Last year, to keep his minority government in power, Justin Trudeau promised in his Throne Speech to implement a GIS, a federal top up for disabled people, as well as employment support. This was at the request of the NDP who then supported the speech. The NDP have recognized the horrible poverty the disabled in Canada live with and amongst the disabled community there was finally some hope that maybe we would get some justice, some fairness and a way out of the extreme poverty most of us live in.
Well, unfortunately that dream was not to be. Instead, in this springs budget the Liberals promised the disabled community… a three year study of the possibility of a GIS and no talk at all about income support. This is worse than no mention of it at all as it means the PWD community is now locked into three more years of the hopelessness of poverty. What’s even worse is that his goverment recently pushed through a disabled right to medical suicide bill, but when it came to providing us with what we need to live, apparently the urgency just isn’t there.
As a disabled person I have lived in a world that ignores disability both visible and invisable. It affected my entire life as I spent most of it feeling that I should just get my act together but had no way of knowing how to do so. I have now achieved this goal but I couldn’t have done it without subsidized, supportive, safe housing, or occasional financial support from my family. This has allowed me to achieve a normalcy of function but I’m still disabled and I still cannot work so my being “cured” still hasn’t cured me of my other great affliction, poverty.
People really downplay or don’t understand the affects of non visible disability. I have several conditions that make it extremely difficult to impossible for me to work. And that’s really what it’s all about. If I can’t work I am doomed to a life of poverty and because my disabilities are of the learning disorder and mental illness kind, invisible, I am not viewed as someone needing support. Sometimes people even troll us online, resenting the disabled for needing or receiving the meagre assistence we do get.
Its very disheartening how the invisibly disabled are treated by our government and by society. I don’t think people realize what a hardship it is to not be able to work and having to navigate life with learning and cognitive differences. What a life of enforced poverty is like. If they did perhaps they would have more compassion and understanding and society’s and the goverment’s attitudes would finally change.
They really do need to. All disabled have to live with this general ignorance and distain because it doesn’t just affect those with invisible disabilities. All the disabled in Ontario live at almost 1/2 the poverty rate and many are homeless because they can’t afford rent on ODSP.
It’s truly terrible our wealthy, progressive, compassionate nation denies the disabled a living income, and expects us somehow to magically not really be disabled and grateful for the life of poverty given to us. This is not okay or possible. I hope this situation changes because it needs to. I have lived my life fighting and living with both my disabilities and poverty, and its been a tragic and terrible battle and I’m definitely not alone
