Changes to the term "disabled" by the Doug Ford Government in Ontario are making disabled people like me targets of discrimination and poverty.
I recently found out through a CTV news article that people like me who have a mental disability and are just coming into the system of social assistance under the new guidelines will be denied Ontario works or ODSP because the Ontario Doug Ford Government is redefining the word disability, in my opinion to cut the costs the Government spends on Social Assistance. They are cleverly packaging this as empowerment to the poor, in the real sense that they will be encouraging the disabled who no longer qualify for financial support to re-enter the work force. They are saying that disabled people like me have become dependant on the system which has prevented us from working for a long time and by redefining the term disability to fall more closely under the Federal Guidelines, it will somehow cause disabled people like me to miraculously go back to work and re-habilitate myself. In all honesty, it has been a very long time for me not working, but the nature of my illness is long term