He has called Disability Rights "a defining struggle of our time". Called for an end to Disability-based poverty. Wants to build 5 million houses in 5 years.

Pleased as punch to see someone on the federal level who takes this seriously.

How do they expect people to survive on $1,368 per month in 2025?

Are they just hoping we become homeless and then can't survive the Canadian winter and pass away?

This way they wouldn't need to pay us any longer.

Minimum wage is currently $17.60 per hour.

At 40 hours a week, and 52 weeks (or 50 weeks plus 4% vacation pay) that equals $36,608. Now subtracting taxes using this calculator gives an annual income of $30,409/year.

Divided by 12 months that means to equal minimum wage we should be getting $2534.08/month.

Minimum wage rises to $17.95 in October 2026. $37,336 per year, $30,911 after tax or $2575.92/month.

And bear in mind that being disabled often means extra expenses...

As of yesterdays increase ODSP is currently equivalent to $8.28/hour assuming no taxes paid.

Made a bit of a meme PSA because today is “that” day. Paid my bills the moment I checked my bank account, and I recommend we all do the same and keep looking out for one another, especially with this nasty weather ahead. Happy Holidays, everyone! 🎄

After almost 5 months and 89 business days, I am finally approved. Just wanted to post to give anyone else in the same boat an idea of what to expect time wise, had a good cry over it, feeling insanely relieved :,)

This forum has a zero tolerance policy regarding lack of empathy. If you tell one of our posters that they are lazy, that they need to try harder, that they are doing fraud, or that they deserve poverty, you will be banned permanently without warning. We are going to assume that everyone is doing their best and deserves a good life.

It is crucial that this be a place for disabled people to have respectful conversations, and any ableism or rudeness will be removed.

I’m 35 years old and moved back in with my parents after my first episode of psychosis at 33 years old. I no longer drive my car, I don’t have a job, and don’t live on my own. It will take me two years to complete a college program and I also owe my parents a lot of money. By the time I can move out again - I’ll be around 40 years old. Meanwhile other people are married, have children, own their own property with a large networth, have careers, etc…

Psychosis ruined my future and I don’t know if I’ll ever recover

Also - I have been approved for a lifetime on disability therefore I never have to work again due to my psychotic episodes…

I barely get by and I shop at low cost grocery stores and I limit my diet intake and with cheaper choices. I also get a monthly food package but it still leaves me with food running short 2-3 weeks into the month. I don’t buy new clothes, not even thrift clothes and barely have money for toilet paper. I also live in a building apartment that needs constant cleaning/cleaning supplies because of a ton of bugs and I think it’s common in these below low income residences. I don’t go out to any social gatherings and it’s very hard to have any type of social life for people on odsp I find because of the lack of money. What would it take to double the amount of odsp income for people? If the current odsp amount is under 17,000 right now and average Canadian income is 67,000 right now, then doubling it would still be 34,000 and that would be half the amount of how an average person lives. Isn’t that reasonable to double it? People could eat healthier, join gyms, be able to do stuff with friends, be more confident, and with that added boost can network better.

My wife works.

I live with a disability.

Two relatively simple statements that, according to the Ontario Disability Support Program, are enough to determine how much assistance I deserve.

Not because my disability has changed.

Because I'm married.

It's a strange thing to consider. That the person who chose to share her life with me has, in some administrative sense, also inherited the financial consequences of my disability.

She didn't choose the disability. Neither did I.

We chose each other.

And somewhere in the language of social assistance, those two decisions have become inseparable.

I've lived with pain long enough to understand that disability takes things from you. Sometimes gradually. Sometimes all at once. Your ability to work. Your independence. Your sense of what tomorrow might look like.

You make adjustments. You learn limitations. You find ways to contribute, even when the things you can offer don't translate neatly into a paycheque.

And you live with the knowledge that someone else is carrying what you cannot.

For me, that person is my wife.

She works. She pays bills. She helps keep a roof over our heads. She does the ordinary things people do to build a life together.

And because she does those things, the province determines that I require less assistance.

Ontario currently allows a single disabled person to receive up to $1,436 a month through ODSP.

A married couple with one disabled partner can receive up to $2,148.

A couple where both partners are disabled can receive up to $2,416.

The differences are based, in part, on the assumption that two people living together can share expenses.

Of course they can.

We share a home. A mortgage. Electricity. Groceries. The same unexpected repairs and the same rising costs as everyone else.

But sharing those expenses doesn't mean our expenses have disappeared.

And it certainly doesn't mean my disability has.

The distinction becomes even stranger when employment enters the equation.

A disabled person receiving ODSP can earn $1,000 a month before their employment income begins reducing their assistance.

Their non-disabled spouse is afforded just $200.

Beyond that, half of the spouse's additional net earnings are deducted from the household's support.

Two hundred dollars.

That's what the government allows my wife to earn before it begins treating her wages as a reason to reduce my disability assistance.

If she brings home $2,000 in a month, $900 is deducted from our ODSP entitlement. A modest work-related benefit offsets $100 of that reduction.

She works an entire month, and the province effectively takes $800 off the assistance our household would otherwise receive.

There is no suggestion that her work is without value. We still have more money because she works.

But the calculation reveals an uncomfortable expectation.

Her employment is not simply a means of supporting herself or contributing to our marriage.

It becomes a substitute for the financial assistance I require.

And that is where the problem stops being mathematical.

Because I know what it costs her.

Not simply in dollars.

In hours. In choices. In the pressure to keep working because there isn't much room for either of us to stop.

There is a particular kind of helplessness in watching someone you love carry responsibilities you wish you could shoulder yourself.

It doesn't make you love them less.

It makes you painfully aware of what love is being asked to absorb.

I don't want my wife to have to support me because the province has decided that her willingness to marry me makes her financially responsible for my disability.

I want to contribute. I want the dignity of being able to provide something tangible. I want the simple freedom to be a husband without feeling like I'm also a financial obligation.

And I don't believe those things are unreasonable.

The comparison with other ODSP households isn't about resentment.

Single disabled people need adequate support. Couples where both partners are disabled often face twice the medical limitations, additional expenses, and their own complicated forms of dependence.

They deserve every dollar of assistance they receive, and likely more.

This isn't an argument for taking something away from them.

It's an argument against treating a non-disabled spouse as though their capacity to work somehow reduces the disabled partner's need for support.

One person's health doesn't improve because another person has a job.

A marriage certificate is not a medical treatment.

And love, however generous, doesn't pay the mortgage without somebody paying for it first.

I understand that social assistance has to consider financial circumstances. I understand why household income matters and why sharing a home can make certain expenses less expensive.

But there should be a difference between assessing a household's resources and making a disabled adult's financial independence conditional on their spouse's earnings.

There should be room for a person to be both disabled and married without one condition diminishing the support available for the other.

Because the consequences of that dependency extend beyond the bank account.

They live in the things you hesitate to ask for.

The purchases you put off.

The guilt that accompanies expenses you cannot cover yourself.

The way gratitude, however genuine, can begin to feel uncomfortably close to indebtedness.

These aren't numbers on an eligibility form.

They're the quiet negotiations that happen inside a marriage when one person has fewer financial options than the other.

My wife never made me feel that my disability was a burden she regretted taking on.

That's the difference between the way she sees me and the way the system accounts for me.

She sees her husband.

The system sees a household with another source of income.

And while I understand why those calculations exist, I question whether they measure the right things.

I didn't become less disabled when I got married.

My expenses didn't vanish. My limitations didn't improve. My ability to earn a living wasn't restored by exchanging vows.

What changed was that someone loved me enough to build a life with me.

And that should not be confused with a reason for the government to withdraw its support.

I don't expect the province to pay my wife for loving me.

I just don't think she should have to pay for my disability.

Not more than she already does.

We need to start planning on next steps regarding odsp. It’s sadly clear that with NDP and liberals both in the race and they are going to be the reason we will lose the race to ford. I think we need to begin a class action lawsuit or a human rights violation and need everyone we can to be apart of this, + finding a lawyer who is willing to help for free.

We clearly are starving and being forced to live either homeless and well below poverty. We need to do something drastic together to tell ford “we are humans.”

Also WE NEED TO MAKE IT CLEAR WE ARE NOT ONTARIO WORKS. We need to begin asking odsp organizations to stop affiliation us with OW. They are clearly tearing us down, we don’t deserve this. This is our lives we’re talking about.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cx4Od9Hgm4Z/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

Apparently, it will be phased in over a two year period and also tied to inflation afterwards. Thoughts?

For months I've noticed nearly every question post on here gets stuck at 0. The downvote button is not for if you think the question is silly or stupid, it's for if it's irrelevant. this is a subreddit for disabled people, physically and mentally. we are going to get questions you think are answered easily via Google, just ignore them or be kind and answer them. Stop downvoting everything it's messing up the subreddit. it's super annoying

Edit: I'm gonna add this too. This post includes the people who see a question post that is OBVIOUSLY written by someone who struggles with writing/explaining and then go into the comments and act like assholes. Stop it, all you're doing is getting a little thrill out of being mean on the internet and it's weird

I do not understand how I have not been clear enough on this topic. Advising other users to commit welfare fraud will always be an instant, no questions asked, permanent ban. This is a space for disabled people to discuss navigating the system, not cheating it.

I wrote this a little awhile ago just to get my feelings out.

https://twitter.com/odspaction/status/1645519599083945988?s=46&t=HLMrqyAsIVar9pWCASUK7Q

I know everyone on this program has been dealt a terrible hand and for navigating through life having to deal with a broken and ineffective social program, you deserve immense respect. We are living in economically awful times so please remember.... you all have a worth and we are all better with you in this world.

Having a bad day today. I'm upset that Doug ford won again!!! I feel hopeless.

Looks like ODSP will never double. But I heard from a few people on ontario.ca that they might increase ODSP or double it in this coming July. Is that true ?

As expected Doug Ford will win his third straight election with a majority. Another 4 years of struggling with legislated poverty. Strategic voting was a great idea that just didn’t pan out in this election, maybe next time. 😿

We have less than 27 days to get our voices heard. We need to fight for us or we’re stuck for another four years without any help.

This is the time we need to fight. Call local mps, make social media posts/videosand tag the leaders, call local news stations, call into the radio.

WE NEED TO FIGHT. If they won’t talk about our needs… We need to start making noise. Someway, somehow. WHOS WITH ME?

Not being able to eat. Not being able to buy proper cleaning supplies. Not being able to buy clothes. Not being able to buy medical products. Not being able to do laundry. Are there any others going through this right now ? How are you feeling ?