Do people even realize just how MUCH people who are on ODSP go WITHOUT?
Do you know what it does to your psyche to experience social isolation?
To the critics, have you ever had to plan out how many meals you could afford to eat that week? Have you ever had to make up excuses to skip dinners and outings because it’s too embarassing to tell friends that you can’t afford to go?
Have you ever had to cancel a doctor’s appointment because you don’t have the money to take your family on the bus?
People with disabilities deserve society’s support, not to just survive, but to THRIVE. The current system is downright degrading. The system is designed to hold people in a poverty trap. The more you make, the more they take. Still, there are SO many people who overcome physical, mental, and emotional barriers every single day and are fully functioning, contributing members of society.
What you’re complaining about is a mere $600 a month increase from ODSP to BI. Six hundred dollars that most people wouldn’t think twice about spending on a car repair or an electronics upgrade. Six hundred dollars that can mean the difference between eating one meal a day, or three.
Six hundred dollars that could mean a single mom can get her child a backpack from the store, as opposed to standing in line for hours hoping the free stuff doesn’t run out before you get there.
Six hundred dollars that means new school shoes instead of wearing the old ones until the soles fall off and a neighbour offers a hand me down.
Six hundred dollars that means a single mom can afford to pay for the milk program at their children’s school.
The Ontario PCs claim they are “For the People”… They forgot to add, “that can afford it”…
I am a single mom who made the switch from ODSP to BI hoping it would help alleviate the extreme anxiety that comes with struggling to keep a roof over our heads. I am employed part time, and volunteer on a regular basis. I am NOT less of a person because of my socio-economic status.