Yes. I think one of the major problems you touched on is geriatric institutions. One of the broader problems we have seen is when young people under the age of 20 are warehoused in seniors institutions and geriatric institutions. There was a case in Manitoba; I don't know if you've been following it. Beyond the fact of seniors institutions being largely devoid of nurses, doctors and personal support workers, the workers who are there are vastly underpaid. There's only one nurse required per centre, which is violent for both the patients and the workers.
There has been a lot of wonderful research, especially in regard to the butterfly model. However, I think what we're seeing right now is a real lag in community living and our understanding of community living. Community living is not living in a for-profit group home, segregated from society. Community living is living in a society that both recognizes and supports people with disabilities and neuro-divergent identities and also allows them in society.
How do we expand our ways of thinking beyond sane or not, ill or not, geriatric or young, and instead have more community living workers? That means provinces funding health care and mental health care in a capacity beyond just hospitals. What we're seeing right now is that mental health care and health care are exclusively being funnelled toward access to services in institutions, but that doesn't represent many people's experience.
What would it look like if everyone had access to a community support worker? What would it look like if you had beyond 15 hours of help from a personal support worker? Currently in Manitoba, you're eligible for 15 hours. That's not enough hours in a day for you to get dressed, go to work, get changed, eat dinner and sleep, so those people are then forced into institutions.
To answer your question, I think that more access to supports and more funding beyond just institutional health funding are needed.