Pie-Chart Showing ODSP Income Expenditures

Income from ODSP: $863.00

Graph shows cost of living when taking specialized transit.

The following graphs show how the cost of living swallows up our ODSP cheques really quickly... too quickly.

The first graph is of my budget - for real. Note the absense of cable and funds to pay for the unforeseen events, clothing, social and/or recreational activities, etc. Also, note how this month, with the increased cost for transit, I had $0.50 left over. In reality, I had no choice but to shortchange the cost of medical supplies so, on Monday, my Internet will have to be cut off. There's not much else I can do.




Rent: $170.04 (19.7% of income)
Food: $216.00 (25% of income)
Specialized Transit: $194.75 (22.6% of income)
Telephone/Internet: $ 85.00 (9.8% of income)
Cell Phone: $ 79.00 (9.1% of income)
Medical Supplies: $118.11 (13.7% of income)
Balance: $0.50.

Note:

• The rent is subsidized.
• The cell phone is locked into a 3 year contract. I bought it when I was working full-time and was not on ODSP. It is also mandatory for safety
• The home phone is mandatory so I can open the front door to the apartment building
• The medical supplies were short-changed this month so I could afford to pay for transit.
• The Access Bus has a separate fare structure from the City Bus (which is subsidized for low-income people).
• To save money so I can afford the bus, I gave myself a brush cut (I'm a female)
  
• I cannot get the Special Diet allowance because I do not have one of the named conditions.

Income from ODSP = $863.40

This graph shows how much I would save if I could apply the same transportation subsidy that low-income Kingstonian's get for Kingston Transit, on the Access Bus.

Rent: $170.04 (19.7%)
Food: $216.00 (25%)
Transit: $44.00 (5.1%)
Phone/Internet: $85.00 (9.8%)
Cell Phone: $79.00 (9.1%)
Medical Supplies: $118.11 (13.7%)
Balance: $151.25 (17.5%)









FACT:
Since ODSP was first introduced by the Mike Harris Conservatives in 1998 the rate of inflation has gone up a lot more than our cheques have gone. The maximum income a single person could get on ODSP if they did not live in subsidized housing was $930.00.

This amount was the amount we were getting on the old system before Mike Harris changed it to a better program, where at least those who were lucky could get financial help from family and friends (within reason) and not be penalized. The maximum rate for a disability pension was actually frozen by Bob Rae in 1994.

So, if you go to this inflation calculator and put the put $930 in the first box, select the year 1994 (the year the rates were frozen) and then click calculate, you will see the amount in today's dollars, should be $1,263.23. In reality, the maximum amount for ODSP today, is $1,042.00. This means we can buy $221.23 less goods per month than we could in 1994.

If you want to try another tool, try this one. It's called, "Do the Math." Click on this link (http://dothemath.thestop.org/), and give it a whirl using the amount you spend each month to survive. I bet you will find you cannot afford to survive.

Maximum ODSP for a single person in 1994 = $930.00
Maximum ODSP for a single person in 2010 = $1,042.00

Please, I urge you, lobby the province to raise the rates for people with disabilities. I had a full-time job for 18 months, then new community barriers prevented me from continuing to work. As a result, I had to go back on ODSP and discover that, because several accessible stores downtown have closed, and conventional transit is not accessible enough, I have to take more specialized transit trips. As these graphs clearly illustrate, I cannot afford to survive.

Please read my other Blogs:
Transit: http://wheelchairdemon-transit.blogspot.com
Health: http://wheelchairdemon-health.blogspot.com

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