#Disability benefits

[theorangedead]

This is really important! Please call your reps to support if you can

#disability #disability benefits #us #us politics #call to action

[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.

#mine #cdnpoli #canada #canadian #canadian news #canadian politics #ontario #ODSP #disability #ableism #travel #disability benefits #disability support

[chronicallycouchbound]

I refuse to call government assistance programs “welfare” or “benefits”.

I’ve been on government assistance programs my whole life. I have never lived above the poverty line.

It’s a system that doesn’t care about my wellbeing, they care about doing the bare minimum to keep people alive enough to function and work, and if you’re disabled and cannot work, they give significantly less of a fuck.

And benefits?? What benefits?

Food stamps that run out within two weeks because I am budgeting with 8$ a day with literally dozens of dietary restrictions? Or do you mean the housing voucher that I have to never even have a gift card, penny to my name, Sams club membership, phone bill, literally anything that could be “income” in order to qualify? That same housing voucher system that if I mess up even once with I not only lose all government aid for at least 5 years, it’s also mandatory PRISON time for 1 year?? “Oh but they would never do that, right?” Nope! I have several friends who are now felons for minor lease violations and unhoused as a result! Oh maybe you mean the state health insurance that doesn’t cover most treatments, specialists, and testing I need and if I tried to make a gofundme to cover, I would lose aforementioned housing? Oh and we can’t forget all the money I get for being disabled, which is exactly 0$. I’m still fighting for SSI and have been for 6 years! That’s over 6 years with absolutely zero income. ZERO. And guess what, whenever I *do* get on SSI, I will lose my housing voucher. And I won’t be able to afford my current apartment because even in subsidized low income housing it’s too expensive for the maximum SSI “benefit” amount. And on SSI you can’t have savings over 2000$. Oh and they do make housing for people who are low income where you pay 30% of your income but I can’t even be on the waitlist since I don’t have any income. And on top of all this, I can never get married because I’ll lose all of the programs.

I could keep going. That’s not even half of the programs I’m a part of.

• None of them give me cash in hand. Even for vouchers I have to provide receipts for everything.

• Food stamps just straight up won’t even cover ineligible items. Which includes hot foods.

• I genuinely don’t believe that there’s a way to “game the system” and why would you? You would gain literally nothing.

• It’s designed to keep people poor. Once you make over a certain amount, you lose all or almost all benefits. There’s no way to slowly transition out of the programs, if you’re someone who’s able to. It’s all in or all out.

• All of these barriers are made significantly worse while unhoused/homeless. I’ve been homeless for over half of my life and there’s so many fucked up rules. If I missed one night staying in the shelter, I lost my housing voucher because I no longer was “verified as homeless” even if I was sleeping outside still.

#ranting #poverty #public welfare #welfare programs #government aid #government benefits #state benefits #disability benefits #SSI #disability #poor #poverty line #assistance #assistance programs #goverment assistance #usa specific #usa politics #chronically couchbound #poor people #classism #food stamps #ebt #housing vouchers #medicaid #state insurance #healthcare #health insurance #systemic poverty #forced poverty #welfare queen

[allthecanadianpolitics]

Ron Smart was a baker in the Okanagan for many years before doctors discovered a tumour that was located six centimetres into his brain near his brain stem in 2018.

It was possible for the doctors to remove most of the malignant tumour, but a small part of the brain tumour remained.

“It was a very large tumour, and on my medical reports they wrote, ‘non-survivable’,” said Smart.

But Smart survived the surgery and now he and his wife live in a quiet Penticton, B.C., neighbourhood

He is unable to work, though, due to the intense surgery. He has been living off both federal and provincial disability funding which totals just under $23,000 a year.

“Once your spouse hits $15,500 you’re cut off,” Smart said/

“The way that the government explained it is that it’s based on your spouse’s income. Because we did everything by the book, by the rules, we got the impression we were being punished for being married on disability.” [...]

Continue Reading.

Tagging: @politicsofcanada

#cdnpoli #ableism #disability benefits #Disability funding #cancer tw

[defectivegembrain]

I think even if an abled person did actually try to get disability benefits they would probably be disabled for real by the time they got through the process

#disability benefits #politics

[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!!!

#disability benefits #odsp #canada disability benefit #petition

[chronicallyillandcoping]

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

thanks for coming to my ted talk on how the government makes me feel as a disabled person

#chronically ill #disabled #chronic fatigue #chronic pain #disability #actually disabled #chronic disability #disabled community #spoonie problems #fuck the government #disablity #disability problems #disability benefits

[almostfini]

You really should have thought of that before you became disabled!

Been trying to get on disability for over 2 years and I just found out they won't even review my appeal for another year. Shitposting through the pain as always

#the emperors new groove #yzma #peasants #disabled #disability #actually disabled #disabilties #physical disability #physically disabled #disability memes #crip punk #angry cripple #crip posting #ssdi #social security #disability benefits #ableism #I'm angry at the government

[mathsbian]

You know what I was thinking about last night?

In the US, we pay into various accounts that are set up by the government to help us out later if/when we need it. These include unemployment insurance (UI), social security retirement benefits, and social security disability benefits (SSDI). These accounts are directly connected to how long you have worked and the amount of money you were paid, and are only for you to access.

We also pay into programs that are for anyone who needs them, no work required to get assistance. These include social welfare programs like SNAP (food stamps) and TANF (cash assistance for families with children so they can buy clothes for their kids and stuff that isn’t covered by SNAP) and SSI, which is another kind of disability insurance but is specifically for poor disabled people who are possibly still working but can’t afford their cost-of-living expenses which are higher than the average person thanks to their disability.

If you want to get money from SNAP or TANF, you have to prove that you need it. The government will be checking if you have a job and how much you get paid, they’ll look at your bank accounts to see how much money you have on hand, you send them copies of bill statements to prove your expenses eat up most or all of your income. Since SSI is a similar program, I can understand why there’s hoops to jump through to get money from that program.

However, if you want money from your UI account or your social security retirement account, you pretty much just have to tell the government you’re in the group that account is for now. For UI, you have to show you’re still looking for new work (at least in my state) but it’s a very lax requirement compared to the requirements for SNAP/TANF. I’m not entirely sure how one goes about collecting their retirement benefits but I assume it involves a similar process of filing with the government that you’ve retired instead of being between jobs, and they’re only check that that admission from you is true.

SSDI, though? You pay into that account your entire career. But then if you suddenly need the money, you have to go through a ridiculously complicated and drawn out process to be approved. UI approval takes a week at most in my state. I assume retirement benefits get approved in under a year at the very most. But getting approved for SSDI when you don’t have one of the limited diagnoses that automatically qualify you (and not even just a diagnosis in the list, a diagnosis with the right stipulations such as mental health conditions having to be present for over two years without much documented improvement despite consistent treatment)? That can take up to TWO YEARS because they can just deny you over and over again and force you to appeal the decision as many as like 5 times, and each appeal has a 6 month waiting period. And on top of that, once you stop working, the account starts counting down to self-destruction. You only have so much time before you lose access to the money entirely. If I am not found disabled on this application (I’m halfway through all the possible appeals), I will not be able to get my SSDI money AT ALL.

It’s fucking bullshit. I paid into that account so I would have money set aside for if I became disabled. I don’t have to prove I need the unemployment money, which I’m no longer qualified to receive, they’ll basically give it to me no questions asked. But when I’m disabled and barely scraping by for years I keep getting told that “actually from our review of your case it seems like you totally can have a desk job, go fuck yourself” despite me constantly including the detail that I cannot sit upright at a desk for more than an hour without needing to lie down completely flat for two hours immediately after. It’s MY MONEY. They’re not saving it for someone else, they’re going to just eat it if I don’t get it, why can’t they just GIVE IT TO ME???

#disability #us politics #ssdi #disability benefits #disabled things #fibromyalgia #chronic pain #chronic fatigue #poverty #vent

[bisexualseraphim]

I just with mine own eyes saw someone say that calling gym culture ableist is the REAL ableism because they know a guy with Down’s Syndrome and one arm that goes to the gym sometimes.

Gym culture in and of itself may not be ableist, but you know what is? Telling disabled people that they can and should go to the gym just because you know an amputee or someone in a wheelchair who lifts. Physically disabled people who can exercise that heavily and often without severe exhaustion or pain is a fucking anomaly.

“Disabled people can exercise just as easily as able-bodied people and also work as hard and often and have hardly any struggles actually” is really not the allyship you think it is in a world where the government will look at a fucking paraplegic with epilepsy and a heart condition and declare them ‘fit for work’ and act all shocked when the person eventually collapses from exhaustion and dies suddenly and prematurely.

The word is ‘disabled’ for a reason you absolute brainless wankwads and it’s not a dirty word

#Disabled is not a dirty word #ableism #disabled #disability #gym culture #disability rights #chronically ill #chronic illness #disability benefits #welfare #benefits

[headpainmigraine]

I am like 5 other types of minority, and I've received abuse for every axis, but nothing has made me more filled with rage than being disabled.

Chronic pain makes people short-tempered regardless, but good lord.

The ableism

The ableism from able-bodied disabled people.

The ableism of architecture and transport

The ableism of the government

The fucking ableist mass-murdering DWP and the benefits system.

The. Fact. That. No. One. Else. Cares.

Even 'leftists' and liberals and otherwise 'socially-conscious' people

I'm so shaking sick with anger all the time, even when I'm happy, even when I'm sad, even when I'm just hanging out, it's always there.

And I fight it so as to not take it out on the people around me, but... wow.

There is a reason cripples are so angry.

#ableism #disability benefits #cripplepunk #need to see a therapist really #but dont have the spoons

[affectionatepanda]

So I re-applied for disability late last year but hadn’t really heard anything from them in a while so I quite frankly: forgot. Cut to today where I’ve received a packet in the mail from them about a next step I need to do- a step that I didn’t make it to last time. I don’t know if this is a good, bad, or neutral sign for how it’s going but my stomach is in knots now. Granted my anxiety lately has been sky high so that does not help matters. Has anyone else been through this process? I don’t really have anyone to talk to about all of this.

#disabled #chronic illness #disability #chronic fatigue #chronic pain #chronic migraine #disability benefits #idk what im doing

[allthecanadianpolitics]

Hamilton Centre's independent member of provincial parliament (MPP) Sarah Jama says she will table motions at Queen's Park that would boost Ontario Works and Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) rates.  Jama told CBC Hamilton in an email she wants the housing allowance portion of both ODSP and Ontario Works to be calculated by and tied to the annual average market rent price of the city someone lives in. She will also table a motion that would ensure ODSP benefits aren't reduced as a result of another household member's income. If someone gets married, for instance, or has a common-law partner and is on ODSP, they shouldn't see a decrease in benefits.  "I've heard disability benefits are just not enough to meet the soaring costs of rent in this province," Jama, who uses a wheelchair, said in a video posted to X on Tuesday.

Continue Reading

Tagging @politicsofcanada

#cdnpoli #canada #canadian politics #canadian news #ontario #sarah jama #disability #disability rights #disability advocacy #disability benefits

[flowercrowncrip]

hello. i've applied for PIP and i'm going to be filling out the "how does your disability affect you" form as soon as i can get someone to help me with it. i noticed that you are also in the UK and if it's alright with you i'd like to ask if you have any advice on filling the application out?

Hi! It’s been a while since I filled in that one but I do have a bit of advice. I don’t know your specific circumstances so sorry if I’m just repeating what you already know. If anyone else has better/ more/ different advice please add to this!

The first thing I’d say that nobody told me was that filling it in can be quite difficult emotionally. It’s a chunky form and takes quite a long time to fill in and a lot of that time will be spent thinking about all the suckiest parts of your disability and everything you can’t do and need help with. I definitely wasn’t prepared for how that would make me feel. I’d have a think about whether you’ll prefer to do it over a few days or if you want to get it all done as quickly as possible. If I were doing it again I’d want to plan something nice to do afterwards to try and take my mind off it. Basically do what works for you and make sure you take care of yourself while and after filling it in.

The rest is practical advice I got from various places (other disabled people, Citizens advice, disability organisations). It seemed to work well for me, but my disability is significant and well documented enough that it would have been surprising if I’d had to appeal the result of my assessment.

One thing I did was I planned all my answers in advance in bullet points before writing anything in the booklet. You can also type answers on a separate document if that’s easier. I ended up writing a lot more per question than I was given room for so having spare paper on hand if you or whoever’s helping you fills it in by hand. When I did it we always wrote down in the booklet where we’d used extra paper to make sure it all got read.

I was told to never assume the person doing the assessment knows anything about your conditions and to always write everything down even if seems really obvious or your conditions are well known. Like don’t assume that an assessor knows that chronic fatigue syndrome/ ME causes chronic fatigue, or that spastic cerebral palsy causes muscle spasticity. And don’t assume they know that fatigue might make it difficult to think clearly or that spasticity can cause pain. And don’t assume that if you wrote something in your explanation for question 1 that they’ll remember it when you get to question 5. It’s annoying and you end up repeating yourself a lot but it strengthens your case and builds a better picture of your disability if you lay everything out clearly each time. Never tick that you can’t do something and leave the explanation box blank – always give an explanation where prompted.

The other thing I was told was don’t tick that you can do something unless you can do it safely, reliably and as many times as you need to in a day. If you technically could use a knife but you’d be putting yourself or others at risk doing so then you can’t safely use a knife. If you can walk 20m in the morning but by midday you’re in too much pain to walk more than a few steps then you can’t walk 20m as many times as you need to a day. If you can sometimes feed yourself but suddenly lose the ability to hold a fork several times a week then you can’t reliably feed yourself. Always write what a bad day looks like and how often on average that happens as well as how predictable bad days/ symptoms are. Always spell out exactly why you can’t do something safely/ reliably/ repeatedly. If not having the right support has caused accidents or other significant problems then include what happened/ is happening and what the consequences were/ are.

I hope it goes well filling in the form. I know it’s far from the nicest thing in the world to have to do. And I really hope that they listen to you and you get a fair result relatively quickly. Good luck!

#echo answers asks #disability benefits

[brain-n-body-in-disarray]

The hidden life of a disabled/chronically ill person.

(Basically a rant about everything wrong in my life and in this society)

At this point I don't even know what's wrong.

Am I feeling exhausted because of idiopathic hypersomnia or am I at the beginning of a spondylitis flare up.

Do I even have ankylosing spondylitis? The symptoms list is a bit sketchy. I mean, there's something there in my body acting up, but... Anyway, I'm too weary to go through all that, the tests and so. I'll just die with my joint aching, I guess.

And am I crying because of the fatigue or is it the start of another depressive phase? Who knows? Not me. Maybe I'm just fed up of being this way.

What way it is, I don't even know anymore. I'm pretty sure there's a lot more laying there inside me to be diagnosed.

The point is, I've been in and out of so many doctors' offices and two decades later I feel like nothing has changed.

I see people over there, talking about their six months wait for a diagnosis, starting meds right away that changed their life. I'm so jealous. Are these people even real?

I lost count of how many specialists I've seen since middle school. I've lost count of how many times I've given up ever finding a diagnosis or a helpful hand. I certainly haven't kept a list of the doctors I came to hate for their incompetence and their cold dismissal.

I hate the healthcare system so much. There's specialists and centers and places I can't even access because I need other doctors' letters to even take an appointment. But the doctors I have are all incompetent morons that don't even listen to me. Where are the good doctors? Where do I find them?

*

And in the meantime, I survive. There's no other word for the way I live with so little money. How would I survive without the help of a family I'd rather be estranged with? The little money I get from the state doesn't cover for the bare minimum of living. I could get more if I applied for it but... I'd need to be fully diagnosed. The diagnosises I have now aren't enough apparently. I hate that there's people in offices that put a percentage on my level of disability and can decide of my future. Because I really don't know what I'd do if they'd reject my application. I'd be force to find a job that might just kill me, or maybe my bf and I would be forced to live with his father, living on what my family could give us for food. And what would we do the day they'll all be dead? Who'll help us then? Where would we live? How would we find food and clothes?

The state never cares about people like us living with dignity. They don't even care about us being alive. They'd rather see us dead, because we're wastes of money to them. So they don't want to help us. They do not care about making things easier and more accessible. They want us gone.

Okay, I didn't mean to go on a rant, but, well, that's the life of disabled and chronically ill people. We are more than our disabilities and illnesses, yes, but our lives can't be separated from them either. It's not just about 'spoons' or 'batteries', we need to think about so much more than that. And the irony in there is that it costs a lot of spoons. Abled people can have hard lives, sure, but they have more energy to spend and means to find solutions. They survive more easily. For us, it can mean death far more quickly, and no one cares.

If we can't take care of ourselves by working, earning money, making a place for ourselves in this broken society, we are devalued and outcast.

"Earning money". Do we have to earn our right to live too? Apparently so. At least, they won't try to make it easier for us.

Sure, there's stuffs that exist for helping disabled and chronically ill people. But it's enough sugar-coated bullshit to appease the people, to show enough kindness not to look heartless. I don't believe for one second they care for us, and you should not too.

They expect us being voiceless, because we are often silenced by our own lack of spoon. We live a life where we need more energy but have less than most people. It is thus unfair that we are the one that have to be our own advocates.

Sure, we have allies. But if there's one thing I have learned is that if you don't leave it, you don't know what people that live it really need. The best allies are forums. They're empty spaces that make the minorities' voices resonate, that emplify them. Allies' voices are echoes. But echoes can be dangerous, the original message distorted beyond recognition. So we need to be the ones to be heard. No small feat.

I know that I can't do that. I can only send tumblr posts into the void. Is that enough? It'll have to be, because I can barely remember to eat, I can't fight this battle on top of everything.

Kudos of the activists that manage to do it all. I hope you don't get burnt out.

#actually disabled #actually mentally ill #idiopathic hypersomnia #sleepy bitch disease #bipolar disorder #c ptsd #autism #actually autism #ankylosing spondylitis #rheumatism #disability problems #physical disability #disability benefits #disability #disabled #actually chronically ill #chronic illness #chronic fatigue #chronic pain #chronically ill #spoonie #spoon theory #depression #actually ptsd

[chronicallyillandcoping]

Here are some top tips for PIP assessments from someone awarded enhanced daily living and enhanced mobility.

- Talk about it like its your worst day and dont let them down play anything. For example

Me: I really struggle to walk a lot of the time.

The assessor: but you can sometimes.

Me: yes but most of the time i cant and when i can its very painful

-Have the meeting recorded. They are less likely to try and twist your words if its being recorded. It is also helpful for if you want to apply for mandatory reconsideration you have a record of everything that was said

-If you can, have someone with you. I personally had my partner with me and they answered a lot of the questions for me as i was getting overwhelmed and needed support. Having someone there to support you and advocate for you if needed can be a big help.

-If possible have it done over the phone rather than in person. A lot of people say they were judged for what they wore how much eye contact they made e.c.t. if its possible having it over the phone limits how much of a judgement they can make based on looks

-Evidence! Get as much evidence as possible even if you think its irrelevant i sent in 150 pages worth of medical records even if it wasnt all relevent it made a huge difference that there was a lot backing up what i said

-If youre struggling to write out the forms and its possible i highly suggest seeking support. I personally used my local autism hub for help but citizens advice are also able to help you through the process

- Be gentle with yourself. The people doing the assessment and the benefits system, in general can be so so mean. Remember you deserve help.

If anyone else has any other tips feel free to add them below. My dms are open if anyone has any questions or feel free to ask in a comment. Sorry this was long but i hope it helps.

#chronic fatigue #chronic pain #chronically ill #disabled #disability #actually disabled #chronic disability #disabled community #medical gaslighting #spoonie problems #uk disability #disability benefits #PIP #personal independence payment #uk benefits #health tips #advice #uk nhs #uk #chronic disease #chronic illness