Poverty Levels In Canada - Your Stories

This is only my story. I'm 34, but in better times I had been able to support myself with part-time work because of dirt cheap rent. The minute that part of my living situation changed, it was over. I have type one bipolar disorder, wasn't diagnosed until my thirties, so the Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) was never on the table.

Ontario Works (OW) assumes you are not disabled, and doesn't give you enough to live in a cardboard box, so it's a piss poor safety net for people like me who are disabled, but look physically capable. Or are only capable of part-time work.

I went to college and tried self-employment. The two paths everybody seems to recommend. They were both mistakes for me. I ended up in hospital both times, and I now have crippling debt to go with my crippled brain.

I'm on ODSP now, and my spouse is as well for Multiple Sclerosis. I want off the system, but I can't see a way to survive off the system.

It's called a trap for a reason.

This month, we didn't buy groceries. That's what all our decisions ultimately come down to as a disabled couple. It's always food or something.

If you want or need something, you eat the cheapest food you can buy for a month, and that saves you enough to get it.

/r/canada Thread