Hi again,

I know it was less than 24 hours ago that I put a post on the forum - but I've a feeling that "Help Please" was the wrong title!! Sorry about that. As you can see, I've re-titled and re-submitted the thread, in the hopes of more people seeing, and responding to it.... so here goes;-

Myself and family, Linda, Josh - 12, and Erin - 4, are very much hoping to emmigrate to Canada - hopefully either British Columbia or Alberta (I hear the winters are a bit milder there, but still snowy). Anyway, my main concern is this;- I understand that some countries don't accept disabled immigrants, and our son Josh is confined to a wheelchair as he is a cerebral-palsy sufferer. His disability is purely physical - he attends mainstream school here in the U.K., is a very bright and happy boy, and Linda (my wife - his Mother) is his registered carer.

Can anyone shed some light on the Canadian point of view on the subject of disabled immigrants please, as I haven't been able to get a cut-and-dry answer on any of the official sites. And we really really wanna chase this dream.

Thanks again,

Kev

Kev,

This one would be better posted in the immigration forum. There are experts in there who should be able to help.
BC is a good choice...you'll be used to all that rain! (I'm Launceston to SK...god its dry here )

Looking at what has been happening in the canada immigration forum of late, my heart goes out to those needing information on application issues.

Kev,

I was really touched by your post, and tried to find out information regarding this issue for you, i didn't come across something specific to your post, but this is what i found out, from what i can garther from the info, an application will only be rejected, when there is a sign of a medical problem having a drain on the health system, or endangering the lives of the inhabitants.
Hope it helps, and others can benefit from it too: every applicant for permanent resident status and some applicants for temporary status are required to undergo a medical examination by a medical officer. Though this is generally confined to a standard physical exam including blood and urine tests and x-rays, prior medical records as well as your mental state will be examined.

Applicantions will be rejected on medical grounds only, if:

i) their condition would endanger the health or safety of the Canadian population at large,

ii) their admission might cause excessive demands on social or health services provided by the government, or

iii) their condition might reasonably prevent them from supporting themselves and/or those dependent upon them.


In determining whether any person is inadmissible on medical grounds, the medical officer is obliged to consider the nature, severity or probable duration of any health impairment from which the person is suffering as well as other factors, such as whether there is danger of contagion; whether unpredictable or unusual behaviour may create a danger to public safety; whether the supply of health or social services that the person may require in Canada is limited to such an extent that: the use of such services may not be available or accessible to the person or may deprive Canadian nationals of these services; whether medical care or hospitalization is required; whether potential employability or productivity is affected, etc.


The medical officer has five criteria on which to base his assessment of admissibility.

In order to give a medical opinion in terms which are clearly understood and accepted by both medical and immigration authorities, a system of assessment has been developed whereby an applicant is assigned a medical profile.

This medical profile consists of a coded series of letters and numbers based on the two principal criteria and the three supporting criteria mentioned above. The five criteria are:

H - Risk to Public Safety or Public Health

D - Expected Demand on Health or Social Services

T - Response to Medical Treatment

S - Surveillance

E - Potential Employability or Productivity

Under each criterion is a list of descriptive categories. Taken as a whole, the ratings assigned under each criterion form the basis for a legally binding medical opinion regarding admissibility. This opinion is expressed by the symbol "M" at the end of the profile and represents the combined significance of the five criteria. It is indicated symbolically as

M - Statement of Medical Status

Ml No health impairment sufficient to prevent admission

M2 Has a condition for which the degree of risk to public health or safety is not sufficient to exclude admission, but which risk should be considered in relation to other personal and social criteria.

M3 Has a condition for which the potential demand on health or social services is not sufficient to exclude admission, but which risk should be considered in relation to other personal and social criteria.

M4 Has a condition which is likely to endanger public health or safety to such an extent that the applicant is at present inadmissible, but for which the expected response to treatment is such that future admission could be considered.

M5 Has a condition which is likely to cause demand on health or social services to such an extent that the applicant is not at present admissible, but for which the expected response to treatment is such that future admission could be considered.

M6 Has a condition which is a danger to public health or safety and which is not likely to respond to treatment in such a way as to allow admission in the foreseeable future.

M7 Has a condition which could cause excessive demand on health or social services, and which is not likely to respond to treatment. Please note that medical assessment is done on a case by case basis, taking all aspects of an applicant's condition into account. The references below should be taken only as general guidelines, not as absolutely applicable in all cases.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Active Pulmonary Tuberculosis

Active pulmonary tuberculosis will be assessed M4, inadmissible as a danger to public health.

Inactive Pulmonary Tuberculosis

Inactive pulmonary tuberculosis may be generally profiled as M2 (conditionally admissible subject to public health surveillance).

Extrapulmonary Tuberculosis

Although not normally considered infectious, such cases should be placed under surveillance and profiled: M2

You are right there Mick. It is awful over on the immigration forum at the moment. There are so many imposters stealing peoples identities and so much duff information being handed out.

Sorry Kev but I have no idea on your topic, although I do know someone who did manage to get a successful PR for his family and they have a young daughter (8 yrs old) who has a hole in her heart. Good luck though.

Hi Mickj,

Good to make your acquantance. Thank you for taking the time to do this research on my behalf. It's greatly greatly appreciated.

Hopefully I'm right when I say that my Josh would NOT be a major drain on medical recources, seeing as back here in the U.K. he just has an ancillery helper at school, and a physiotherapist he sees on a weekly basis. Apart from that, myself or my wife - ok, i'll admit it, MOSTLY my wife! - does anything and everything else required.
However, we do have a motability vehicle and Josh is a registered disabled badge-holder. Dunno how that kinda thing works in Canada.

Anyway, once again, thankyou very much for your time and effort in helping us out. Hopefully we'll chat again. Take care,

Kev.

There is a system called the "blue badge scheme" that we have here in Ontario, basically its an agreement with the provincial govt and a few European countries which i believe also includes the UK.

It allows you to use your badge from back home over here, vice versa. Checkout this website below, contact them for more info:

www.bluebadge.org


Licensing & Control Branch
Ontario Ministry of Transportation
1201 Wilson Avenue, Room 051, East Building
Downsview, Ontario, M3M 1J8
(416) 235-4741

What can I say?

Thanks again Mickj - I'll check out he site as soon as I get the chance - however, Josh has just told me in no uncertain terms, that it's HIS turn on the computer! Kids, eh?!

Anyway, it's great to know there's so many people here that are so ready to help. It's appreciated. Thanks again. Take care,

Kev.

Moderators have just taken action to cut the immigration forum's link to usenet for this very reason.

Most of the regular posters (as well as the trolls and imposters) come from the usenet side. I have informed them of the fact the link to BritishExpats is cut, but it will take a little time to see if any of them register as users here.

Jeremy

This makes no sense to me. The trolls dont care about the british expats posters, so telling them you are cutting the link will not modify the behavour of the adolescents there, in fact, the fact that they have affected our behavior here will probably just encourage them to post more of the same.

The only people who lose here are the people who access the newsgroup through this portal. We are hopefully inteligent enough to distinguish the good advice from the spam, and get enough out if the "good" posts to put up with the "bad".

If you are worried about kids reading some of the abusive posts, well isnt it the parents job to censor what their kids access, not the moderators. Sure the moderators could be helpfull in removing the obviously abusive threads now and then, but cutting the link to the whole of misc.immigration.canada is just cutting off your nose to spite your face.

Please reestablish the link!

Iain