Taylor HyattBy Taylor HyattEuthanasia Prevention Coalition board member & disability rights activist
At the beginning of August, the Ottawa affiliate of the StopGap Foundation started a Twitter campaign using the hashtag #ODSPoverty. (For those readers who may not be familiar, the StopGap Foundation builds custom ramps for businesses with one-step entrances in cities across Canada, to improve access for people with disabilities. Local StopGap teams rely on donations of building materials from local stores and time from volunteers.) The goal of the campaign is to make the difficulties – more accurately, the impossibilities – of life on Ontario’s disability assistance system more widely known.
On August 21, I saw that someone responded to the campaign with the news that they had “enrolled in MAID.” Given the meager financial supports available to them through the Ontario Disability Support Program, necessities of life such as food and medication are now unaffordable. My heart broke for the person on the other side of the screen.
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