BristolUK

That would be quite a good summary for most things, UK-wise, I think.

Aviator

Perhaps a bit more fairness would be as those that already have work and can earn pay more taxes to support those less fortunate that are unable to work and pay a living disability payment.

Minimum wage may not seem a lot, but it is far more of a living income than disability payments. Those on disability get the equivalent of $207 a week to pay all living expenses, many without families to help out go without meals on some days altogether to be able to survive.

They can earn another $200 a week without losing benefit, but not everyone on disability can work at all.

Shard

Can't disagree with that. The disability welfare was a bit to lax before IDS got his teeth into it, but some of the reforms and botched implementation are causing some real hardship.

scrubbedexpat091

BC is slowly offering an annualized exemption to people, not sure how many phases or how long it will take as we are already on it, but our income isn't affected on a monthly basis anymore, we don't start losing anything until we hit the annual exemption which takes about 10 1/2 months to do, so much better then before.

But it is time the government raised rates for disability, its been stagnant for too long and needs to be increased in general especially for housing.

The 375 per month and 572 per month (single rate and couple rate) is not realistic in the lower mainland and needs to be increased to reflect the rental market prices.

The government also needs to stop requiring the landlord to sign a separate form for rentals as this opens the door to discrimination and even though technically landlords cannot decline a tenant because of being on disability, many do and they find legal ways to avoid renting to someone on disability.

There is a lot of discrimination out there from landlords when it comes to being on disability.

Aviator

It is still a $9600 max a year or equivalent of $184 a week ($800 a month or anualised at $9600 if allowed to participate). It averages out to a max possible income of $9.80 an hour equivalent to someone working a 40 hour week year round.

scrubbedexpat091

It's not perfect by any means, but the annualized exemption vs monthly exemption has increased our income, but it still could use some improvements as the exemption amounts are far too low for today's reality and needed to be adjusted.

Just not sure of the BC Liberals have any desire to.

scrubbedexpat091

Article is related to low income, increased use of food banks. March 2014 840,000 people utilized food banks.

Still haven't figured out why there isn't a national food program that permits people to have food. (Think US food stamp program) Food banks are not a viable option to keep people fed, some regions food banks are limited to as little as 1 or 2 visits per month, and 1 day of food provided.

Food Bank Canada report: Number of Canadians in need of help 'alarmingly' high - Canada - CBC News

Shard

Probably because food costs are, in theory, factored in to the benefit payments. However, in practice, individuals fall through the social safety net, but still need to eat. Charity run food banks then meet that need. Nevertheless, it's a sad state of affairs for any developed country.

scrubbedexpat091

Oddly conservative Alberta is one of the best provinces to be in if your disabled, and since 2005 Alberta has raised their disability amount 5 times as they understand inflation.

here have been a few changes since this article was written, but most is still true and still makes BC the less desirable place to live.

Jump in Alberta Disability Benefits Leaves BC Far Behind | The Tyee


Here is an article that explains BC systems pretty well.

Jump in Alberta Disability Benefits Leaves BC Far Behind | The Tyee


Some basic info on the numbers on assistance in BC including disability.

As of May 2012, there were 134,361
cases and 177,683 individuals receiving
income assistance in British Columbia.

Of these, 82,452 cases or 98,150
individuals were in the Persons with
Disabilities designation.

This represents
approximately 61% of the active cases
in May 2012.

Among those falling into the PWD
designation, 72,330 were single
individuals while the remaining 10,122
cases were couples (3,200), single
parent families (5,220) and two parent
households.

http://cmha.bc.ca/files/overdueincreasepwd_1.pdf


2 hurdles we have and which cause us the biggest problems surviving wise is:

1) Employers unwilling to hire and accommodate folks with mental health concerns which leads to trouble finding and keeping employment.

2) Because of said illness, not your typical person and typical solutions wont work and it's hard to impossible to find a solution that will accommodate the disability.

Problem with my disability is I can't predict a flare up, and because of how my brain works, it's incredibly hard to pretend I am happy and normal and hide my symptoms the best I can, but eventually it all backfires and the job goes away.

There is a reason I don't last long in jobs and even less time in jobs dealing with customer service.