KJIPUKTUK (Halifax) – A short documentary released earlier this week features poverty activist and Nova Scotia Advocate journalist Kendall Worth.
The 5-minute feature is produced by Laura Bain for Accessible Media Inc (AMI). AMI is a not-for-profit media company that focuses on blind or partially sighted individuals. Its vision is to establish and support a voice for Canadians with disabilities.
Kendall Worth has written countless articles on poverty, mental health and disabilities for the Nova Scotia Advocate since its inception in 2016. Before that he wrote for the Halifax Media Coop, and prior to that he wrote articles for Street Feat.
Earlier this year he was awarded the prestigious James McGregor Stewart Award, recognizing high achievement by a Nova Scotian with a disability.
Kendall, who lives with several invisible disabilities, works tirelessly to raise the profile of people on income assistance, who live well below the poverty line and must navigate a punitive and patronizing system on a daily basis. An estimated 70% of income assistance recipients in Nova Scotia live with disabilities, making it impossible for them to find full time employment.
“The mainstream media will only cover poverty for example when a politician talks about poverty. I talk about the actual lives of people living in poverty. That’s a big difference right there. That insider’s perspective is what the government isn’t seeing,” Kendall explains.
“The issue is that the bigger community of people who are financially better off, it’s them that got to develop that better understanding of what the community of persons with disabilities is like. I believe that if they would develop that better understanding, then that would maybe end some of the stigma.”
See also: Kendall Worth: With a little help from my friends
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