#odsp

[newsfromstolenland]

Did you know that people on the Ontario Disability Support Program can only leave the province for a maximum of 30 days?

Excerpt from an email I got: "Ontario Disability Support Program is for people living in Ontario. You can be out of Ontario for up to 30 days in a row when you are on the Ontario Disability Support Program. If you are out of Ontario for more than 30 days in a row your trip must be pre-approved to maintain your eligibility for the Ontario Disability Support Program. Your monthly declaration will help keep your file updated."

"And ODSP can give you income support even if you're away more than 30 days.

They do this if they agree that you need to be away:

for health reasons,

to attend a college or university, or

for what ODSP calls "exceptional circumstances""

But only with their approval.

If anyone on Ontario disability support leaves the province for more than 30 days without government approval, we risk losing our benefits.

This is ableism. This is restricting our rights and forcing us to go through ODSP (which is notoriously slow) in order to leave not just the country, but the province, for 30 days of more.

[khachalala]

Had KDJ grow up normally he might be taller than he is now. So I present you my HC that OD end up taller than SP (even just a liiiittle bit).

[a-little-revolution]

Photo description: Daily Bread Food Bank posts "Support a fully funded Canada Disability Benefit" in dark green letters over a white background, with a yellow "Take Action" button and a sillouette image of a blind man walking with a cane.

Below: a link to fund the benefit with an image of more sillouetted disabled folks in yellow, purple and green

PLEASE GO SIGN THE PETITION TO GET BETTER FUNDING FOR FOLKS ON DISABILITY IN CANADA!!!

[captainxandis]

If any of my followers live in ontario canada, please fill this out. Im going to summarize what it's about, but the link has a lot more details!

Essentially, its a letter writing petition to try and get Doug Ford to double ODSP (ontario disability) because it is basically impossible for people on ODSP to afford groceries and rent because of cost of living skyrocketting.

As someone on ODSP i am only able to afford eating by also getting weekly deliveries from a local food bank, and even then just barely. A lot of people arent as lucky as me, because most food banks only let you get food from them like once a month.

Its super unfair that people who are on ODSP cant even afford a small bachelor apartment because rent for them is never less than 800, and thats if youre lucky.

So if youre living in Ontario please fill this out, even if you arent on ODSP. And if you arent from ontario, please share!!! The fact that this push for an increase

[allthecanadianpolitics]

Jacquie Holyoak is considering accessing medical assistance in dying (MAID) due to the debilitating pain of living with fibromyalgia. But she says it's a choice she might not even contemplate if her disability benefits didn't leave her struggling to make ends meet.

"I'm just really exhausted ... I need someone to help me, and I've been asking everywhere. And unless you have money, you're just not going to get the help," said Holyoak, who lives in Fergus, Ont.

The former medical assistant is on the Ontario Disability Support Program [ODSP], but says it's not enough to live off.

"If I wasn't on ODSP, would I be seeking MAID? I don't know that answer, but I'm leaning towards no, because my quality of life would be so much better," she told The Current's Matt Galloway.

Continue Reading.

Tagging: @politicsofcanada

[survivingcapitalism]

What an absolute nightmare country.... This is neoliberal eugenics. Social murder.

She desperately wants to move to an apartment that’s wheelchair accessible and has cleaner air. But her only income is from Ontario’s Disability Support Program (ODSP). She receives a total of $1,169 a month plus $50 for a special diet. "I've applied for MAiD essentially...because of abject poverty," she said.

One of her physicians, Dr. Riina Bray, medical director of the Environmental Health Clinic at Women's College Hospital in Toronto, has been looking for better housing saying Denise requires “immediate relocation for her safety.”

But Denise said she and supporters have called 10 different agencies in Toronto over the past six months to locate housing with reduced chemical and smoke exposure that she can afford on ODSP.

"None of them were able to do anything meaningful in terms of getting me relocated, getting the discretionary emergency, or temporary housing and emergency funds," said Denise.

Applying for medically assisted death has been surprisingly easier. Denise said she began working on applications for MAiD in the summer of 2021.

[...]

Denise says her life today is a far cry from her early days as a professional make-up artist.

"I was earning $25 an hour. It was a good job," she told CTV News.

But chemical exposures from her work triggered her Multiple Chemical Sensitivities (MCS). MCS is a recognized disability under the Canadian Human Rights Act. It’s believed to be caused by exposures to chemicals, or other environmental exposures that cause physical symptoms, although it is a controversial diagnosis in the medical community.

Her story is disturbingly similar to one reported by CTV earlier in April. Sophia also suffered from Multiple Chemical Sensitivities. She received a medically assisted death in February, after fruitless attempts to get an apartment away from smoke and chemicals in her building. Denise said she started the paperwork on her request for MAiD in the summer of 2021, long before Sophia's story went public.

[...]

Among those trying to help her, is David Fancy, a professor of drama arts at Brock University and disability rights advocate. He heard about her plight last fall and attests to how hard Denise has tried to get a healthier home. But he’s seen her lose hope.

“Door after closed-door after closed-door...the gauntlet tends to push people in the direction of the legislation that is there, which is medical assistance and dying, " said Fancy, who has started a GoFundMe to try to help Denise find better accommodations. "I've got a very significant concern that this is the tip of the iceberg," he added.

[naomiknight-17]

About to mail off my ODSP final appeal to the Social Benefits Tribunal office

Gonna ask for fastest possible shipping and tracking. Idc what it costs. I am not gonna have them say they didn't receive it this time. I am gonna have proof

[youabandonedthem]

[lonita]

Hey, ableds. Leave those PWD alone.

It's Disability Pride Month. I was wondering what to say about it, or even if I'd say anything at all. But yesterday a straw broke my camel's back - so here we are.

There are a lot of people on provincial disability support programs in Canada. That support is woefully inadequate, leaving recipients between 40 and 50% below the poverty line. No one lives in poverty because they want to. The complexities of poverty are many, and more than I can conveniently cover herein. Suffice it to say, it's not the simple black and white situation that many think it is. Nor is it a simple to solve solution. Throwing disability into the mix complicates the situation exponentially in ways that abled people cannot comprehend, and most of the time don't even try to.

For many disabled people, online spaces are their only community. Because of proximity, finances, accessibility, and more. So, this is where they congregate. This is where they share their experiences, spread awareness, seek support, look for aid, or just shoot their message into the void to see what happens as so many people online do.

But you know how people are.

The agility that the slavering bully displays in leaping on the opportunity to deride a disabled person on assistance is mindblowing. They do it so wantonly, so willingly. As if they think they're the first person in the world to tell someone on assistance that they're a bum, that they're lazy, that they're scammers, that they can do better if they really wanted to, that it's easy to find work, that they're worthless, that people are sick of giving them "handouts", that they're just self-pitying, that they're just weak, that they should just die.

The increase of it does nothing more than to give even more people more license to abuse even more people, to kick even more struggling people when they're already down. Somewhere they got the idea that they think they have a right to abuse others.

The biggest stumbling block in understanding is that an abled person thinks in terms of ability. They don't have to think about navigating life the way that many disabled people do. They think their simple solutions are solutions that will work for everyone. Or that a solution that works for one disability will work for every other. Even some disabled people think that way. They think if they can succeed, that everyone can. It's not true, of course. It's not possible. That aside, the utter lack of empathy on top of the utter lack of practical understanding, is astounding.

Needs of accessibility, accommodation, transit, preparation, training, education, and personal needs, are a far different thing for many disabled people than they are for the average abled person. In the digital age, some of this is easier to manage. But when I was in school there were no personal computers or internet. I couldn't read the chalkboards in my grade or high school classrooms. We did work out some accommodations, but sometimes those things isolate a person. Flexibility is another one. Some conditions don't allow for a person to work a reguarl 9-5 job - and there's precious little flexibility provided in the average workplace, if any at all, and not nearly enough availability for gig work or task work that would suit an unpredictable condition. Lots of disabled people could work, want to work, but there's no work for them. Disabled people don't live a life of being able to just go out the door each day and do whatever they want whenever they want to.

To sum it up. If you see a person talking about inadequate supports, and your first urge is to crap on them, don't. Just don't. They've heard it before, a million times. You aren't the first, and won't be the last. But you don't have to contribute to a harmful noise that does nothing but hurt people. You don't need to be a bully, to be cruel. If you're angry, talk to the people who make laws. Not the people who might be eating one bad meal a day from the food bank.

[wilderulz]

Sorry to bother everyone with this....

but along with all the issues of getting scammed out of all my money, I have zero funds to renew my drivers license. I live in a very rural area, and the only way I can get around is borrowing my mothers car…. I need to be able to go to the food bank and my health appointments

If anyone has a spare dollar or wants to commission some art from me, my info is here X

The cost to renew a license in Ontario is $90, if i could somehow raise the money for that, i would be extremely grateful

0/$90

[agayconcept]

Doug Ford Hates You

T-Shirt made by Christopher Reilly

IYKYK...

If you live in or around Ontario, Canada and want to support a local artist while also reminding everyone that Doug Ford is public enemy number one - this is the shirt for you.

Buy It Here

Instagram

Etsy

[aaron15287]

Please Sign and Share this Petition asking for ODSP rates to be doubled.

[allthecanadianpolitics]

Doug Ford wants disabled people to die. 😔

Tagging: @politicsofcanada

[slaybleist]

Required reading

[icequeen1371]

I never thought I’d ever do this but I tested positive for Covid a few hours ago and can’t get out to the food bank tomorrow like I had planned. My application for disability was also denied. I have 30 days to appeal, which I will definitely be doing. With all that’s happened and worsened with my health these past few years, I had to try and apply. I have no choice. So I’m stuck on OW (Ontario Works = welfare/social assistance) cuz I was too healthy previously to be on disability but not healthy enough to work. The stigma is UNREAL having to be on it for an extended length of time. So harsh & judgmental. But still with rents increasing higher than mortgages and $900 being all one gets for the entire month. For everything. It’s just not doable without using the community resources. But I can’t access those at the present time. If anyone can help out in the slightest way possible, know that I’ll be paying it forward any way I can. Thanks💜