Local group suspends rallies against PDD cuts

By Sara Buchan, Grande PrairiePublic Interest Alberta is putting its weekly protest gatherings on hiatus, now that the province has pulled plans for PDD cuts off the table.Spokesperson Heather Haiste says the concerns about cuts to services for the developmentally disabled were really scary for people who didn't know what was going to happen.Haiste says the government finally understood that it wasn't just the changes that were upsetting families, it was the way the whole thing was being handled that was poorly done as well."They're actually stopping and going 'Okay. Maybe there's some glaring issues that we didn't look at, and these people are holding us accountable.' And that's good. And as government officials who are paid by taxpayers like you and myself, they need to ."Haiste says another piece of good news is the planned reevaluation of the Supports Intensity Scale assessment to make sure that tool gives an accurate picture of the "whole person" who needs specialized care or programming.Read the article at HQ Grande Prairie.