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For more information visit: ODSP Fireside Group NOTE: This is not a chat room, it is a message exchange center.
Folks, There is one thing this government has been doing; they have been trying to bring to focus the problem of obesity and diabetes. There are plenty of viable medical studies that show a strong link between poverty and obesity. People who cannot afford to eat properly eat the wrong foods, too many carbohydrates, and not enough fruits and leafy green vegetables. They are also liable to get less exercise as parents cannot afford to get their children involved in sports and other organized physical activities. In many places in Toronto or other large communities, it is a risk to even allow your children to play outdoors. Why doesn't Sandra "let-them-eat-cake" Pupatello ever talk to the Health Minister, the one who is pushing for all these anti-obesity programs? For myself, for example, after all my other bills are paid, I would have $300 or less to pay for groceries for myself, husband and two kids. If the month is five weeks long, as is sometimes the case, I am seriously in debt. I often started a month $700 in overdraft. And I go NOWHERE. I do NOTHING. My kids are not involved in ANYTHING because everything in this city costs money, and if not - transportation, which I don't have. My mother comes in and still believes diet and exercise will help me lose weight; there is also evidence that not eating slows your metabolism to a crawl, where calories are burned much slower than normal and therefore, are more likely to be stored as fat. In normal circumstances, my groceries are $700 or more because of what I need to eat, as well as my kids. Fuel costs have increased the price of EVERYTHING, not just gas. The last time I did grocery shopping, the prices were about 10 - 12% higher than the time before. I am also under a great deal of stress and stress creates enzymes that also slow your metabolism. As for the special diet campaign, I think the government is too blind to realize WHY this particular campaign was started. If people had enough to eat and a decent place to live, and could afford to pay for both of these things in the same month, then there would have been NO attempt to supposedly "exploit" this so-called loophole. People are doing this because they DON'T have enough to pay their housing and their food each month. I had been to food banks and only found that the food provided there made me ill, as I cannot eat half the stuff they have there. Pasta is a no-no. White bread is a no-no. Processed meats are a no-no. Powdered milk is a no-no. Yet for people in the public who are not required to survive on this stuff, why do they believe we can do it even better? For example, I have a need for high iron and high calcium. I take Depo Provera which depletes calcium. Some of my other drugs are slowly hurting my liver so less additives, the better. I require purified water to allow me to drink lots of fluids without bloating. I also have to have salt-free foods, only add a bit for taste. Certain other foods lead to migraines and stomach problems. When I eat properly, I have more energy and don't have to plan three days to a week in advance to build up enough energy, for example, to do something that last more than a couple of hours. Both my husband and my son have problems where ADHD is impacted by additives and rich foods. My daughter is just 5 years old, but she's already been through the mill with the children's special needs system for hyperactivity and sensitivity and poor social skills. These issues are issues that we all have. We need to all collect and bring these stories forward so that the general public is aware how little people on ODSP get. With rising fuel prices, I hear the rebate is only going to families with children or seniors. Because it is tied to the National Child Benefit, I expressed a concern that the provincial government may use this rebate as an excuse to further cut back our benefits dollar for dollar. My contacts don't think this will be the case, but they'll check anyway. Also, how about singles and couples who are not seniors?
However, if they start getting new forms or new processes re the special
diet, I think people facing this should report this to this board as well
as their local legal clinics. My suspect is that Pupatello will eliminate
nurses, dieticians and midwives from the picture, and only permit physicians
to sign and there may be a space for physicians to briefly indicate why
the special diet is needed and this will tie up the DAU further than it
is already tied up (it takes an average of one year to get to the Social
Benefits Tribunal now; I can imagine now that the DAU will now have your
files and take six months to deny you, then force more to appeal). I don't
think they will challenge medical opinions, as physicians generally don't
like their opinions challenged, particularly by a DAU that is not staffed
by physicians (nor would it be as the government has no money - remember?).
Following up on Hellen Henderson's column, I have posted my response to her request for our input during the background investigation. Response was sent April 5, 2005 Thank you for including Maggie and I in your backgrounding. I will attempt to keep my answers to your questions as brief as possible. Maggie and I are both disabled and recipients of ODSP. It was the process of getting ODSP approval and the realization of the lack of information that was of 'REAL' assistance to recipients and applicants that prompted the beginnings of our involvement. During the entire application for ODSP process I came to realize that there was much more help available if you knew how to find what it was and where to ask. The ODSP offices love to give as vague an answer as possible to any question and they even hesitate with direct questions where the answers are available in written form. One must become very resourceful, but what about those recipients who cannot become resourceful due to their disability. As I have an internet design and multimedia background and enjoy working with web sites I was lead to create the initial site as an Activism and Support site for recipients of ODSP. The purpose of the site found at http://www.magmac.ca/ODSP/ is to collect and disseminate information on working with ODSP and how to survive better. It was while I was researching information for the Activism site that I found the ODSP Action Coalition and formed a relationship there. I was obvious that a web site would facilitate the dissemination of their information to Ontarions as well as being a good outlet for building awareness of their mission. I approached the Coalition with the concept of creating a site for the Coalition and use the two in complimentary fashion. The Coalition site would be a online repository for disseminating legal and lobbing information that the Coalition produces and a resource site for ongoing projects that the coalition is involved with. The Activism and Support site would be geared to bringing recipients together and sharing their stories, experiences, lessons, fears and hopes of ODSP and disabled living. My outlook is that the Activism site would be sort of an umbrella site as it would not be constricted in format by having to meet the mandates of an organization. The Fireside Group was born out of email that I received from the Activism web site. Maggie would read the questions (horror stories) and actually suffer with empathy. We quickly realized that recipients need a place to be in touch with other recipients for exchanging fears, questions, tips, suggestions, and having someone to listen to them. The group grows daily and the responses we receive are wonderful. It is really fulfilling the design so far and it has become anchored by very caring recipients. The group is fully moderated by Maggie to attempt to keep the topics disability and ODSP focused. I would strongly suggest that the Activism site be the one to refer to at this time. It is the most advanced and informative and does address the Coalition and fireside. The Coalition site is still in design phase and we are having initial meetings this week. What is online at www.odspaction.ca is only an overview of the Coalition that was put in place as an example and to allow search engines to begin picking it up. I see four Major areas of concern with ODSP. 1) ODSP is technically a supplement and not a benefit. This one fact allows for the unmerciful CLAWBACKS that occur. ODSP is designed to provide a minimum safety net for disabled ontarions who do not have private insurance plans or other individuals to depend on. As a supplement it's purpose is to only to supplement your financial status to a bare bones (bottom of the social pool) state. You are further more expected to do everything in your ability to find other methods of sustenance and relieve ODSP of its obligation to supplement you. 2) The grossly unrealistic supplement levels and cut off points. - this fact is dramatically evident when recipients must pay over 85% of their supplement on rent!! 3) The 'recipients are criminals waiting to strike' attitude portrayed by ODSP. - This is quickly evident by touring some offices. You will actually find heavy reinforced glass partitions separating the recipient and worker. Another design on ODSP is that the recipient is guilty until they can prove their innocence, by this I mean that ODSP will terminate assistance immediately and the recipient has to prove that the termination was unjust before it will be returned. If my memory serves me will one will find that the reported amount of fraud in ODSP is around 1.5 % and the national average on fraud is about 1%. does this sound like a group that is so terrible dangerous.
Maggie and I spend as much time as we are able on looking after the websites and Fireside. There is another group forming who are going to take a different approach in attempting to achieve positive change with ODSP. The ODSP Recipient´s Alliance Group (to be know as RAGs) is being formed to gather, record and investigate Human Rights Violations inflicted upon ODSP Recipients by ODSP and/or it's agents. The ODSP Recipient´s Alliance Group will further assist recipients in filing Human Rights violation claims with the Provincial, Federal or United Nations Human Rights agencies, as applicable. There is much work to be done to bring ODSP into the 21st century and to begin honouring promises made to disabled persons via the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The preamble of the Human Rights Code R.S.O. 1990, CHAPTER H.19 it is public policy in Ontario to recognize the dignity and worth of every person and having as its aim the creation of a climate of understanding and mutual respect for the dignity and worth of each person so that each person feels a part of the community and able to contribute fully to the development and well-being of the community and the Province. The current assistance levels for ODSP recipients prohibit them from being able to contribute fully to the development and well-being of the community and the Province and prevents them from feeling as a part of the community. Thank you for listening. Persons with Disabilities We proclaim that we are born free and equal human beings; that our disabilities are limitations only, and that our identity does not derive from being disabled. We proclaim that we have the same value as people who are not disabled, and we reject any scheme of labeling or classifying us that encourages people to think of us as having diminished value. We reject the idea that institutions must be created to "care" for us, and proclaim that these institutions have been used to "manage" us in ways that non-disabled people are not expected to accept. We particularly denounce institutions whose purpose is to punish us for being disabled, or to confine us for the convenience of others. We reject the notion that we need "experts," to tell us how to live, especially experts from the able-bodied world. We are not diagnoses in need of a cure or cases to be closed. We are human, with human dreams and ambitions. We deny that images of disability are appropriate metaphors for incompetence, stupidity, ugliness or weakness. We are aware that as people with disabilities, we have been considered objects of charity and we have been considered commodities. We are neither. We reject charitable enterprises that exploit our lifestyle to titillate others, and which propose to establish the rules by which we must live without our participation. We also reject businesses that use us as "warm bodies" to provide a passive market for their services, again laying down rules by which we must live for their profit. We recognize that the lines between charities and businesses are blurred in the disability industry, and we do not accept services from either if their essential function is to exploit us. We assert our rights of self-determination in the face of rules, eligibility criteria, regulations, customs, laws or other barriers, and we pledge not to allow any authority or institution to deprive us of our freedom of choice. Finally, we assert that any service we need, from specialized teaching to personal care, can be provided to us in the community among our non-disabled peers. Segregated institutions are not necessary to serve us, and they have been the greatest source of our oppression, especially when they have been run by able-bodied people without our participation. All human beings are more alike than we are different. We recognize that when we assert this belief we will find ourselves in conflict with regressive institutions and their supporters, some of whom may be disabled themselves. We do not expect thousands of years of stereotyping to dissipate quickly. We commit ourselves and those who come after us to challenge our oppression on every level until we are allowed to be fully human and assert our individuality ahead of our disability. By John R. Woodward, M.S.W. Past Director, Center for Independent Living of North Florida, Inc. This document may be distributed freely in electronic format. | |||||
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